Company profile of a company that designs, manufactures and commercializes equipment for the maintenance of public green spaces, including shredders, reach mowers, forestry mulchers, hydraulic and forestry flail heads and radio-controlled tool carriers For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviewed Sandro and Gisella Ferri, the fifth generation in charge of the company.
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
If we had a time machine, we would have to travel way back in time to tell this story - almost two centuries. Because the company profile we are about to set out has its roots way back in time. It is the centuries-old history of a very contemporary company. Ferri is a company from Ferrara that looks really good for its considerable age.
Company history. We will soon talk about the company we find today, but let’s talk some more about the company of yesteryear. The company was set up in 1844, the time when - just to give you an idea - the telegraph was invented and the Ferrara territory was still fully agricultural and part of the Papal State. In those years, Giovanni Ferri decided to set up his blacksmith business, precisely where the company is still located today. From generation to generation, the profession evolved to meed the different needs of the agricultural world, as the requirements for increased comfort in safety at work evolved. In the early 1900s, the Ferri family fixes the first steam tractors and locomotives while, during the second postwar period, it contributed to improving the working conditions of local workers by converting military trucks into tractors or anyway into useful vehicles for an Emilian agriculture that was evolving - after the various land reclamations - into something more modern and mechanised. Towards the end of the 1950s, Ulisse Ferri became convinced that the mechanisation of agriculture would improve production capacity as well as alleviate the efforts of workers and, in just a few years, he invented or improved agricultural equipment that is still being used in the fields of Emilia-Romagna to this day.
Company profile. From past to present, from yesterday to today. Ferri designs, manufactures and commercializes equipment for the maintenance of public green spaces, including shredders, reach mowers, forestry mulchers, hydraulic and forestry flail heads and radio-controlled tool carriers “Over the years, we evolved our range to meet the needs expressed by our clients in the best of ways. For example, we recently developed an electrical innovative reach mower that is therefore no longer hydraulic,” report Sandro and Gisella Ferri, the fifth generation in charge of the company. The sixth generation actually first started working in the company already 5 years ago and is acquiring the knowledge for a gradual handover, considering the current economic situation. One thing that characterises Ferri products is their high-quality. “Starting with internal design that is synonymous with consistency and reliability, and continuing with procurement, as we have been working with our suppliers for over 40 years, down to the manufacturing phase and high-quality spare parts. There, we are capable of providing spare parts for our equipment manufactured over 35 years ago, while the law requires us to provide them for only 10,” explain Sandro and Gisella Ferri.
Around the world. We mentioned Ferrara. The company is located - and has been for 180 years - in Tamara, a town of just over 1,000 inhabitants in the Copparo municipality, seven km from Ferrara. It employs 100 workers, mainly locals who have been working for the company for almost 10 years on average. While the company is located in Italy, it looks to the whole world. The Italian market represents 28% of the turnover, while exports cover the remaining 72%. The company has a strong propensity to export, but also to maintain the commercial relationships established with its partners, whether Italian or foreign. It also has a commercial branch in Europe’s largest agricultural market, i.e. France. Ferri operates in different sectors, including the agricultural one, the maintenance of road green areas, forestry and industrial machinery, as it supplies flail heads to the leading global producers of excavators. From Ferrara to the world, as we mentioned earlier - as company products have been shipped to Chile, Kazakhstan and beyond. What is the secret to being glocal, i.e. near the community while global at the same time? Sandro and Gisella have no doubts about this. “We like to think that every market is unique and, as such, it must be managed by paying the utmost attention to its needs and requirements.” The entire production takes place in the Tamara facility, where the machines are designed, manufactured, tested and commercialized. Every single piece has its own serial number, like an actual signature. “A good example is the rotor, the true heart of our products, that rotates at almost 3,000 rpm when in operation! Every single rotor is balanced and bears an engraving confirming the production phases passed,” explain Sandro and Gisella. They put their mark on as well as their heart into the business, which is the secret to success.
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