During that
second postwar period made up of ingenious intuition and determined resilience,
a box factory was set up that marked the history of the Bologna industrial
sector. From the early cardboard boxes to evolved corrugated cardboard ones.
The profile of Scatolificio Schiassi and of its mantra displayed on the factory
walls: “We keep growing”. For FARE INSIEME Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Silvia
Magnoni, President and CEO of Scatolificio Schiassi
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
When you can’t find
a job, you need to make one up. A principle that is certainly true today, but
which was already applied during the first years of the second postwar period
too. Therefore, in the Bologna that tried to start up again between fear and
enthusiasm, her grandfather Giuseppe Schiassi, 41 years old at
the time, had a ingenious intuition. In a time marked by the need to
continuously shift goods and products, why not supply the containers? At the time, all the moving was done using
wooden crates, which became known thanks also to the cinema. It must be said
that, before the war, Giuseppe Schiassi was the human resources manager
of a cotton factory. But then, when the war ended, he found himself out of work
and had to roll up his sleeves. As he had always been a mountain lover,
Schiassi spent a lot of time with family friends in Val di Sole in the Emilian
Appennines, helping with the harvest and manufacturing the first wooden crates
for fruit artisanally After all, there was plenty of wood available. He then began studying ways of optimizing the
packaging. No sooner said than done. The
shop was opened in 1952 in via delle Belle Arti in Bologna, in the world famous
university area. A small shop in the city centre where wooden crates used to be
made. From wooden crates to cardboard boxes which proved more practical when it
came to volume and lighter in weight.
Company profile. Thus Scatolificio Schiassi was born, now a
company dealing with all kinds of packaging. Today the headquarters are located
in Villanova di Castenaso in the Bologna metropolitan area, which boasts
excellent connections with the local logistics infrastructure. “Our boxes
travel all over the world, protecting their precious content and helping spread
Italian-made products. The paper and
cardboard chain has been growing steadily over the past few years, driven by
the green evolution that is raising the awareness of companies and consumers as
regards sustainability. Our strength is the combination between the productive
and creative parts of the company, which enable us to interpret the needs of
the market and to always provide practical, innovative and sustainable
packaging solutions”, recalls Silvia Magnoni, President and CEO of Scatolificio
Schiassi. The definitive transition from wood to cardboard was made by the
second generation, that is from his children Giuseppe, Romana and Gianni, who
developed what was the embryo stage of Scatolificio Schiassi turning it into a
structured and dynamic reality. “We keep growing” reads the message painted on
the façade of the headquarters. After all, the team is made up of 40 employees
and the annual turnover exceeds €10 million. Clients include industries
operating in the most varied sectors, starting with food which is our main
market, and continuing with metalworking, electronics,
chemical-pharmaceuticals, furniture, hygiene, cosmetics and construction. The
company has always been committed to converting plastic products into
innovative green packaging solutions made of corrugated cardboard.
Products that make the difference. This is a company that incarnates the classic
combination between tradition and innovation. “We represent one of the oldest
companies in the box factory sector in Bologna. The values passed on by the
Schiassi family, linked with the constant commitment to building value and
supporting our territory, have remained unvaried. Innovation has been mostly
technical, i.e. linked to production processes and potential, but there has
also been a great rediscovery of packaging made of corrugated cardboard, which
has gone from a simple protective container to an actual means of communication
capable of influencing the purchasing choices of final consumers and their
perception of the brand”, stresses Ms Magnoni. Therefore, for the company, corrugated cardboard is a bit like a baton
in relay races: it has been the symbol of the handover between generations. So
says Silvia Magnoni. “For us, it is a real source of inspiration thanks to its
characteristics that make it really versatile and suitable to solve packaging
needs. It is a material that can be used to make robust packaging with great
technical performance, and to make appealing boxes printed with eco-friendly
water-based colours. In this way, it is possible to make truly anything with
corrugated cardboard, as testified by the increasingly vast diffusion of
furnishings and designer elements created with this material”. Everything is
made in the headquarters: pre-cut corrugated cardboard sheets brought in from
paper factories, ready to be turned into packaging. The processing is highly
automated and connected in real time to the software we use to supervise the
production process. The processing is highly automated and connected in real
time to the software we use to supervise the production process. Nothing is
left to chance, things are done well here.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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