“New business strategies”: the challenge launched by Biesse

Let’s go back to talking about Biesse, the question marks that have dominated the last few years, but above all the choices whose results are finally beginning to be seen.
His role has not changed: Federico Broccoli is still the Chief Commercial Officer, the point of reference for Biesse’s international markets. He is the person that the management has called to develop a winning business strategy, in a geopolitical context increasingly characterized by many uncertainties.
It was therefore a pleasure to be able to meet him and ask him all those questions that we have kept pending for so long…

 Where do we start? Can we ask you what has broken?

“Nothing has broken. I would rather say the relationship with our previous CEO has been interrupted, having arrived – perhaps a little earlier than expected – at the end of a cycle of activities that have responded to the mandate that had been entrusted to him, that is, to reorganize a company structured by individual units into a ‘one company’. Certainly not an easy operation for an organization that has over fifty years of history behind it and deep-rooted habits: pooling companies born in different times, some of which were acquired, and which have always had their own cultures, products and visions was a titanic job. A job that has had a certain success beyond nuances that we can always improve.
Today we are a one-company not only from a financial point of view, but in the day-to-day activities run by Biesse; it was not easy to bring together people, experiences, purchasing departments, design offices, components, or think about product positioning, which allowed us to eliminate even the smallest overlap. And these are just a few examples of the many actions implemented.
Not happy with that, we decided to go further and work on the product so that it would have, independently of its destination, consistency, recognizability and above all be the result of a design that shares solutions, components, values. A completely renewed industrial visual identity that makes the meaning of one-company more evident. You can imagine what all this means, what it entails – again to give an example – to update and reorganize the entire supply chain of a company like Biesse, which every year churns out between six and seven thousand machines… all without ceasing to innovate and in a market season of great complexity…”

When you talk about it, everything seems very clear, but some questions, some “but why on earth did they decide to…” – allow us – remain…

“It’s understandable: let’s say that it’s extremely difficult to do everything well and probably the strategic path of recent years has not put business in the foreground. We have focused on aspects that have projected us into an absolutely new era for Biesse, and today we have an industrial, technical and commercial structure that puts us in the best condition to recover in the short term what we have necessarily had to leave aside for a while.
We are refocusing on the development of markets. The input of the major shareholder was very precise: to start again from skills together with people with strong experience that allow us to accelerate in this direction and, if you want, it was precisely this new “desire” that prompted me to accept the task I am carrying out with the precise commitment to regain market share. A “simple” job, so to speak, because we know how to do it, we have the experience, we know the people and we can count on our subsidiaries around the world. We have made and are making important investments in sales, service and marketing, activities that will receive more attention than in the recent past”.

Are you telling us that in some way you focused more on the side course than on the main course?
“I can say that we have erred on the side of enthusiasm by putting too many irons in the fire, but the investments approved in the last two board meetings will allow us to return to covering the territories effectively. I have no doubt, because Biesse is a company with a strong product, a strong presence in the world, a strong recognizability”.

Maybe you have also chosen to “tell too little”, allowing the market to ask itself many, too many questions, which has inevitably had a negative impact on your market share.
“Our priority is to return to communicating with continuity and strengthening the visibility of the company. We are working on digital communication integrated with business intelligence systems and sales databases, to nurture one-to-one relationships and support the purchasing process with targeted and relevant messages for customers and stakeholders. In the same direction, we have made significant investments in transforming our showrooms around the world into real “Biesse Material Hubs”, advanced and unique spaces in the sector, where customers interact with the company and discover our product portfolio and the specific and vertical skills on each material that we can boast in a completely new way. The “Biesse Material Hub” in Pesaro is the fulcrum of an international network that also includes the hubs of Sydney, Osaka, Lyon, Porto and Toronto, inaugurated in March 2025, as well as fourteen showrooms active worldwide.
We have probably communicated little, but we have done a lot, and we take this opportunity to tell”.

“Let’s face it: one of the duties of a leader is to set new standards and needs and that’s what we have decided to do; we are focused – I repeat – on our business, which does not just mean selling machines, but also support, sharing, partnership, a strong choice that means putting the customer at the center in the various markets in which we are present”, continued Federico Broccoli.

