From Fiorano Modenese to markets all over the world. There is a company that is continuing to revolutionise the ceramics sector and that invented the most noble product, porcelain stoneware. Three production sites in Italy, three foreign subsidiaries in Spain, America and India, sales offices in China and North Africa, for a turnover of Euro 44.6 million. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviews Corrado Fanti, CEO of LB Technology
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
If this company were a
restaurant, it would be a gourmet, genuine and refined one. Here, the
ingredients come to life and are processed in a thousand different ways. A
kitchen laboratory where the raw materials find meaning. And where there is
continuous experimentation. Welcome to LB Technology, reference point in the
design and construction of plants for the treatment of raw and secondary
materials in a wide range of sectors: ceramics, building, mining, pet food and
plastic and glass waste recycling. The word “technology” is used for a reason.
Because for fifty years the best solutions have been studied and innovative
mixing, milling, granulation, colouring and recycling systems have been
produced here. It all began in 1973 in Fiorano Modenese, a town with a
population of 15,000 souls in the heart of the ceramics district that the world
envies us. We are a few kilometres outside Modena, in the area with the highest
concentration of industrial plants for ceramics. Here there is also the famous
Formula One racetrack, belonging to the Scuderia Ferrari racing team and used
for private tests. And here, life is a race, a real race. Not only in the cars
of the prancing horse, but also in day-to-day work. Passion and total
dedication to the client. After all, the roar of the engine, that in these
parts is music, also beats in the hearts of the more than 150 people who work
in LB Technology. The company has three production sites in Italy, three
foreign subsidiaries in Spain, America and India, sales offices in China and
North Africa and a turnover of Euro 44.6 million, 33% generated in Italy and
the rest abroad.
Laboratories
of excellence. LB stands for Ligabue Bigi, the surnames of two friends with a passion
for mechanical engineering, who worked together in a competitor company. Based
on their technical insight and commercial skills, LB begins to carry out
research, revolutionises the world of ceramics and contributes to inventing the
most noble product, porcelain stoneware. The company grows and sets up
specialist units: one of these is Sermat, established in 1980 for the
reconditioning and re-use of existing machines and plants; in this way it
became a forerunner of the circular economy with the machines for the milling
of ceramic scrap and for the recovery of sludge from production. Roots anchored
in the territory but business everywhere. LB takes porcelain stoneware around
the world. In the beginning, everything rotates around the ceramics sector with
the preparation of the raw materials, management of the mixtures and feeding of
the presses, that is, the operation during which the material is loaded and
that then gives shape to the tile. The company diversifies over time. And this
proves to be a winning choice. «It was the dawn of ceramics plant-engineering
and the start of extraordinary years of experimentation. After all, Sassuolo is
the cradle of ceramics at a global level and technology has always been a
fundamental part of the work. Today, in the laboratory there are two production
lines that manage the raw material and a technology centre that has carried out
research in these years, allowing our clients to improve their production
processes, save water and resources and make their business sustainable», says
Corrado Fanti, CEO of LB Technology. And this is where the metaphor of the race
returns with force. So, the research carried out by the company will once again
lead to the registration of two patents this year, while other six are linked
to the milling and granulation sector.
Advanced and winning research. Today, the gem of
Technology Center di LB, its research and development laboratory, employs 10
people: materials, mining and mechatronic engineers. They are joined by other
15 people in the technical office who contribute to the development of the
product. «Because we need specific know-how of the raw materials, mechanical
engineering and electronics. The human capital is fundamental: in every project
it is the people who have the ideas», says Fanti, who joined the company just a
few months ago, with a degree in mechanical engineering under his belt and a
long career in a large company that makes gardening and small-scale
agricultural machines. Never stop, because resting on one's laurels means
switching off the roar of the engine. The research area is a large covered
space: six hundred square metres with
several different types of plants. There are granulators, mills and everything
needed to prepare the mixtures. There are also two presses for the stress
tests. There is an area with the granulator for fertilisers. In short, it’s
like finding yourself in an inventor’s house: in every corner there is a
treasure to discover. This is the secret of advanced research, based on the
ownership of patents and lying at the base of every successful company. «The
future is built one day at a time, focussing on technological diversification,
the circular economy and the recovery of waste materials that are put back into
the production process. In this way, any tiles that break or simply chip can
now be recovered and look as good as new», ensures Fanti. And he has no doubt
about the best and most challenging project. «It’s still to come».
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
Leggi le altre interviste
