Since its
inception in 1986, the company figured as an excellence for the packaging
supply chain, covering markets around the world. From Zola Predosa the winning
strategy between mechanics and electronics. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Paola
Dozza, partner and sales office manager of Pactur for Fare Insieme
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
If there is
a distinctive feature of the companies of excellence of this Emilian triangle,
lying between Modena, Bologna and Ferrara, it is in the strategic balance between
being artisanal and being industrial. The artisan vocation lies in the
tailor-made solutions. The industrial vocation lies in the pioneering
internationalisation. This is the story of Pactur, a family-run business
engaged in the production of packaging machines for shrink film, therefore able
to tighten with heat. The company was established in 1986 and has been
projected to export since its inception. So today it is not surprising that it
is better known abroad than in national boundaries. «The domestic market also
followed and today it oscillates between 30% and 50%, but the specificity of
the company has always been, from the very beginning, that of selling abroad:
from Europe to South America, from Russia to Australia and up to the Far East.
At the time there was not such an international vision, which is why we were
pioneers», says Paola Dozza, partner
and sales office manager of the Pactur company. The winning strategy was to be
multi-localised and multi-market, breaking down the boundaries between sectors
and thus ensuring continuity. «You have to be scared when a market takes over,
because it could prove dangerous if things change. This is why our turnover is
made up of many different orders, which are all important but none that is
fundamental. On the other hand, we live off our strengths and our finances and
therefore if we did not do so we would not be able to afford a possible crisis
in the geographic or sectoral market», explains Dozza.
Time factor. To understand this
entrepreneurial project linked to the packaging supply chain, we must move to
Zola Predosa, a town of twenty thousand souls in the metropolitan area of
Bologna nestled between the plains and the hillsides, considered the gateway
to Val Samoggia, about twelve kilometres from the Two Towers (Bologna city
centre). We are in 1986 and the intuition of Andrea Turra, who founded it, is
to give a concrete answer to the lively packaging district, creating
cutting-edge packaging machines. Everything starts from the assembly and then
reaches the final delivery of the product. The initial investment was of 5
million old Italian lire. But what made the difference was to have been
forerunners in the market, selling many manual machines. All this made it
possible to finance research on automatic machines. A constant growth, we said
before. A few years later, precisely in 1992, the company took over the
carpentry in Zola Predosa, which cut and folded sheets on behalf of Pactur. «At
the time it was a visionary approach. There was and always has been a great
team game. In addition to Turra, one of the architects of our success was
Claudio Tondi, who is still our workshop manager today and to whom we recognise
the development of electronics in our machines», Dozza recalls. Today Pactur is
a 100% made in Italy producer. The company employs twelve people for a turnover
of 1.5 million euros. All the bagging machines do the same type of packaging,
that is, they seal the cellophane around the product and when required they
tighten the bag to the product, so that it becomes a sort of second skin. Time
must be read through the lens of continuity and evolution. «The demand for
packaging machines has changed over the years, with a concentration that has
shifted from manual and semi-automatic to automatic ones and with electronics
that plays a more strategic role today», says Dozza.
Italian pride. “To create, to improve, to support": the mission is summarised
behind these three actions. «It means being small, but, at the same time,
having great cutting-edge solutions. We work in a market where margins are low,
so we must necessarily identify solutions with performing machines. This is why
our workshop prototype department constantly searches for solutions that can
distinguish us from others», Dozza points out. The development of the market
has multiplied the competition, especially from the Far East, and all this has
hit the lower end, made up of those machines with which Pactur was born. Thus,
the escape route towards electronics that makes the difference. Innovation is
aimed at simplification, with high Italian quality. And for Dozza it is a pride
to hear the comments of the customers at fairs praising the beauty and
functionality of the company's machines, assuming that they must necessarily be
Italian. Then there is the brand of the entire Pactur range, which sums up the
philosophy. It is LadyPack and in Italian you would literally call it
"lady machine" to mean a great machine. «It is an expression of admiration
that you state when you look at something that is very beautiful, refined, of
quality. In Italian, this is what we say when describing a "lady
bicycle" (great bicycle) or a "lady house" (splendid house). It
is the top product», says Dozza. For her the passion has remained unchanged
over the years. The future is made up of electronics, without neglecting
mechanics and bodywork; in other words, the aesthetics that is the seal of the
company. The machine can pack books or sandwiches, but it must be beautiful,
meeting all packaging needs with multi-purpose models. So the challenge is to
build better performing and at the same time more versatile solutions, which
can package products of different sizes. Always innovate, never stop, as
whoever stops is lost.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
Leggi le altre interviste
