Over twenty years ago, an intuition in
Formigine (Modena) enables the creation of a business focused on touch-screen
machines. Today, the company - a leader in the production of stainless steel
and aluminium industrial keyboards, number pads, panels and metal frames for
touch-screen monitors - boasts a turnover of €9.5 million with one third of the
sales made abroad. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Roberto
Gatti, CEO of Grafos Steel.
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
It’s easy to talk about touch screens in a world that is already connected to systems
controlled with the touch of fingers on a screen, first and foremost
smartphones. It was a much more complex thing to think and implement over
twenty years ago. Yet, in the Modena area there is a company that, before all
others, sensed a certain way of considering the relationship between man and
machines. A company that acted as a pioneer anticipating the times and becoming
a leader precisely when it came to that touch-screencomponent.
We are talking about Grafos Steel, an Italian excellence in the production of
stainless steel and aluminium industrial keyboards, number pads, panels and
metal frames for touch-screen monitors and embedded systems. Technical skill
and state-of-the-art equipment guarantee the control of production processes, from
mechanical processing to printing. The production ranges from simple engraved
plates and front panels to more complicated solutions featuring buttons and
interface ports. Applications range from automation to payment and control
systems.
Ideas
that make the difference. The
idea of tackling a titanic challenge came in 2001 - anticipating the future by
focusing on quality without compromises. All done with a simple yet complex
recipe: quite a few technical skills, hi-tech devices and an essential
component, i.e. a qualified, curious and brave human capital. Today, the company
boasts 93 employees and a turnover of €9.5 million in 2021, expected to reach €12
million in 2022. 35% of the market is abroad, yet there is the question of the
availability of raw materials and components. “The market has been fluctuating for quite
a while. Our business focuses on steel keyboards where there are very few
producers. We sell over 150 thousand of them a year”, explains Roberto Gatti, CEO of
Grafos Steel. This entrepreneur had
his winning intuition when he was 23. Now that he is 62, only too well does he
remember that bet placed and won forty years earlier with a mix of audacity and
recklessness. “At the time, we started making screen printing films, then
we moved on to keyboards with a considerable investment in mechanics. We
started working on man-machine interfaces immediately,”
recalls Gatti. And he
tells this story as if it is something obvious, something very simple to
achieve. “I have done all this with my team, with a lot of
experiments and that required capability of putting ourselves in the shoes of
users, of listening to market needs,” stresses Gatti. The keyboards are made
with a patented technology and the solutions are always heavily customised. It’s as if a varied colour palette was
available. “Each option has specific characteristics that depend
on the interface model, number of buttons, type of assembly or more particular
details such as the backlight, screen printing and various marks. This way, clients
have what they want in a short time and without the additional costs of
customised plants,” says Gatti.
Towards the future. So today the capital of touch-screen innovation is his company, with
a production space covering over one thousand square metres. The company is
located in Fromigine, a town of almost 35thousand people ten kilometres from
Modena, in that area known all over the world for its hi-tech district. Standard
keyboards are similar to the digital ones that appear at the petrol station: it
is a hi-tech system which is however very user-friendly and can be picked-up
immediately. The success of this mechatronic reality is that something
functional and attractive is produced, i.e. technology that is both useful and
attractive. “These mechanics are aesthetic as well as precise: steel keyboards are on
their way out. Capacitive glass made in
clean rooms that eliminate dust particles with clear conductive varnishes are
currently very popular. It's an evolution of touch-screens that involves
industry 4.0 interconnected via data and connected to production,” explains Gatti. Right,
production. The Ubersetto facility, a small town with 300 inhabitants in the
Fiorano Modenese municipality will become over the next few months a 4.0 factory
covering three thousand square metres where orders will be managed according to
hi-tech standards. Production, yet with a lot of research and development. Grafos
Steel has also increased its investments in R&D, equipping itself with
state-of-the-art technologies especially to process steel and aluminium as well
as with a screen printing line and a Clean Room. This is where the new products
are born and brought to the attention of markets all over the world. Once again,
there is only one thing that is imperative for Gatti and his team. Anticipating
the future. And, of course, improving it.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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