“Dimension, quality, flexibility, service!”
These are the four keywords that have to lead the “revival” of Italian companies. There is the risk, unfortunately rather realistic, to be excluded from an increasingly demanding market.
“The crisis exists. That’s undeniable.An extremely long and heavy crisis.But it is also true that it has not brought everybody to their knees, it has not affected people to the same extent”. This was the start of our chat with Ambrogio Delachi, president of Acimall and experienced “sailor” in the wood industry. As it often happens, we asked him some time for a few remarks and views to introduce this issue of Italianwoodtech dedicated to the German May.
“The situation is difficult for many”, he continued. “But all those who have managed to organize themselves in the right way and on time, all those who have been far-sighted, today are not experiencing a dramatic situation.It is undeniable that since 2008 a global “economic transformation” has been occurring, but there are still companies resisting the shock wave, terrible as it may be.
And we are back to the same old story that I have been personally repeating for many, too many years: we have experienced decades during which customers fought to have our machines, years of strong demand.It’s no longer like that:today it is vital to have the right organization from a dimensional as well as technical and product point of views.We need to be able to understand – and, much better, to anticipate – the needs of our market, providing our customers with technologies combined with proper technical solutions, without which it is impossible to survive in an increasingly sophisticated, competitive and demanding market.
Italy has always boasted excellent companies, but when it was the time to significantly invest in “high technology”, this was not done and so they let foreign competitors overtake them.Today we are excellent promoters of mid-range technology, but we are not able, in most cases, to propose and be kept into consideration for the supply of big and technologically advanced equipment with high level of automation. We can still count on many niche companies that are recording great success in global markets, but they represent niche markets however.It’s a business of big numbers, where we are squeezed between German high-end technology on one side and emerging countries’ manufacturers on the other side, whereby we cannot certainly compete with the latter in terms of pricing”.
Mr. President, where did we go wrong? What have we missed?
“In the companies producing furniture and wood technologies, process experts are missing.We are convinced that a wardrobe or a chair are always produced in the same way: that’s not true.The production process of a window or a stair has changed and users look for suitable technical support.And I add:not only in the definition stages of the equipment or the purchase, but across the entire machine lifecycle.Providing assistance and post-sales services now that all sales are abroad, and in increasingly remote markets, makes things a bit more difficult…
Second thing:takeovers and mergers seem to have convinced everybody of the need to solve problems at the industrial level and no investments have been made on products, technologies. Too difficult, maybe, because in order to have success you do not need to have experiences in huge assembling lines but you just need to know the peculiarities of wood and wood-based products processing.And we have lost the expertise.
We visit potential customers and we ask them what they want, what they need.A mistake.In my opinion we would get more results if instead of “being subjected” to the customer, waiting for his needs we went to propose him to make the same things but in a better way with reduced time and higher profitability.Our must is to have the expertise to understand his problem and offer the best solution; we must be the ones who propose.We are no longer the problem solvers of thirty years ago, when the customer knew where he wanted to go and we told him how to get there. Today our customers are aware that things are changing but they struggle to find those who have the tools to find an answer.
I repeat:we do need more wood technicians, people who perfectly know the processes and adapt the machines to the processes and not the processes to the machines.
“If we add – continued the President of Acimall – that there are no more quantities, that we need machines with huge flexibility, allowing to ensure the extreme finished product quality also for furniture items of lower market-ends.
Today a high level of quality is a prerequisite, if you buy a furniture item in retail chains as well as in the shop of one of the most renowned design brands, and furniture must also provide the buyer with necessary warranties as to safety and environmental impact”.
At this stage what can we do?
“First of all we must receive different answers from the banking system.How many excellent companies have acted, invested and spent money to do the right things and then found themselves in deep water not for their fault, but due to a short-sighted banking system that cannot recognize and protect good entrepreneurs?
And I repeat once again:lots of our companies need new energies both as to technical-technological side as well as in the sales area.It is necessary to think about the cooperation with other companies more proactively and with an open-minded approach, even with a limit to the sales aspect if it is not possible to act differently. We must understand that there is no other way than creating joint-ventures, associations and companies gathering five, ten complementary manufacturers that know how to integrate their expertise and – with the rationalization of their products – face together a global market that asks for specific industrial standards – otherwise unachievable by single companies due to their limited resources.
A customer that is willing to invest some hundreds thousands euros wants to know who is in front of him, what are his credentials and his economic and financial situation, who will deal with the assistance and spare parts, how and with which times, who designed the software and how he will ensure the updating process or the necessary evolution. Do I have to add anything else?
Investors are always very attentive, not because they are looking for the lowest price but because he is willing to spend also much more money exclusively in front of certainties.Thus it is significant to have a machine suitable for their process and ensure quality, service, assistance, updates and flexibility”.
“Let me conclude with two words that are really important, today much more than ever:I am talking about “flexibility” and “customization”.Everybody is pronouncing these words, but I am not convinced that all of them really know how much they represent.We are not talking about making an orange and a green chair, but to be extremely flexible also on huge production lines that produce thousands of pieces per time unit, customize with huge simplicity the living room of Mrs. Maria as compared to Mrs. Giulia’s one without losing time.
We will be facing extremely difficult times, tests that will not be passed by everybody. I am firmly convinced that “made in Italy” has many things to say, that we can continue on the way for which we are appreciated in the world, but all the entrepreneurs that have not had yet the strength, the knowledge or the bravery to make choices that cannot be postponed could soon perceive to have arrived too late..:”.
The four keywords
by Ambrogio Delachi
ultima modifica: 2013-04-29T00:00:00+00:00
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