It happened in Emilia in the late 1990s: two companies decided to join forces to face the complexity of the markets and try to scale their businesses. This is the story of SIPLA-PROSGM, which now boasts a turnover of €35 million and approximately 300 employees. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Daniele Nanetti and Stefano Morotti from SIPLA-PROSGM for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
“Why is it so difficult
for us to realise that life is a non-zero-sum game? That we can both win so
long as we are not obsessed with the need to defeat the partner so as not to be
defeated by him?” We should therefore stop talking about solo star players, as
today it is only possible to win as a team. There is so much truth in these
words. The Austrian philosopher Paul Watzlawick wrote them back in 1984. It is
the starting point to tell this new Emilian entrepreneurial story, without even
moving too far from 1984, as, not too long after that, two companies from
Emilia implemented precisely this winning strategy. Here you are, this is the
story of SIPLA-PROSGM. Everything started with the intuition of Ezio Nanetti,
one of the founding members of SIPLA. Already in the 1990s, he understood that
to emerge and stand out from competitors it was necessary to position oneself
on the market in a different way, i.e. in a more structured, integrated manner.
«We realised that, in order to grow, we needed to switch from being our
clients’ suppliers to becoming partners, otherwise we would have continued to
play a secondary role and we could have been replaced at any time. The change
occurred when we met a group of young technicians and engineers who wanted to
set up their own business and develop their creativity while we ourselves
needed planning ability. So we came together», recalls Daniele Nanetti. At the
time SIPLA, which had been established in 1977, boasted around fifteen
employees and dealt with precision mechanical processing, in particular turning
and milling. And then we dedicated ourselves to mechanical assembly. In the
meantime, in 1999, that group of young technicians and engineers were setting
up their own automatic machine design business that specialised in packaging
under the name of PROSGM. That is precisely when the two stories combined. A
winning and visionary decision to walk together.
Profile of the
companies.Transversal alliances and overall
vision. The companies deal with planning, production, testing and installation
at the service of manufacturers of automatic machines for packaging and
industrial automation. «That is where our idea of becoming an integrated
supplier at the service of automation manufacturers came from. Over the years,
the group has continued to grow both by developing internally and by forming
strategic alliances with other partners to expand the range of its offer. The
creation of PROMEK in Serbia in 2010 and the agreements with PME in 2022
testify to this», explain Daniele Nanetti and Stefano Morotti. We find
ourselves in Valsamoggia, in the Bologna province that extends to the north,
almost reaching the Modena province. But the strength of the business is its
presence in multiple places: Anzola dell’Emilia, Ozzano, Modena, Pesaro and
Velika Plana, in Serbia. The total turnover of the group hovers around €35
million, 20% up from 2022. Around 300 people are employed by the company.
People and the community.But
what counts more in order to be a successful company today? Nanetti and Morotti
have no doubts about this. «Everything counts, as a company is a community
after all. For a community to live and grow in a healthy manner, it is
necessary for it to be made up of valuable human capital with a strong culture
of togetherness. Technology is at the base of our industry sector, yet it is
always people who govern it and take advantage of its potential», stress the
two entrepreneurs. Then there is that idea of being in the Emilia Valley, with
those new districts increasingly connected with the global markets. «This is where
we breathe in the culture of work, we benefit from the widespread presence of
companies in the area, from the fact that you can find everything within a few
kilometres in terms of both services and skills. But this must not make us lose
sight of reality: the world today is small and fast, we need to be open and not
make the mistake of thinking that we are always the best», say Nanetti and
Morotti. This, in turn, means having a clear vision, also because the future
will be characterised by increasing complexities. «The competitive level that
our clients find on the market is becoming increasingly higher and will affect
us as well. We need to be ready to face new challenges and be able to turn them
into opportunities: in order to improve our efficiency, increase our production
capacity and improve the work environment, we have already planned on changing
our headquarters within a year while always remaining in our territory, of
course», conclude Nanetti and Morotti. Once again, the answer is in that idea
of teamwork that helps tackle the market and win together.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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