The
Bologna area is home to a group that has become a world leader in die-cast
aluminium and solutions related to heating systems. A success story that starts
from a brilliant intuition and is strengthened over the decades with research
and patents. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Valerio Gruppioni, chairman of Sira
Industrie for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
How many
kilometres walked up and down that very green slice of the Bolognese Apennines
that, to some extent, recalls life, with those continuous climbs and descents,
with accelerations and inevitable stops, and with the discoveries of
breathtaking landscapes that alternate in the various seasons. Well, all those
kilometres were travelled by Gaetano Gruppioni around the 1950s. At the time
Gaetano was a salesman and travelled far and wide with his van, but shortly
thereafter he built a foundry, which over the decades would become an Emilian
entrepreneurial jewel. However, to tell you this story we proceed in order and
necessarily in stages. We are in Pianoro and in its hamlet, Rastignano, a town
of fifteen thousand souls south-east of Bologna in the Apennines that rise
along the Futa road. We are in a border land along two valleys that extend
between the body of water of the Zena stream and the Savena. Here the landscape
is very varied: from Bologna, along the first part of the Savena valley, you
can see gullies and ridges of sandstone rock. And it is here that Gaetano
decides to start a business, with his foundry. But he doesn't play alone.
Because it all starts from a group of young entrepreneurs who decide together
to trade metals.
The patent
that makes history.1958. This is the year of the start-up of the first foundry
for the production of aluminium, bronze and brass alloys. The company's turning
point came with the revolutionary world patent for the aluminium radiator,
developed and registered in 1961. It is called BIMETAL of radiators and leads
to the creation of the heating division. An extraordinary innovation for home
heating, that of the aluminium radiator. This technology, completely designed
and developed in the company and then evolved over the years, opened up a rapid
process of replacing the old and traditional cast iron radiators, at the time
used for building systems, on all the markets. Well, the patent turned out to
be an extraordinary innovation, a real milestone in the field of home heating.
Ultimately, however, the technology is quite simple, although revolutionary: it
involves creating a radiant element in die-cast aluminium. It is an excellent
heat conductor, with a greater performance and is safer than cast iron and also
allows significant energy savings compared to the latter. A steel tube is
inserted within which the heating fluid flows. The tube has no welds and
therefore no leaks or need to bleed air from the system because the water never
touches the aluminium. But there is more. Installation is much faster than the
system with cast iron radiators and the heat output is much greater than steel
or extruded aluminium.
Company
profile. Let's go back to the company, its visions and ambitions. Also because
– as often happens in life and at work – one thing leads to another. And in
this story the encounters leave an indelible mark. «Dad develops a die-casting
company created to support the then flourishing and innovative production of
motorcycle engines. Here comes that historic collaboration, born from a deep
friendship, with Vittorio Minarelli of the homonymous manufacturer of
motorcycle engines. From then on, the acquisitions and the first
internationalisation direction, which characterised my time of leading the
group from the very start. The bond with the territory was very strong since
the beginning: we are committed to internationalisation, but we have never thought
about delocalisation. The roots are also important for the specific weight of
the district in which the activities took place for years, in which they were
born.» This is what Valerio Gruppioni, who is chairman of the group, says.
Roots that are anchored to the territory, but with the mind and the heart that
fly everywhere in the world. The headquarters today are in Bologna, but we
operate on three continents: Europe, Asia, Africa. We operate in three business
areas: 20% in the heating radiator sector and 80% in the die-casting sector for
the manufacturing industry, especially in the automotive sector. «Our expansion
lies in the ability to transform existing companies with high potential in
efficient and effective industrial structures in the market. We can say that
our greatest expertise lies precisely in the modelling and transformation of
the core business on metals, extending it to a more conceptual level»,
specifies Gruppioni. The latest acquisition concerns Sitcare and therefore
mobility vehicles, creating the third division of the group. From Emilia to the
rest of the world. Yesterday like today. «We have ridden the wave of emerging
markets by setting up new factories and we are still trying to shape the
current and future industrial solutions in a logic of alliances.» Looking far
away, in time and space. But looking together.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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