In the area of Modena, there is a company that has become a world reference point in the industrial packaging sector. We talk about integrated logistics and packaging in the name of innovation and sustainability. Per FARE INSIEME Giampaolo Colletti interview Giovanni and Marco Arletti, founder and CEO of Chimar
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero.
This story begins with the new millennium. That awaited, feared and celebrated year 2000. A 2000 to be filled with meaning, but made up of an unquestionable assumption: in the world, people and goods would be even more interconnected. In continuous movement. It may seem a paradox but, in this period marked by the maximum expression of virtual worlds - and, therefore, of the use of technology - we have been travelling further and farther afield (and even beyond). Sure, the pandemic has stopped us temporarily, the war is contributing significantly to the immobility, but goods and products do travel. So, this story is about people and goods on a permanent journey and it started with the new millennium. Chimar opened its doors in 2000 and became a limited company. And how far it has come, staying within the metaphor of the journey.
Listening to the market. We are in Limidi, a hamlet with three thousand inhabitants in the municipality of Soliera, in the province of Modena. This is home to one of the most structured companies in the field of industrial packaging by sea, land and air. Crates with juxtaposed boards, plywood crates, platforms or liners. But also ultra-light and reusable boxes for computers, musical instruments, works of art, sports activities. And folding crates of all kinds. Competence, innovation and sustainability. The aim is to protect products through integrated logistics and packaging. “However, our real assets are our people, with their creativity and power to innovate. In Chimar, we call it the culture of "us". It refers to the sharing by all people of the heritage of knowledge, values and rules», say Giovanni and Marco Arletti, founder and CEO of Chimar, respectively. Today, this excellence from Emilia Romagna has a turnover of 62 million euros and employs a team of 500 people in 20 plants. However, Chimar's story is one of constantly listening to the market. “Around 2007, we realised that customers were asking us for something different: they were asking for services related to logistics and packaging. So, over the years, we changed the nature of our offer and, from packaging, we embraced logistics. Today, we take care of everything: from storage to loading, from on site packaging to transport, from assembly to testing and customs clearance. We offer a complete service from the receipt of goods to their classification, from packaging and wrapping to transport and dispatch. So, we have introduced the transport and shipping part”, says Giovanni Arletti. Then, there is the focus on environmental sustainability issues, in an emergency historical phase. “Our approach to the environment has developed over time and we were not just satisfied with a green product. We also wanted to offer a service in line with the logic of sustainability. Therefore, today, we use material from forests with legal and certified felling: where one tree is removed, three to five additional trees are replanted. We have two certifications for wood and cardboard. By choosing this packaging solution, customers are showing their environmental awareness”, Marco Arletti explains. This is how wooden packaging, customised solutions, cardboard boxes or folding crates are developed. “Common sense and environmentally conscious choices certainly generate additional costs. When we say that the wood only comes from responsibly managed forests, this implies a higher investment. However, we have chosen the responsibility of those who respect the environment," says Giovanni Arletti. An environmental revolution that started with design and technology: the company has introduced cad systems to modify the packaging on a technical and verified basis. And, while in the early days, the use of raw materials was abundant, today, thanks to hi-tech and engineering design tools, sections are optimised and thanks to wood and cardboard, we save natural materials.
Technology and human capital. After all, computer programmes have made it possible to calculate structures and use wood in the most suitable sections, produce less waste and consume less electricity. Then, there is the challenge of building a co-generation plant: in Chimar, wood waste is used to produce electricity and heat. And competitiveness and sustainability go hand in hand. "Being environmentally aware has also been a commercial opportunity for customers, an advantage. Doing better is worthwhile. Today, our professional skills have changed and a managerial approach has been developed in the company. However, everyone must be put in a position to do his/her best. We need to focus on creativity and innovation", Giovanni and Marco Arletti explain. This is why the company invests in training and in the well-being of its employees and communities. This is how the company's garden came into being: a cultivated plot of land that allows to redistribute the produce of the land to employees every evening. Then, there are the subsidised insurance policies and many agreements. A policy that makes the company attractive and allows it to think as a plurality even in the most difficult times, when it is necessary to give one's best and roll up one's sleeves. Giovanni and Marco Arletti remember the 2008 crisis, when they decided to meet their employees - their extended family - to reiterate that they would try to live through this complex time together. Then there was the tragedy of the Emilian earthquake, with the collapse of a warehouse and machines under the rubble in Cavezzo, and fortunately with all the people miraculously unharmed. In the future, the bet is on investments in all the plants. And, above all, on people, the raw material that turns entrepreneurial projects into success stories.
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