In the province of Bologna there is a small workshop that loves to do things in a grand way. A story that contains many others. Because people, like organisations, change over time. And they often win the challenges they decide to face. This is what happened to this mechanical workshop specialised in precision mechanical processing. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Agnese Mazzola, head of BPM Meccanica with Roberto Battistella, for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
Life is not made of straight lines, but of continuous curves, even sharp ones. Dangerous certainly, but which then - once travelled with awareness and a pinch of recklessness - open up to breathtaking landscapes, which are difficult to capture on roads that are always straight and endless. A curve contains the life-changer that I am about to tell you about. A big step that over time proved to be a winning one for a small mechanical workshop in a small town in Emilia.
History of the company. Well, the story we are about to tell officially begins in April 2017, but if you look closely it is a sequel to a story that began forty years earlier in Emilia. A story that bonds several lives and that marks an important step for Agnese Mazzola and Roberto Battistella. “Is anyone interested in taking over the business?”, asks the owner of the company one day. And Agnese and Roberto timidly took a step forwards and from permanent employees became business partners. «I had been in the workshop as the only employee since 2010, while Roberto had been a milling operator since 2001. Our former owner had already been retired for some time and rightly looked for someone to whom he could leave the company. After a short period of renting the company, we bought the business and began a process of innovation of the machinery necessary to remain competitive on the market», says Agnese. Madness certainly, but a lot of hard work. «We were born with a bit of recklessness, but with the certainty that we were going to catch a moving train. We are people who have always made work part of their lives. From the beginning I remember the enthusiasm and energy, the many Saturdays and Sundays spent with our families in the company», says Agnese. We continue always aiming higher. The latest arrival on the tech front is a 4-axis milling machine and is added to two 5-axis milling machines already available, two centrepieces, two traditional lathes, two motorised ones and also drills, cutters, markers, measuring instruments. Over time, the number of people also increased, indeed. We started with five and today we are eleven people. We are based in San Pietro in Casale, a town of twelve thousand souls in the metropolitan area of Bologna, in the centre of the plain between the Navile canal and the Reno, in that area where the river turns sharply towards the south-east. In fact, we are halfway between Ferrara and Bologna. A middle ground. BPM Meccanica has a tactical position at the Altedo motorway exit. «Our geographical position is very important because we do the right job in the right place. Our basin is among the most important in the world for packaging, but not only that: the creation of high fashion garments, engines and components for the food industry are all born and produced in this beautiful land called Emilia Romagna, all here», says Agnese.
Company profile. Small and medium-sized precision lathing and milling products are available in single quantities, but also in small series, with a warehouse always well stocked with different types of material: aluminium, brass, bronze, various types of plastic as well as all ferrous and heat treatment materials and stainless steel of various kinds. The machine park today includes CNC lathes and milling machines and traditional lathes and is constantly evolving to meet customer innovations. «Of course, the market is increasingly frenetic and being able to have different machines that can offer different interpretations of product creation makes us more competitive. Because today the quotation of the piece is important, but the realisation within the requested times has become a requirement of equal importance. We can do what is asked of us. In the sense that we are not fossilised on just a stereotype of a milling or lathe product, we accept to study, understand and invent the realisation of what is requested of us. Then it happens that we succeed or not, but never without having evaluated all the possible solutions», says Agnese. The key to success is listening to the customer. She remembers it well because in the past, even with an employee hat, it was what she usually did. We work on the customer's design starting from the raw material or semi-finished product and, on request, finishing processes are carried out with heat and surface treatments, thanks to a network of suppliers who have always followed us. «What do we expect from the future? To continue working hard knowing that as long as we put passion into it, we can do reach great goals. Even starting from a small workshop in a small town», concludes Agnese. Especially from there, we add. Especially from there, we add.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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