This
Emilian company has been designing and manufacturing gearmotors, gearboxes and
variators since 1955. And it exports everywhere. The identikit of Varvel, a
company boasting a turnover of €48 million, 70% of which made through exports.
For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Mauro Cominoli, General
Manager at Varvel
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
A basement from where a true revolution started -
the company that now exports a piece of future into the world was born in
Bologna in 1955. Varvel deals with the design and manufacturing of gearmotors,
gearboxes and variators.
People and
technology.
Gearboxes are geared mechanical transmission devices that transport the
movement of a motor (electric or hydraulic) to the machine which they are
applied to, reducing its speed to adapt it to particular operational needs.
While it reduces speed, the gearbox multiplies the power supplied, technically
defined as torque. Varvel gearboxes are suitable for small and medium powers,
they are versatile and can be used in light industry generally connected to an
electric motor. There are standard and special versions, designed for specific
clients and applications, studied upon the client’s request to meet machinery
needs. The company boasts an aggregate turnover of €48.2 million, expected to
exceed €50 million in 2022, and employs around 200 people. Roots deeply
anchored to the ground of that Bologna metropolitan area teeming with
innovation. We find ourselves in Valsamoggia, a town of thirty-thousand people
between Bologna and Modena. The headquarters cover forty-five thousand square
metres. In addition to the offices, there are the production departments
manufacturing over 500 thousand products every year: turning, milling and
diameter adjustment, casting processing, toothing, involute teeth adjustment,
assembly and logistics. This corner of Emilia looks to the whole world, as
around half of the five hundred clients are located abroad. “Our DNA?
Innovation within tradition, i.e. improving past experience to introduce
something new onto the market. And always be near clients,” explains Mauro
Cominoli, General Manager at Varvel. In the meantime, requests have evolved
over time with the need to reduce delivery times down to a few days. There is
also the request for more customisation to meet the needs of single
manufacturers of machines and systems. And there is the reduction of batches
and the increase in checks and calculation to choose the most suitable gearbox
for the operating characteristics of machines. And the “zero defect” quality,
especially concerning the two Achilles’ heels of gearboxes - noise and oil
leaks. “Working has become even more of a challenge. With the pandemic, we have
tried to stay closer to the needs of clients by adding Customer Care to our
Commercial & Marketing Service for all sorts of commercial requests,
Application Engineering for technical pre-sale requests and Customer Production
Planning for the management of order flows and after-sales assistance during
the life-cycle of a product,” stresses Cominoli.
Clients at the centre. But to understand this healthy obsession with clients, we need to go
back in time by a few years. Because everything started in 1955 in Bologna,
moving from there to France and Holland in just a few years. Though everything
has changed with time - speed, technology, global competition - Varvel has
maintained its attention on people, the family-like relationships of the small
initial company and the proximity between the various levels of the
organisation. R&D feeds on client requests, as they often provide the input
and stimulus to develop new ideas, then there is the design team and the
decade-long collaboration with technical firms and external consultants. Varvel
also has a testing room for new products, new solutions and technical
improvements. “Ours is a mature field and it is not easy to invent new
products. Nonetheless, we keep working on how we can provide the market with
products that are increasingly durable and reliable. Varvel was the first
company to introduce the concept of modularity into the gearbox world starting
from 1999 and, in over 20 years, we have expanded this concept to all products
forming part of our range,” says Cominoli. All products are designed and
manufactured in Italy, though the company also has two branches abroad - one in
the US and another in India. Then there is a global network featuring over 100
commercial partners. “Being international and focused on exports has always
been a must for Varvel. Unfortunately the relationships with our distributors
have become difficult with the pandemic, especially with those outside Europe:
it is hard to share new projects, explore new outlets and of course it becomes
impossible to present them to potential clients. With the exception of a few
trips in Europe, our managers have been itching to be on the move for two
years. Videocalls have mitigated the damage, but it is difficult to grow,”
stresses Cominoli. The most rewarding moment? Cominoli has no doubt about this:
an innovation with respect to German manufacturer on speed mechanical variators,
which has also been patented. However, between technology and people, people
are the ones who count more. Technology alone does not work, it is people that
make it work. It is necessary to be increasingly fast and flexible in order to
govern the future. Change and improve every day. All this is possible.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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