From a small carpentry workshop specialised in
the production and construction of metal parts to a giant that has become a
world leader in aerial platforms. Profile of the Modenese company that has
rethought aerial machines and that was then taken over by one of its sellers. Giampaolo
Colletti interviews Fiorenzo Flisi, CEO of Socage for FARE INSIEME
of Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
This is the story of a brilliant intuition that
manages to fly high, but for real. But it is also the story of a lot of
preparation, ambition and teamwork. It all began as far back as 1974 from
Renato Valentini, an entrepreneur who is now in his eighties and who was at the
time the owner of a small carpentry specialised in the production and
construction of metal parts. The original name contains an acronym that still
resists over time: Società Carpenterie Generali (General Carpentry Company), thus
Socage. At the time, Valentini worked iron. And he knit big in this field, making
doorways and gates. But Valentini also felt the need to grow and push his work
over the sky's limit. Hence the idea: to construct a special basket on a truck
crane. So in 1980 he started producing and selling aerial platforms. «At the
time there were at most two or three companies that made these structures in
Italy. Now the other companies are gone and, instead, we are the ones still
making the difference.» This is how Fiorenzo Flisi proudly remarks, who is
presently the CEO of Socage and who was in those years, i.e. during the
eighties that marked the company's debut,
at work as a salesman. «In 1983 I
was busy selling. I then left the company in 1995 and returned in 2009, when
the company was put up for sale.» Flisi took the company over with courage, with
determination, even with a good dose of recklessness. But the challenges, the
best and most beautiful, must be faced without thinking too much. Following
your heart, passions, and desire to do. «I found myself working again with old colleagues and the employer of the past: he and I were together again, but with reversed roles, even if we continued sharing a lot of mutual esteem», Flisi recalls. Today that company, which started from that
experimental basket built in the late seventies, has 1,800 vehicles built every
year. From the headquarters it is possible to monitor the machines that have
problems and even anticipate the analyses in a predictive logic. Then in 2023 the
recovering system will be released: the baskets will be remotely controlled. Today
the team consists of 240 employees. Five years ago the turnover was around 34 million
euros, while this year it has reached 75 million euros. The company is divided
into three offices in the province of Modena: Carpi, Boretto and finally, not
too far away, Sorbara.
Story of an idea. But let's take a step
back in time. Actually, more than one. In
1980 Socage specialised in the construction of platforms for aerial work and
thanks to the innovative articulated boom cranes it quickly established itself
as a market leader. In 2009 came the turning point: Socage was taken over by
Fiorenzo Flisi and Maurizio Piantoni, two entrepreneurs with a lot of
experience in the aerial platform sector. Aim: to accelerate development with
investments in research aimed at offering the market products with performances
that were above those offered at the time by competing companies. In 2012, despite
the difficult period of the market, Socage continued to invest in refresher
courses and spent almost half a million euros for the adoption of new design
software that allowed technicians to perform stress analyses on the individual
components before production. Then the factory of the Manotti company was
purchased in Boretto, in the Reggio Emilia area. The latest generation
machinery for the production of carpentry of all the components of the aerial
platforms was installed in this new site. With this acquisition, Socage created
over one hundred new jobs, ensuring its almost complete production autonomy. In
2019 there was a further step with the opening of the new site in Carpi, which
became the main office. The infrastructure has allowed us to pursue the goal of
research and technological innovation to offer lighter, more efficient and more
sustainable models. «Today we carry out the entire supply chain, that is, we
start from the sheet metal with nine welding robots, we cut it, fold it, weld
it and assemble it. All the electronics and plumbing parts are produced in the
company thanks to the work of a team of talented engineers. Some steps are
missing, but we are getting there, while the future is made up of quality and
safety. Because people go up on our products. Without forgetting about the
simplicity of use and attention to the environment. This is why we are focusing
and heading towards structures with lithium batteries», concludes Flisi. A big
yes towards innovation, but always keeping in mind the contemporary challenges
to reduce the impact on the environment.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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