In the
Ferrara area there is a company specialised in the production of components for
medium and heavy mechanical constructions. 145 people work in the Gruppo
Barbieri for a turnover of just under 29 million euros with a growth of +64%
compared to the previous year. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Nicola Barbieri,
chairman of the Group named after the founder.
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
“Wrought
iron becomes steel”. So goes an ancient Chinese saying that encompasses all
that perseverance that characterises the stories of those Emilian enterprises
that we are writing about. Time that fixes things. Time that marks life. The
story we are about to tell has to do with iron and time. A company, destined to
scale the markets, was born in 1981 in that strip of land in the Ferrara area.
This was the Officine Barbieri, started by Nicola Barbieri, and that is now
supported by his children Dante and Roberta and his grandchildren Annalisa and
Federico. An incredible story. Nicola started working as a mechanic at
Montedison in Ferrara. Then, upon the premature death of his father, he left
that secure job to help his uncle in his work as a blacksmith in Bondeno, a
small village in the Ferrara area of thirteen thousand souls on the banks of
the Panaro river. A few years passed and Nicola started his own business in the
plumbing and plant engineering sector. A few more years and there was another
change: Nicola shifted focus to the mechanical sector, starting the production
of carpentry for earthmoving machinery. This was the right sector for
commercial expansion and it also became the final one. Since then the company
has consolidated itself in the name of a specialisation that has led it to be
present in the main contracts for large works in Italy and abroad. «Iron
working has always been a part of me. When my father died I was forced to work
hard to support the family. The real intuition happened in 1974 when I decided,
together with my wife and some partners, to establish a company specialised in
sheet metal cutting. This allowed me to develop the business in a different way
because, having all the cut-to-size parts available, I had more strength than
other competing companies», says Nicola Barbieri, founder and now chairman of
the Gruppo Barbieri. Do and redo, without ever stopping. Just like that wrought
iron that becomes steel. «In my life I have always dared, I never settled and
this is what made me happy, also thanks to the fact that I always had my family
by my side. This is what characterises me even today, at the age of almost 90,
because I still dream of obtaining further development both in terms of space
and equipment, to make my company even more efficient and organised», says
Barbieri . His was a life that was all a sprint. «I would still like to stay
here ten years more because life is good. I would like to see the company
expand», repeats Barbieri.
Company
profile. We are in Scortichino di Bondeno, a town of less than fifteen hundred
souls in the Ferrara area. Here is the Barbieri headquarters, a company
specialised in the production of components for medium and heavy mechanical
constructions, complete with all related mechanical processes: tube cutting,
bending, robotic welding and boring. 145 people at work for a turnover just
under 29 million euros with a growth of +64% compared to the previous year.
From artisan origins to industrial reality. «The leap was easy and natural
because the strong development of the time required a greater production
capacity: so it was enough to get on that train and seize many good
opportunities. I always reinvested the resources produced in the company
because a healthy and capitalised company allows you to seize opportunities as
they arise and therefore to grow», specifies Barbieri. It is a family-run
company that is a leader in the production of medium-heavy mechanical
structures for third parties. The fleet is composed of approximately 40 machine
tools and welding robots and over 100 welding machines. In the factories there
are cutting-edge machines: intelligent robots and specialised labour.
Specialised carpenters and welders guarantee the work. A winning mix of
technologies and people. «The years of production have allowed the creation of
individual departments, each with the designation of its own activity. This
allowed the possibility of making the specialised worker the protagonist and
responsible for his/her own job. Mine is one of those sectors in which, in
addition to technology, high professionalism of the employees is still
required. And this is what makes the true strength of my reality», recalls
Barbieri.
Wow
products. The constructions created are intended for various sectors: machinery
for handling, lifting, demolition, recycling, construction. Can you picture the
cranes you see on TV during Formula One races, the ones that recover cars after
accidents? Well, the carpentry that forms them is an example of production by
the Gruppo Barbieri. But much more is also done here: recycling machines, such
as metal crushing mills, forklifts of those used in companies for various
movements and building products of various kinds depending on the customer's
requests. Starting from steel sheets, the company is able to create any type of
medium-heavy mechanical construction complete with all related processes with
the use of milling-boring machines up to 10 metres long. Here, metal structures
of machinery for handling, lifting and transport, road and railway
construction, civil and industrial construction and much more are produced
monthly. The components of the Mose were born here, which were built in the era
in which the industrial warehouse in the Scortichinese hamlet was damaged by
the 2012 earthquake and restored in record time, but the Allianz Stadium in
Turin also saw the light here. «Every day we need to roll up our sleeves and
look ahead, seizing all the opportunities that arise after having carefully
analysed and evaluated them. The challenges of doing business are experienced
by thinking about where you live and where you put your feet», concludes
Barbieri. Feet on the ground, head on your shoulders and a heart beating fast.
Once again the best lesson on the future comes to us from a ninety-year-old
entrepreneur with the mind of a young start-upper. Hurray!
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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