In
Bologna, there is a family business that has reached its third generation
specializing in air-conditioning systems and heat pumps. Open innovation, care
for the environment and futuristic design. This is Galletti - 220 employees
with a €50 million turnover in 2022. Because doing things properly is not
enough, it is essential to successfully stand out on the market. For FARE
INSIEME Giampaolo Colletti interviews Michele Galletti, CEO of Galletti
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
It used to
be countryside - how many times have we heard this phrase? Well, in the story
we are about to tell, the countryside is the factor behind the success.
Because, often, the great entrepreneurial stories are born from concrete needs
linked to specific geographical areas. Thus, initial intuitions reveal
themselves to be ingenious over time. That is what happened to Galletti. 120
years ago, what is now the Bologna suburbs used to be an agricultural area, and
so the need to shelter tools and tractors from the bad weather. Galletti's
grandfather therefore decided to build a small workshop. We find ourselves in
Castel Maggiore, a town of twenty thousand inhabitants, nine kilometres north
of Bologna. That is where a workshop was set up for the processing of iron and
the repairing of tools and machines from all of the leading local companies -
from Ferrari to Lamborghini, which used to produce tractors, and down to Ducati
and countless other businesses. Doing and redoing without ever stopping, trying
to anticipate market changes. Basically, that is what happened to Galletti. The
factory was partially destroyed during the Second World War, but that did not
prevent the small workshop from turning into a company with over 200 employees.
“I believe that, after all, we always wanted to put ourselves out there, even
as individuals. We took advantage of the economic boom and the decision to
enter the air-conditioning system by becoming distributors of the Japanese
Sanyo brand - which was well-known in the 1980s and 1990s - was a strategic
one. Just like that of internally producing hydronic systems,” explains Michele
Galletti, CEO of Galletti and the third generation at the helm of the family
business.
The company
over time. One thing leads to another. And so Galletti also changed over time,
while maintaining the ability to grasp intuitions. Today the company is still
closely linked to the Bologna area, almost as if it were a trademark, a
distinguishing trait that links the past with the future. Galletti boasts 220
employees with a turnover of €50 million in 2022, up 25% compared with 2021.
Just under a half of this figure is made in Italy, the rest comes from
international orders. “Today machines are increasingly large and complex and
sector professionals no longer just require the technical data concerning the
product, they want to understand how the machine behaves within increasingly
articulated and integrated conditioning systems. We used to receive stock
orders from large wholesalers while now that they have almost disappeared,
orders are fractioned, which did not happen 20 years ago,” reports
Galletti. A centuries-old history. The
determination - that resilience that forms part of the DNA of those companies
that survive over time - is proven by the hundreds of people that have worked
in different segments since 1906. “Everything has changed in over 100 years,
even in the world of air conditioning. Only 10-15 years ago, there used to be
many small or medium businesses in the hydronic conditioning sector in Italy,
while now most of them have been sold to multinationals. There are practically
fewer than five family businesses that are still owned by the family. What has
remained is the passion for the company, the close connection to our territory
and the pride of being fully Italian,” says Galletti.
Design that
makes the difference. As we mentioned earlier: Galletti was one of the leading
companies specializing in the production of hydronic terminals, chillers and
heat pumps. But this is not enough for a company that always looks to the
future. “If we consider our main competitors, we need to consider quality and
technical performance as a given. That is why what has set ourselves apart in
our latest products is a particular attention to design.” Galletti is convinced
of that. Thus the company has worked on the first designer fan coil with a
customizable panel. It is called Art-U, a creative project with a high
aesthetic content that has won various design awards such as the Red Dot Award
and was mentioned by Compasso d’Oro 2021. A journey which stemmed from the
collaboration with the University of Bologna and the Department of Industrial
Engineering particularly in the thermo-technical fields and sees the
involvement (and even the employment) of young students. Then there is also the
alliance with the Department of Architecture and the Industrial Design section
in particular: Art-U was created precisely from this collaboration. “Fan coils
used to be an item that needed to be hidden as they were ugly, now they can be
part of the furnishings,” stresses Galletti. In addition, the adjustment and
ability to make these products work within a complex system has become
extremely important. Open Innovation i.e. the ability to continuously explore
not only one's own sector, but even very distant ones, is pivotal. A way of
identifying solutions, ideas and stimuli that can make the difference in our
world. With constant attention to design and innovation. “Products such as
Art-U, Canvas, Effetto Aircliss are all born from this new approach, working on
shapes, materials, light and the concept of customisation like no one had ever
done before in our sector,” says Galletti. Today, challenges are the
environmental ones: so the company is fully green as it produces more than 100%
of the energy via a photovoltaic plant that has been functioning for the past
10 years. As we said before: looking ahead without ever stopping. That is one
of the winning recipes of organizations looking courageously towards the
future.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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