In Novi, near Modena, a company began to focus on IoT, that is, the Internet of Things, before the term was even coined. The company was founded by a group of visionaries led by Paolo Melegoni, Fausto Tosi and Giancarlo Scianna. Today, Micro System is a technology partner for dozens of companies. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviews Francesco Melegoni, CEO of Micro Systems
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
There are visionary entrepreneurial
stories. Ahead of the times, ushering in revolutions and beating untrodden
paths. In short, charting the way. These are businesses that combine a vision
with concrete action. For sure they make mistakes, but they take initiative, do
things over again and, in the end, they triumph. Theirs are pioneering visions,
brilliant insights. For example, did you know that consumer electronics and the
subsequent evolution of IoT - acronym for Internet of Things, that is, everything
that concerns objects connected to each other and therefore smart - began in
Emilia? No way, you might say. Yet while overseas, in hi-tech centres financed
by a successful public-private mix, all sorts of innovations were being churned
out - think of Silicon Valley, whose name (oddly enough) stems from the glut of
silicon - in other areas of the world experiments were already being carried
out. And one of these areas was - and still is - Emilia! IoT, as we said
earlier. Bear this acronym in mind because the story I’m about to tell you
explains it best. Paolo Melegoni, born in Modena and now living in Reggiolo,
was just 29 years old when he decided to set out on this untrodden path.
Bravery? Folly? Resourcefulness? Go figure, Paolo. However, to be fair, he did
have a more seasoned companion by his side. A guide, or rather a mentor, as he
would be called today. Because Paolo Melegoni, with a diploma from the Fermi
high school in Modena with specialisation in electronics and electrical
engineering and a degree in physics with thesis on electronics when this was
still not a popular subject, was championed by an enlightened professor who
taught him the subject. And more. He gave him a passion for electronics. So,
together with his other partners, Fausto Tosi and Giancarlo Scianna, he decided
to set up a company focussed on custom electronics. Basically, Paolo Melegoni
decided to place all his bets on the production of electronic control boards
for machines. Indeed, back in 1984 he realised that
machine manufacturers needed control electronics tailored to their needs. IoT
was introduced in 2013 with the remote control of all machines sold worldwide. We are in
Novi di Modena and Micro Systems would be born shortly afterwards.
Company profile “Dad, and
the company’s founding partners, always told us that they firmly believed in
what was at first just a vision. They had to make the first high risk
investments to buy the equipment they needed and the first customers
immediately appreciated the skill, care and innovative spirit they put into
their projects. I belong to the second generation, but I fully understand that
their insight was that Italian machine manufacturers needed control electronics
designed for their specific needs, and that using a standard commercial controller
was restrictive or ineffective”. So
says Francesco Melegoni, Paolo’s son who now runs the company alongside Tiziana
Tosi. The winning model has not changed: forging a relationship with the
customer, cooperating to find the best hardware or software configuration to
make the machines more competitive, more technologically advanced, more
user-friendly. “Today, we are able to give a clear-cut and comprehensive answer
to the question of IoT, offering all the components needed to create the
ecosystem our customers need: hardware for connectivity, cloud, web portals and
apps fully customised to their needs”, notes Melegoni. Today, the company has
44 employees, a turnover of Euro 6.2 million and works mainly on the Italian
market: its customers are machine manufacturers. Manufacturers of ovens, ice
cream machines, cranes and floor cleaning machines to name just a few. “At the
heart there is our passion for innovation, seeing ourselves as a strategic
partner, becoming our customers’ electronics department, with the aim of
improving the competitiveness of their machines on the markets. Over the years,
this spirit has been upheld, but we have stretched out to IoT connectivity”, says
Melegoni.
Between past and future. Beware, though. Breaking new ground entails risks. Pioneers, the real
ones, are well aware of this. It is not all sweetness and light. “The most
rewarding moment was seeing the company grow, seize new opportunities and grow
its market share, entering the unexplored territory of IoT when this term did
not yet exist and successfully establishing itself. The most challenging time?
2021 and 2022 when the shortage of electronic components meant we had to
redesign a large number of electronic boards to allow our customers to continue
producing”,
Melegoni recalls. In the meantime, artificial intelligence, big data, machine
learning and the digitisation of processes with a focus on environmental
sustainability are knocking on that door called the future. All we have to do
is picture that future and let it in. It sounds easy, but it’s a real
challenge.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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