“Biesse has evolved. Intensely and deeply. We have completed an important rebranding operation, a new logo that has a precise meaning: to represent all the worlds in which we are involved and for which we want to be more and more a strong point of reference, although this operation has puzzled those who were accustomed to the old logo. We have gone from a symbol that represented our origins, wood, to one that inclludes all the materials for which we have gained deep expertise over the years, further enriched thanks to recent acquisitions. Wood, glass, stone, metal, plastic and composite materials… an evolution that tells the story of a company capable of adapting, remaining faithful to its history and values.
And the market reactions are positive. I am not just referring to the new logo, but to the perception of what Biesse is today. The “Material Weeks” we organized in October brought over a thousand companies to our “Biesse Material Hub” in Pesaro, reopened after more than a year of renovation works that allowed us to redesign the path of discovery of our offer and our identity. It is time to make a strong commitment to show what we have done, to clearly tell the meaning of the last few seasons and how this has been a fundamental step to prepare us to face present and future challenges in an even stronger and more proactive way. We have certainly not denied our past, so beautiful and glorious, but we have decided to prepare the company for the coming decades, for other possible acquisitions, setting new standards in every aspect of our business, from the showrooms to the choices we will make in terms of trade fairs, keeping in mind that our competitors are not only in Europe…”.

Would you mind if we move on to slightly more general issues with which Biesse is certainly also dealing? China? Tariffs? The future…
“Damn, what a question… in China we have been working for decades, and I can rightly say that it is a hyper-difficult market where local governments support domestic production. A context that requires experience, targeted strategies and constant attention to the needs of leading-edge customers.
In Asia – where we have offices in Japan, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Singapore – we have adopted a new strategy, creating continental headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. In China, we will focus on large, technologically advanced customers, capable of recognizing the value of advanced solutions, projects and complete lines that we bring to market through our “Biesse Technic” brand, offering solutions that combine high production volumes and quality.
This is a clear change of strategy, designed to differentiate ourselves from local manufacturers and enhance our technological advantage: in fact, it makes no sense to compete with local production that is now consolidated in the field of standalone machines.
In the renovated Shanghai subsidiary, HSD, the group’s brand specializing in electrospindles and birotary heads, which is achieving great results, will maintain a leading role; on that site, a repair center will be implemented, with direct access for customers.
Speaking of Asia, let me just briefly remind you of the wonderful experience we have been carrying out for almost twenty years in India: state-of-the-art plants that operate according to the same rigorous international standards as the group, in which almost 700 colleagues work. Factories that integrate standardized production procedures and guarantee full compliance with the technical specifications required by both the local and global markets, with constant attention also to social responsibility initiatives in support of local communities and territorial development”.

“Coming to the issue of tariffs,” Broccoli continued, “I can tell you that the US market experienced a significant reduction in orders in the first half of 2025, as everyone who exports to the US knows. The uncertainties about tariff rates generated a sort of “suspended time”, waiting to know what the final cost of a machine, of a line, would be. In the second half of the year, however, we recorded a normalization of order entry, returning to the levels we were used to.
The American economy remains one of the most stimulating and satisfying contexts in which to operate for Biesse. I would add that, as far as the business of production lines is concerned, we have not been affected by these uncertainties and have continued to have good results in order acquisition”.

Do you want to pull out the crystal ball and tell us how you imagine the future?
“A question that is very difficult to answer… I would say that the priority will be to know how to adapt. The scenarios change very quickly, the big giants in the sector are inevitably polarizing demand in very specific directions, although I am firmly convinced that there will always be room for those who make real innovation, for those who will propose niche solutions. Small and medium-sized companies will have the task of continuing on the path of customization, of “one by one”, while larger companies will have to take the path of “intelligent standardization”, with increasing attention to what is the real topic of the current season of technological innovation in the sector, that is, an increasingly massive use of automation and robotics, areas where Biesse boasts consolidated skills and a distinctive positioning”.

Very last question, at the end of this long interview, for which we thank you: what made you get into this undoubtedly challenging but complex adventure?
“The certainty that Biesse’s leadership has clear ideas in terms of vision, evolution, product, services, distribution and marketing… We have all the elements to be able to reaffirm our role as a market leader.
As far as I am concerned, I must say that it was the passion that led me to accept this position, combined with the certainty that, together with the president and CEO Roberto Selci, my “first-level” and highly experienced colleagues and international teams of great value, we will be able to quickly achieve all the strategic objectives we have set… And, if you really want to know, I didn’t think about the past three years, but rather about the thirty years before, a great story that deserved another, important chapter“.

by Luca Rossetti
biesse.com