In San
Giovanni in Persiceto, in the Bolognese hinterland, there is a company that has
been running for forty-five years and is a leader in electrical wiring and
electromechanical assemblies. People and technologies are cutting-edge and
closely connected. But the work space also makes the difference. This is how
Stefan 4.0 was born. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Gabriele Gianni, General
Manager of Stefal for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
Once upon a time is the beginning of
every good self-respecting business story. It
still exists today is instead up to only those businesses that know how to
build their positioning, their business, their closeness to customers and
communities day after day. In the story we are about to tell you, once upon a time is obviously important,
but is also constantly renewed over time. So let's start from the present in
describing Stefal, an excellent Bolognese company that has been providing
design, construction and distribution services for electrical wiring and electromechanical
assemblies for forty-five years. We are in San Giovanni in Persiceto, a town of
less than thirty thousand souls in the metropolitan city of Bologna, about
twenty kilometres away from the Two Towers and for eleven years part of that
Union of Water land municipalities (Unione dei comuni Terre d'Acqua), which
brings together many areas of the hinterland. Here is where the Stefal
headquarters is located, where 70 professionals work on a total surface area of
almost five thousand square metres. The company's turnover was around 22
million euros in 2022, i.e. 30% more than the previous year. In fact, the
company produces electrical wiring through a collaboration agreement with a
company located in Tunisia: 300 people work here. This is a long-term alliance
because this partnership has already been established for twenty years.
People, technologies, future. «Reliability
is an essential requirement for us. We support the customer at every stage of
the production process thanks to expert staff trained to respond to every need.
Our technical office is able to design and develop any type of wiring, in
collaboration with the customer or in complete autonomy, in maximum compliance
with the regulations in force in the various sectors», says Gabriele Gianni,
General Manager of Stefal, for twenty-five years in the company. But let's go
back to the headquarters, which for Stefal is now embodied in the new
headquarters: the first innovative building already built takes us directly
into the future. Here the departments have been completely renovated. «In fact,
it differs substantially from all our competitors. We wanted to create the
"wow" effect that would make us very attractive and concrete. Here
all the workstations are interconnected with each other, guided by ergonomics
and sustainability as primary factors», says Gianni. The first part of the
project was named Stefal 4.0. But we don't stop there: in addition to the new
building there are twenty-two thousand square metres of adjacent land and by
2026 the technical area will be built with new, latest generation equipment. A
new way of building electrical wiring.
Company profile. But let's take a step back in time. It all started in 1978 from an idea
by Germano Guidotti. After Guidotti, the second generation took over the reins
of the company. Today Stefal is led by the founder's daughter Rossella as CEO
and by her son Pier Alberto who is responsible for the IT area. But we also
look, as always, to the future. So for some years now the third generation has
also been at work with the founder's grandson Giacomo Gianni, head of the
commercial area. «What is the secret of success in almost fifty years of history?
I have no doubt: the continuity within the company that passes through a family
project committed to transferring passion every day towards a project that
transforms over time while maintaining vision and coherence»,
explains Gianni. Stefal has a
specialised technical office, a cutting department equipped with cutting-edge
and completely interconnected machines. Then there is the R&D division. To
look ahead, including the environmental challenges. «Our distinctive element is
to always be one step ahead of our competitors in terms of innovation and
everything that concerns a future reading of customer needs in the medium to
long term. Today we signed an agreement with a consultancy company to certify
ourselves ISO 45000 by May 2024. At the same time, we began our journey towards
sustainability certification by passing through ESG parameters, a project that
we have just started and plan to complete by December 2024», says Gianni.
To improve and to never stop. This is the company's mantra. Thus, cooling
systems were installed in all the production environments in order to improve
the work space, powered by 150 KW of solar panels on all the buildings. To
improve yourself and to look around, with clarity and vision. Gianni is
convinced of that. «To be a successful company in the market today it is
necessary to always be responsive to the customers requests, to the market
changes, to geopolitics, investments and to opportunities. We can never stop».
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