A company was founded in the early 1950s in Casalecchio di Reno, in the Bolognese metropolitan area, committed to producing and supplying gears for motorcycles. Today that artisan workshop has become an industry and produces gears for tractors and agricultural machinery. Everything is focused on very advanced technologies, but without competent and passionate people nothing would have seen the light. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Giovanni Melandri, CEO of Didimo Zanetti for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
There are stories that get richer over time, day after day, gear after gear. The story we are about to tell you was born in the name of a successful family business in typical Italian style. It all started way back in 1953 with two brothers who became entrepreneurs. We are talking about Augusto and Didimo Zanetti. After having both worked their way up in that excellent training ground of Ducati, they decided to start their own company and dedicate themselves to gears. Soon the two paths diverged, they wanted to produce different types of gears, and Augusto founded another company. Then much later - it was the year 2000 - Didimo's son decided to acquire the company from Augusto's heirs and brought it together under one umbrella. An industrial choice that, however, also became a visionary choice, an action that tied together the loose threads of the now distant past. But let's take a step back in time. Because after the Second World War gears became essential to get the whole of Italy back on track. These were the golden years of the Bolognese motorcycle industry, from Moto Morini to Motori Minarelli, from Ducati to Malaguti. Didimo Zanetti began producing gears, which in the early years were intended for motorcycle transmissions. Markets evolved, agriculture in the 1960s became increasingly mechanised. In the Bologna area, Ferruccio Lamborghini – a few years before founding the world-famous car company – founded a factory that produced tractors, of which Didimo Zanetti was an important supplier. Thus, Didimo Zanetti's adventure in the world of agricultural machinery began, which today represents the company's main market. From Emilia to the whole world. Because what the two brothers - and only Didimo Zanetti later - set up will turn out to be a global business capable of intercepting the most renowned producers in the world. We are located in Casalecchio di Reno, a town of just over thirty-five thousand souls in the Bolognese metropolitan area, bathed by the Reno river and oriented in the direction of that Emilian axis, which then flows into the Motor Valley known throughout the world.
The company numbers. Today the Gruppo Didimo Zanetti has 240 employees for a turnover of 50 million euros in 2022 and a share of investments in advanced technology that varies between 2 and 3 million euros per year. A lot of stuff indeed. The headquarters is still in Casalecchio today, with two factories spreading over ten thousand covered square metres. And then there is the third factory in Aprilia, in the Lazio region, which was established in 2005 and dedicated to the processing of cylindrical gears, covering another five thousand square metres. But what are bevel and cylindrical, spur and helical gears for? These components are the heart of the transmission, which transmits the power generated by the engine to the wheels. «We have always been making transmission gears and at the beginning, that is, in the early '50s and '60s, we supplied the products to that very flourishing motorcycle industry. Then over time we got closer to tractors thanks to Lamborghini, which at the time was involved in the construction of agricultural vehicles. On the other hand, in the 70s and 80s motorcycles had a market with very strong fluctuations, while the agricultural machinery market has always been a more stable market», says Giovanni Melandri, CEO of Didimo Zanetti, who joined the company in 2005. A great attention to the customer and to the evolution of the market, a continuous investment in increasingly advanced technologies, while maintaining that obsessive attention to detail unchanged. Today the company serves the most complex applications: agricultural machinery, earthmoving machinery, high-end motorcycles, but also racing cars. And there is more. The new businesses look at applications related to wind turbines and to special off-highway vehicles. From the supply of prototypes up to the series, the company produces in co-design, i.e. with the active involvement of customers.
People and technologies. Specialist skills that can make the difference. After all, this is the distinctive feature of Didimo Zanetti. «Here we combine the experience of highly qualified specialists with the best production machinery and with trials within the three factories, which are all Italian»», specifies Melandri. A proportion that sees people and machines equally divided: 190 highly qualified professionals at work for over 200 cutting-edge machines. Human capital that makes the difference. Thus, many of the machines are automated or robot-assisted to make high-volume production possible and ensure the highest level of precision. But it is the specialisation of the people that guarantees the high quality level of the products. Actions that allow the company to grow, scaling new international markets: today more than half of the products are exported abroad. «In the 1970s, high-powered tractors could reach 100 hp. Today high-end tractors reach over 400 hp. To handle engines of this power, gear technologies have evolved enormously and manufacturing these products has become increasingly complex. To produce these gears, high-level technologies and skills are essential», concludes Melandri. Once again people will have to lead that technological transformation called modernity.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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