By Francesca Bruni, Art Valley

The headquarters of the Ferroni steel manufacturing group, with its offices, foundry and factory, stretches out to a point on the shores of Lake Baldo in Vallelunga, as if it were a hand with well-sculpted fingers. The road leading to Vallelunga runs along one side of a small lake surrounded by high hills, fed by the flow of mountain streams. At the curve of the last bend, take the road that runs alongside Lake Baldo, and then, two or three kilometers further on, you reach Ferroni.

On the banks of the Marzo stream, in Getto, between Lake Baldo and Lake Vergine, in the province of Pressa, Mario Ferroni was born in 1918.
Since the Middle Ages, Getto has been a village dedicated to the steel industry, in addition to family farms. Mario’s grandfather, Duilio, who forged tools for agriculture and construction, had moved to Getto from Altopasso. His ancestors were carters. The water from the Marzo stream supplied the driving force necessary to power the large waterwheel that ran the workshop. 

Duilio’s son, Giovanni, Mario’s father, married Lina, a farmer’s daughter. They live in what was known as a casa-bottega: adjacent to the house is the workshop; on the ground floor, Lina manages a one-room tavern with 4 benches, a couple of tables and a large counter. She also takes care of the housework, their small farm and the farmyard animals. Every member of the family has managerial and operational duties. No natural device, but an artificial society. Around the workshop, conversation. No one is marginal, not even the children. They contribute to the saga.

Mario goes to school, wooden clogs on his feet, carrying his books and notebooks in his arms. Every morning, before school, Mario serves at mass. Every evening, Mario and Lina kneel and recite their prayers. With the arrival of summer, neighbors and friends meet on the street. The men also gather in the pub, the women in the chairs in front of the house.

Casa-bottega, home and workshop, artisans and farmers: Italy’s foundation for centuries. The year was inscribed on the large stones of the trip hammer in the Getto workshop: 1616. From 1616 to 1918, when Mario was born, that was still the trip hammer. In the Renaissance, and even later, in Italy a company that produced manufactured goods was called a “bottega”. In the Renaissance, the bottega was the device of the enterprise.

L'articolo Firm Foundations sembra essere il primo su Artvalley.

By Maurizio Sala, entrepreneur, president of Amafond 

As the president of Amafond, an Italian foundry supplier’s association which involves approximately 100 manufacturers of essential equipment and auxiliary products for the industry, I am proud to represent Italy’s ferrous and non-ferrous metal foundries. 

Our industry employs no fewer than 6500 workers and our global turnover is more than 1.5 billion Euros, 75% of which is accounted for by the export market. I am also directly involved with the industry myself as the owner of Foundry Ecocer, a leading name in the production and sale of an expansive range of materials required by smelters, cast houses, refineries and a variety of different types of foundries.

I believe that the scope of the global crisis induced by Covid-19 means that most companies, certainly many in Europe and the U.S., will be dealing with the fallout, from a financial or market standpoint, for many years to come. However, although many industries—such as the automotive sector—were already in crisis before the pandemic, we now have to look for the best way forward in the post-covid business environment. 

My opinion is that a courageous and well-structured plan devised by a united Europe will be able to restart our combined economic system and aid our industries in evaluating and innovating new solutions to reinvigorate our economy.
Clearly, the immediate consequences of this global pandemic will be, and are currently, felt by everyone involved in the international production and supply chain: owners, managers, administrative staff and workers have all come under extreme stress and challenges.

What is necessary now is a united and shared effort on the part of each individual, making the most of their specialized skill sets and capabilities. All projects and programs launched in this new environment must be clearly set-out, the goals well-defined, and also shared throughout the corporate structure. A united and motivated team can lay the foundation for an effective relaunch.

To give you all a clearer picture let me cite an example: the sales facet of businesses,  always fundamental, must establish new objectives and a new vision.
This will entail the evaluation of the nearest markets—both domestic and European—focusing on those that may previously have been neglected while companies focused on markets outside of Europe, which have been more profitable in the past.

While these foreign markets may still be viable sources of income, sales will now need to be more targeted. To avoid doing business in the old ‘hit and run’ style, European companies will not only need to learn how to effectively explain the customs and traditions of the products they are selling, but also to become more aware of those aspects of the markets they are selling into.

This will involve a shift in the old mindset and more intensive interaction with these foreign markets to ensure that the economic and information flow becomes healthy and sustainable for all involved.

Italy, Milan, Corso Venezia street during COVID-19 outbreak — Photograph: Westend61

Let me share with you a brief sketch of the steps currently being taken by my company to cope and move forward in this difficult time.

Our business is of strategic importance for our country.
Thankfully, because our activities fall into that category, we’ve been given the opportunity to maintain continuity in our daily business. We were closely following what was happening in China through the media and we were able to plan quickly and take effective action.

Before a formal, national protocol was issued, we had the foresight to organize our activities in a way that safeguards and maintains the health of our employees in these trying circumstances.

In addition to adopting individual protection measures for our staff, we swiftly revolutionized many other aspects of the way we work.
We divided the working day into two shifts of eight hours each. Teams were also equally distributed in terms of the hours they worked so that it was possible to maintain appropriate distances and other safety measures. Our office administration involves keeping a single staff member in the office (per shift) while the others work remotely.

Everyone was kept abreast of the new rules and protocols.
However, rather than just ‘pinning a memo to the company bulletin board’, each and every employee was thoroughly briefed about the dos and don’ts of this new way of working, which ensured smooth operations.
We also introduced a simple and effective ozone air-purification system for many environments including our offices, laboratories, and small production areas, which I feel should actually have been considered earlier.

Thanks to our readiness and quick action, and the updating of our working methods, all of our employees are behaving very responsibly and, just as important, they feel secure. I think we have managed to establish a very effective system.

Of course for this to continue, financial or economic interventions at the government level are needed just as much as a motivated staff. Above all we feel no shortcuts should be allowed in order to emerge from the current crisis both stronger and better prepared for the future.

L'articolo Industry at the Forefront sembra essere il primo su Artvalley.