This company has revolutionized the
world of rescue in Italy and in the world. Because the yellow scoop stretcher
that is now sold all over the world was born in Italy. Today the Ferno division
in Italy, born in Pieve di Cento, has 33 people for a turnover of almost 10
million euros. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Alice Carletti, Ferno’s Sales &
Marketing Manager for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
This is the story of a start upper,
before this term was cleared by the world of innovation, becoming commonly
used. But it is also the story of a visionary who goes to America for a job
interview and who basically takes that America back to Italy. Because at the
beginning Enrico Carletti thought that that business meeting sought and
obtained did not go well. And instead… But let’s go in order. In 1995 the American multinational Ferno
was looking for a manager to open a branch in Italy and met several candidates.
Among these was Enrico Carletti, who passed the selections and established the
Italian headquarters of the company. «When dad started the business in Italy he
didn’t have any offices yet, just a telephone and a fax and from one day to the
next a lorry arrived from Germany carrying the whole range of products to sell.
And that’s where it all began», says Alice Carletti, Ferno’s Sales &
Marketing Manager. The company, which deals with the
production and distribution of rescue equipment, has itsheadquarters in Wilmington Ohio and
branches distributed throughout the world: Australia, Canada, Italy, Switzerland,
Japan, the UK. There is also a sales network of authorised dealers in each
country. Customers are resellers, fitters - and
therefore ambulance manufacturers - hospitals, the Red Cross, public
assistance, mountain rescue, the military force and rescue associations. In
Italy the turnover is around 10 million euros and the team is made up of 33
people. And that’s what makes the difference. «Basically
we are a navel of the world and during trade fairs we figure as a single unit. In
one of these trade fairs they defined our team as fernomenal. And that’s
exactly how it is», says
Carletti. For Italy everything starts from Pieve di Cento, a town of seven
thousand souls in the province of Bologna, in that strip of land that extends
along the banks of the river Reno. A borderland because it is located in that
triangle between Bologna, Ferrara and Modena. «We are a community of people who have known each other
forever and we have a young and passionate municipal administration. A small town,
but one that makes itself heard because it makes a lot of noise», says Carletti.
Products that make history. But there is more to this story.
Because if everything starts by building from
scratch a company that has become a reference for rescue, a wow idea arrives from Italy destined to
revolutionise the market. The yellow scoop stretcher, which is now sold all
over the world, was born here. We are talking about ScoopEXL and
it was invented and patented by Enrico Carletti. It
is an evolution of the metal stretcher, but it is made of plastic material and
has excellent thermal insulation, as well as being radiolucent: it thus allows
the patient to be lifted and immobilised without generating critical
situations. Today it is present on almost all Italian and foreign
ambulances and is produced right in Pieve di Cento. After all, it is something
that leaves you speechless: everything starts from here, but when you land,
even in the most remote airport on the planet, you notice that the rescue team
is supplied with the ScoopEXL. On the other hand, the numbers speak for
themselves: the units sold
to date are more than 150,000. «We
received the strangest phone call I can remember from the La Venaria Reale
Conservation and Restoration Centre. They had to take care of a mummy, which
would then be transported to Brazil. They asked us if one of our stretchers
could be suitable for moving the mummy and making it travel safely», says Carletti.
Human
and technological capital. Products,
services and lots of training. Thus, the Ferno Academy was born, which teaches
rescuers the correct use of the aids by organising various courses. In this way
the end user learns to use them correctly. «During these courses we understood
that we ourselves were learning from the rescuers and several times we were
able to gather valuable advice from them and better understand their needs,
which are fundamental in the development of new aids», recalls Carletti. The products are born from an R&D
department that continuously produces new ideas. And here is the strength of
the human capital. «We are able to combine the
technology we study to serve these needs. This is also where the first
motorised chair invented ten years ago was born. But it’s not
always us talking: the most beautiful feature of our company is the ability to
listen to the real needs that rescuers encounter in their daily work»,
concludes Carletti. Listening: this is what makes an organisation truly
exceptional.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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