From a small town in the Ferrara area to the entire world. Because a company was established in Argenta that over the years has landed on world markets starting from the processing of plastic products. This is Rossi Stamp, which boasts over half a century of activity in the design, development and production of supply chains and calibrators. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Giuliano Rossi, CEO of Rossi Stamp, for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
“If you
have an idea, we can turn it into reality.” This is the identity manifesto of
the company we are about to tell you about and which has the founder’s
signature right from its name. A story that began in Emilia over half a century
ago and that over time has landed everywhere in the world, exporting today more
than 90% to international markets, especially the United States, Australia,
Sweden, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
A company that develops and produces complex equipment and complete lines for extrusion – keep this term in mind, we
will explain it to you shortly – and also customised, automatic and special
machines. We are in Argenta, a town of twenty thousand souls in the Ferrara
area, in that Union of the municipalities of Valli e Delizie. Here, moulds,
calibrators and machines for the extrusion of plastic profiles are developed,
designed, produced and sold. A production of high-tech equipment where absolute
precision is required. “Where ideas take shape”, we read in the company
mission. And very soon we will find out why.
Company profile. But let's take a step
back in time. It is Giuliano Rossi, born in Ferrara in 1943, who founded Rossi
Stamp. A company that exudes passion since its foundation. Because already
during his childhood, which was marked by the Second World War made of poverty
and a mad desire for redemption, Giuliano in his school years as a child became
passionate about doing. Doing and undoing
In short, dismantling and building. It is the material that fascinated him. The
material that changed shape and therefore substance, becoming something else.
«The professors had me make brands and moulds, a passion that began around the
age of sixteen. At the time I had even created a gearbox for a 5-speed car»,
Rossi recalls proudly. For him, everything began in a garage – just like those
stars and stripes stories that we have learned to know – and then ended up
selling around the world. We talked
about extrusion earlier to describe
this manufacturer specialised in the production of equipment and machinery. But
what does it mean exactly? Giuliano Rossi himself explains it to us. «Extrusion
is an industrial production process of plastic deformation that allows the
production of pieces with a constant section, such as tubes, bars, profiles,
sheets. We make steel moulds to produce plastic profiles applied in various
sectors: construction, automotive, electrical, medical, technical profiles,
reinforced. Some examples are profiles for window frames, for electrical
conduits, for gaskets», explains Rossi.
Solutions of excellence. Human capital and technological capital, together. Technology evolves,
as does sensitivity. «Today we also try to use recycled material, such as
recycled plastic, which comes from garbage, obviously processed in the
appropriate way to be extruded, and also fabrics. Because even from waste
fabric it is possible to create the raw material to produce a profile to be
used to build a flower box or a table or benches or playground equipment in
children's spaces», says Rossi. Here are the experts in manufacturing supply
chains and calibrators for the extrusion of profiles using various plastic
materials. The company also holds several patents. For example, there is EP
1220748 for the production of extruded profiles reinforced with glass fibre.
«It was developed in the United Kingdom in collaboration with 7 European
countries. This patent, later filed, consisted of the use of continuous glass
fibre to reinforce the profiles instead of metal. Glass fibre reinforces a
profile by up to 500%, in addition to having anti-shrinkage properties, which
are essential for plastic profiles. Furthermore, it does not rust, unlike
metal, and can be recycled. It is elastic and has memory: if subjected to a
load, it flexes but then returns, that is, it does not break», says Rossi.
Today Rossi Stamp has 20 employees, including many specialised technicians,
testers and other technicians able to provide assistance in every part of the
world. Today, the turnover is 3 million euros. But hard times are looming on the
horizon because not everyone respects the rules of the game. «While for the
more standard machinery the Asian market has now invaded us, for the customised
and more complex equipment there is Rossi Stamp», says Rossi. And yet his words
reveal a need, which is becoming increasingly urgent. A warning for
legislators, regulators and representatives: “we must protect the local Italian
SMEs from Asian imports, otherwise we will soon be crushed, which is already
happening. While before we achieved 9 orders out of 10 offers, today we
struggle to achieve 1 or 2, as the difference in costs between our equipment
and the Asian ones is 90%”, concludes Rossi.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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