Let’s be clear: if other people had not joined the ownership of Working Process, if a happy season had not begun in which from a “think tank” dedicated to the sacred fire of innovation we have developed into a structured industrial group, if innovation had not been accompanied by careful choices to give ideas the opportunity to become reality in a context of investment and profit, things would have been different and we would have limited ourselves to talking about genius and recklessness. And instead, meeting Massimo Schiavetta makes you understand how crucial it is to have splendid ideas and how equally portentous the possibilities that open up are, if they land in a “strong container”.
We are not sure that Massimo Schiavetta will appreciate this “openness”, as they say in jargon. We must admit that we have always had a sort of reverential fear of him, because even before we had the pleasure of meeting him – now at least a couple of decades ago – we had been told everything and more about him. The common denominator of many stories was his genius, his indisputable and undisputed technical skills. Yes, because if windows and doors today are produced with a certain type of machining center – or, rather, if those who want flexibility and productivity can only make a certain choice – he is certainly to be counted among those who have opened this path.
And our chat can only start with the recent debut on the markets of the “Super Heroes”, the new flagship of the company from Rivergaro, in the province of Piacenza, which in fact brings even higher standards already defined with the “Heroes” machining center.
“There would be many things to say about our “Super Heros”, Massimo Schiavetta said with his usual sly smile: “We decided it was time to continue on the path we have started to take with “Heroes”, the first “real” machining center for windows and doors in our range, born from a precise evolution of the concepts we had decided to marry. Those were years in which it was now taken for granted that even for the production of windows and doors it was necessary to rely on NC machining centers, combining in a single machine, and with a single clamping, multiple processes previously carried out on different machines.
The problem was to combine the indisputable values of this technology – flexibility, productivity, compact size – with everything that was instead the domain of standard lines, therefore greater production. Not to mention that the problems related to the availability of labor had in fact cleared the possibility of increasing certain times in order to obtain practically finished elements, all managed directly by the technical office, with all that this path entails in terms of safety, accuracy and also energy saving.
Our “Heroes” allowed us to offer an alternative to the old production concepts, with sales results that are rewarding us. A technology that has been successful, born from precise ideas and the awareness that the time had come to develop further, and this is how the idea that led to the construction of the “Super Heroes” was born a few years ago”.
A name that indicates which direction you have chosen to take…
“Exactly, we have created a technological solution that takes all those parameters we have talked about to a higher level. Therefore, flexibility, quality, geometric precision and the refinement of some choices that – thanks also to the experience gained – have led us to an even more versatile solution, allowing us to create very special windows and doors in a highly productive line that until now could only be made with other stand-alone systems”.
A sort of genius ready to fulfill every wish?
“This was precisely the goal we set ourselves: a solution equipped with systems that allow the machine and the line to work independently both during the manned and unmanned shift, thanks also to our intelligent warehouses for loading and unloading. This logic has allowed us to amplify both productivity and plant availability, i.e. the “real time” of work.
We are not talking about an automated factory, but about something more, a complete process that starts from the development of orders in the offices to the window ready to be assembled. A few qualified and skilled people placed in the right positions will add enormous value to the potential of our technology by quickly solving the long-standing problems that window and door manufacturers know well”.
Mechanics and electronics: nothing else?
“Not at all!!! Information technology is a chapter that has opened many doors and that we use to give the customer the opportunity to benefit more from the investment. In other words, we have worked on the “digital part”, which includes our “Antonio” platform, not only to manage everything the machine does and much more, but also to help customers always maintain their efficiency at proper levels.
Experience teaches us that when new technology enters the factory it takes some time to get the maximum result: we are talking about drops in efficiency that can reach up to 30 percent in the first year, due to the need to integrate this change into the habits of operators and of an organism as complex as a company. Well, thanks to “Antonio” we can shorten this time, simulate the use of the new machine, the new line both at the level of operators and the company, so that when the new solution is installed everything works at its best. A kind of “driving school”, if you will allow me the comparison, which is not only a set of instructions on how to do it, but which generates culture, passion, involvement.”
Productivity and efficiency often, or almost always, mean complete lines: to the detriment of stand-alone machines? Will doors and windows also tend to become “a business for few”?
“No, on the contrary: the innovations born from the “Heroes” and “Super Heroes” projects inevitably have an important technological impact on our entire range. I think I can say that Working Process is one of the few, perhaps the only one, to have always implemented a very important technological consistency throughout the range. On the other hand, if we stop performing on standard machines, we lose that customer who today may be “small”, but who will soon be “medium” and then “big”, as far as these adjectives may be worth. On the other hand, if we focused only on standard machines, like many of our competitors do, it would only be an advantage for those who offer and certainly not for customers!”
We are curious: how do you choose the names of your machines?
“I’m glad you ask me: we want them to be evocative, to recall concepts, stories, our commitment, what we set out to achieve and propose… take our “Logos Life Evo”: we are talking about the evolution of words, of life, of a machine that is not only used to produce, but also helps sell, define a new concept of business. One of our most relevant characteristics is that we have always thought of tools that can also help sales departments push and bring their customers into situations where their competitors cannot reach. Being able to sell a product that stands out not only for its shape and aesthetics, but also and perhaps above all for its quality; different products that can generate significant margins in an efficient way. I go further: technologies designed for sale, even before production.
As for “Heroes” and “Super Heroes”, it goes without saying that they are names that refer to childhood, when we imagined the arrival of evil invaders and we could not do anything but rely on superheroes to save us: in this case our enemies are materials other than wood, but also competitors and situations that generate apparently insurmountable obstacles but that with the help of our heroes we can safely knock down!”.
In short, always forward, strong in a different and parallel way of thinking…
“We can choose between sadness or opportunity. We are on the second side, passing from the need to create culture in the end user. You spend and invest only when you know what you choose: we cannot commit ourselves only to the “desire” to produce windows, but also to the pleasure of running a company with methods and tools that allow you to really get to know it and get the most out of what you do every day. We have consistently built reliable machines that enable our customers to produce high-quality products. Today we must work to convey a set of elements and values that allow us to achieve the maximum efficiency promised by the investment, at every level.
Today the detail is fundamental, and every time in a negotiation we manage to convey our imagination, our skills, our being “wisely different”, we manage to make the customer fall in love. We do not make meaningless promises and prefer to demonstrate in fact that we are a living and vital company, which still sees the glass half full, convinced that the world will not end the day after tomorrow and that there are markets to be reinvented and not to be suffered: if we are good we will also be the architects of important changes, exactly as has happened in the past. Let me say, however, that all this is not invented overnight: if you have always limited yourself to copying, imitating, you will not become an innovator overnight. We are facing undoubtedly gigantic challenges, no one denies it, but we are optimistic: there is already too much sadness around, and we at Working Process want to go against the trend…”.
by Luca Rossetti
working-process.com
