Interview with Paolo Tirelli, Catas director

It has now been a year since engineer Paolo Tirelli has been leading Catas, the testing laboratory for the wood-furniture sector that our readers have come to know very well…

Paolo Tirelli is not a new name: he boasts a long and honorable career within Catas, an important experience that undoubtedly influenced the decision of the board of directors to proceed internally, entrusting him with the direction of the laboratory. A passing of the baton, after Franco Bulian decided to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.
There is no need to explain what Catas is: for many years now it has stood alongside Xylon, Acimall, and Xylexpo in a whole series of study and in-depth initiatives, a true partnership that has made it possible to organize dozens of events, “techbinars”, meetings, articles, and insights; a wealth of opportunities that – we are certain – we will continue to offer you in the coming seasons.
We were saying that Tirelli has now been at the helm of Catas for a year, a period he has certainly used to step into the new role he was called upon to take on, putting him in the best possible position to tell us about himself and the ideas he intends to pursue…

Just to break the ice: happy you accepted?
“I certainly cannot deny the satisfaction of having been ‘promoted’ – Tirelli replies with a laugh – even though I must admit that finding myself in this role also brought some fears, some concerns: the first six months were a constant look at new scenarios, tackled in the ongoing search for a ‘method’ to build what I believe Catas should be in the near future.
And it is this idea that then, day after day, indicates what is right to do toward the two main objectives I have set myself: on the one hand, always keeping in mind that Catas’ greatest asset is the people who work there, therefore ensuring that they can always feel in the ‘right place’; on the other, doing everything possible to manage a machine with intense daily activity that must never miss the opportunity to look ahead, to what will come, trying to intuit before others what the future will look like.
I must say that for this second aspect, our participation in standardization groups is invaluable, as is collaborating with so many companies in Italy and around the world, and providing training in countless different contexts. We keep our antennas up to understand what the playing field of the next few years will be…”.

… because ultimately each of the directors who preceded you chose a specific “vocation”…
“You are right: Angelo Speranza was the founder of this reality, Andrea Giavon strongly pushed the standardization front, Franco Bulian amplified our work on the training side: it is up to me and to the many who work with us to understand what the watchword of the time that awaits us will be”.

Engineer Tirelli, you know Catas very well…
“I joined Catas in 2002 as a ‘thesis student’, an opportunity to get to know each other and to begin outlining what would later become an important chapter in my professional path. I am a mechanical engineer who grew tired quite early – I admit it – of steel and who, in the fifth year of university, chose to specialize in polymers: when Catas needed a manager for the Materials Testing Department, I did not think twice and accepted the position.
I must admit that a couple of times I imagined having other experiences, but in the end the conviction always prevailed that the idea underlying this reality is absolutely brilliant.
We could define it as a mosaic, a structure in which dozens if not hundreds of tasks are carried out in fields that can be very distant from one another, always with top-level expertise that allows us to engage with highly challenging sectors, providing services of absolute excellence, while always maintaining the possibility to train, stay up to date, and learn something every day: it is in this synergy that, in my opinion, the best of what Catas is finds expression, a small-sized, flexible, and highly competent company, capable of establishing relationships of trust with its clients and fully aware that it must always provide an answer, an answer that must be clear, unambiguous, and decisive.
Ultimately, this is what I believe must absolutely be present in the DNA of any organization: passion, competence, heart, relationship. This is the lifeblood that allows us to be different from everyone else and to still be here in fifty or a hundred years!”.

“You see, when people ask me what Catas is, I answer that it is a ‘service-oriented’ company. Of course we have to generate revenue, otherwise we cannot pay salaries, but first and foremost we are a ‘service-oriented’ company. We are so with our client companies and we are so in schools and wherever we provide training, trying to create as many opportunities as possible to engage with all the realities around us: we always keep our doors open, and if there is a need to lend a hand to complete the training of students or technicians from some company, we are there, because it is part of what we know we must do. We are not interested in keeping secrets: what we know is available to those we meet, because ultimately we are like many others, we know what many others know, but what we do, we do differently. And this is what I believe to be the great value of Catas”.

What would the furniture world have done without you?
“We are not that arrogant: it would have found other points of reference, even though we are fully aware of what we have been able to give. Our expertise in the field of international standardization has undoubtedly allowed many companies to take the path abroad, knowing they could rely on us to always be ‘aligned’ with the market they intended to face.
We have also done everything in our power to spread and nurture an increasingly articulated and in-depth industry culture…
The growth of this sector has been extremely important, even though there is still much, very much left to do: there are still many companies that think testing, the work of a laboratory, represents only a cost and have not understood that it is instead a tool to increase their value and their knowledge of their products.
It is also true, however, that driven precisely by some companies in the sector, we have grown as well. I am referring to product certification activities, which are becoming increasingly important for us and which allow us to support companies in a more structured and continuous way.
Then there is the great theme of sustainability: the real focus is finally looking no longer only at the product, but at the entire process to create it. Optimizing the various steps of a production process so that it is objectively sustainable is not only a virtuous passport in environmental terms, but a clear improvement in being a company, a further emphasis on the values it expresses”.

Is the “testing world” a difficult environment?
“Undoubtedly. We confront authentic giants every day, laboratories that employ hundreds if not thousands of people. On our side we have history and people, with whom we have built specialized expertise across the entire furniture production chain.
We know very well that we possess a heritage that we must protect and expand every day if we want to continue to be a point of reference worldwide. The greatest risk is thinking we are so good that we need not fear anyone: that would be the beginning of the end…”.

What are the short-term plans?
“To invest even more in the people who work at Catas, to offer them a clear and effective organization that allows everyone to always know what is expected of them and what path we can offer; a merit-based path aligned with each person’s potential.
People matter, and being clear about the value recognized in them can generate a virtuous cycle with extremely positive effects”.

And as for the sector?
“It is already changing: both those who produce finished products and those who operate in B2B and subcontracting are shaping their vision of the product not only around costs and sales, but also around processes, whether internal or integrated, quality control and maintenance of minimum requirements, both along the supply chain and throughout the product’s useful life.
And all of this will benefit the end consumer. Everything is changing very quickly, and the motivation that drives the purchase of one product rather than another has increasingly blurred boundaries: the only certainty is that Catas, even though we will necessarily also pay more attention to other sectors, will have the world of furniture and furnishings in general as its focal point. Bringing new values, as I have mentioned several times, because I am convinced that this is precisely where the future of companies – and therefore ours – is at stake. Having the foresight to involve capable people in Catas, with a strong international vocation, because the market is a horizon that keeps moving farther away.
And let me conclude by inviting companies to come to Catas not only when they have a problem to solve or an obligation to fulfill: let us work together to create an increasingly rooted and profound industry and business culture. This is what I would like to see as a shared priority…”.

Edited by Luca Rossetti
catas.it