In a garage in Modena in 1984, a start-upper
engineer created the first industrial robots. SIR was born from that intuition
- and from the integration of three companies into one - and is now an excellence in Italy and
worldwide when it comes to robotic solutions For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo
Colletti interviews Davide Passoni, CEO of SIR
of Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
Being born with a foot in the future. Easy to say,
harder to do. Yet, in Emilia, there is a company born in the 1980s that was
already projected into the new millennium because, ever since the beginning, it
decided to focus on robots. Everything started in a garage in Modena. Because
it is not just the large American hi-tech companies that were born from such
small yet iconic spaces. A garage, we said: this is where, in 1984, robotic
solutions for companies who wished to innovate started to be designed and
manufactured. So, while Commodore 64 - which had been launched two years before
- started to become popular in America, anthropomorphic robots were being
introduced in Emilia. Everything started off with an idea from engineer Luciano
Passoni, now 78 years old. A true start-upper of the 1980s, in love with robots
and with connections that are born from working together, combining skills that
can be different. “My father practically fell in love with robotics, which
started to become popular in the 1980s. Many companies started using robots
from global manufacturers, while SIR was born designing its own models when it
comes to both mechanics and electronics. An anthropomorphic robot built from
scratch in a garage that required a gestation period of two years. Everybody
talks about robots nowadays, but everything was innovative in that
unforgettable 1984,” recalls Davide Passoni, now CEO at SIR. The company now
registers a turnover of €35 million. The headquarters is in Modena, boasting
114 employees, a productive space covering 4,500 sq m and offices covering
1,500 sq m, and is the beating heart of the engineering and production
departments,while the US branch in Sacramento has a more commercial soul and
also services the systems installed overseas.
Then there is a branch in Germany and one in China, which was
established in 2015 and now counts 90 employees. SIR manufactures and installs
approximately 80 systems a year, extremely customised to adapt to the specific
needs of clients. But let's go back to the beginning. Because that
start-upper engineer also had another genius intuition, which can be summed up
in a slogan that has become part of the company: unity makes strength. Because together, with different skills, it
is always possible to make a difference. So, in addition to that weird alliance
between robots and humans, which was truly innovative in the 1980s, SIR's story
starts from the integration of three companies with different souls: an
electronic company, a mechanical company and a leading technical design office.
The objective was ambitious yet, over the years, it was reached: studying and
manufacturing robotic automations for the industrial sector. A lot of miles
have been covered and a lot of robots have been made: so far, over 3,800
robotic systems have been installed in Italy and all over the world, from small
artisanal businesses to the most important multinationals. “The other successful
intuition my father had was that of combining the decades of experience from
three different companies into a single business. My father worked in a
mechanical design studio that made assembly lines for the automotive sector:
they were rigid automations, dozens of metres long and featuring many
mechanical and electromechanical elements. But there were no robots yet,”
explains Passoni.
The search for excellence. Passionate about
robots and with the new potential they provide to companies, of course. But
focused on people, i.e. on that human capital that ignites and guides humans.
Therefore, SIR has always been focused on using the latest technologies, yet
starting from human capital that studies, designs and experiments. The company
has a mechanical and electronic technical office for design alone, with forty
people operating with 2D and 3D cad stations and analysis and programming
systems. Thank to their skills and the tools provided, they can tackle and
solve the most complex market requests in terms of flexible automation. Over
time, we specialized in the analysis of situation and problems within companies
working in the most diverse sectors, establishing collaboration with the client
aimed at obtaining the best possible solutions in terms of flexibility,
performance and investment. “We design our automations down to the tiniest
detail, we share the solutions adopted with the client, we build the system
and, once the performance and correspondence with contractual specifications
have been verified, we install it at the client's facility,” stresses Passoni.
From here onwards, over twenty patents have been achieved. “We would not be
able to patent everything, because there is something innovative in every
order,” company says. The heart of SIR engineering is the preliminary draft
office, which studies the preliminary solutions, the mechanical design office
and the electronic design office. The company also boasts many local suppliers
in the Modena territory when it comes to both the design and manufacturing of
precision mechanical components. SIR stands out because it can adapt to
different problems. Robots with a human heart made of extreme flexibility and
fantasy.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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