Fiamma

The strategy is to invest and continue to innovate

Fiamma is focusing on all-round product innovation and is investing major resources in creative and production processes and in establishing synergies with high-profile technical partners

Words Enrico Bona

Strong of the clear and assertive plan pursued over the years by Italian company owners Charles and John-David Pozzi, Fiamma has become a global manufacturer in the field of technical RV accessories and is constantly operating to maintain and increase its market size and performance. Charles Pozzi tells us that the main drive of Fiamma has always been end-user satisfaction. Design is based on the customer’s needs and innovation is needed to maintain high quality and competitive prices on the market.

Innovation

“We are aware that we are very good at designing our products. We are equally aware that exchanges with other areas of technology and other markets can accelerate our growth as a company and expand quality in every area even further, enriching the entire world of recreational vehicles with new content and new inspiration, among other things”, said Charles Pozzi. “For several years now, we have been pursuing a project of continuous evolution that encompasses all business areas from communications and production to logistics and expanded personnel training schemes”. Over the years, Fiamma has successfully created synergies with many partners to exchange knowledge and experience that translates, daily, into a constant search for improvement in every detail and every process. Particularly noteworthy is the partnership with the Fiamma Lab design studio formed by a team of lecturers, students and alumni of the Faculty of Engineering at the Milan Polytechnic students. Fiamma designs, prototypes and fully tests its products in-house and avails of the consultancy services of Fiamma Lab for simple opinions or more significant involvement in design and testing according to the project type. The Cattaneo LIUC University, located just a few kilometres from the company headquarters in Cardano al Campo, is another strategic partner. Fiamma teams up with many master’s degree students for numerous projects to bring novelty and transformation. “We rely on external partners but we also pursue internal enrichment and growth for our personnel, investing a great deal in them”, Charles Pozzi added. “For instance, we address

education with the development of English, German and management courses for our personnel using the teaching hours made available to us by Confindustria Varese. At Fiamma we also continuously strive to improve ourselves and our products and we positively acquire a more global view and important new skills through our partnerships”.

Production and research

Human and economic resources at Fiamma are focused on guaranteeing customers a top-quality product without excessive cost burdens: “Always being on the cutting edge also distinguishes us in research and production. Our products always express the best that the market has to offer in terms of functionality, style and technology while remaining competitive in terms of cost. We have achieved real results through constant investment in all-new technologies that we think could bring a strategic advantage in production, never fearing the economic burden that committing to this innovation puts on company budgets every year”. Indeed, Fiamma has set up many new rapid prototyping technologies with two plastic moulding machines, one dedicated to the product finish and appearance and for testing the physical and chemical characteristics of the polymers used to manufacture some components. The company has also recently hired a specialised structural engineer who is now responsible for the complete CAD design of material strength and bending points. “A 3D metal printer is the most recent and significant investment in machinery and the latest feather in Fiamma R&D’s cap”, Charles Pozzi continued. “This technology is used in the aerospace field and demonstrates that we believe in our product and, above all, in the future and our creativity. We want to build, innovate and grow without limits”.

Present and future

The market is posing unprecedented challenges to the industry. The raw material shortages, production delays, logistical delays and double-digit percentage price increases describe a worrying scenario unprecedented so far in the global economy not only in the RV market. “At Fiamma, we are confident that we can continue to offer a decidedly virtuous handling of the global supply chain crisis,” said Charles Pozzi, describing the current scenario. “At the first signs of a market slowdown due to the pandemic in 2020, I remember we called an emergency meeting with John David and focused on an intervention strategy aimed at increasing the resources invested in stocks and our production capacities. It was an important commitment that we continue to upkeep. We achieved this by heavily sacrificing margins but we managed to offer a market performance to our customers that we believe is difficult to match”. By major investments in materials and nearly doubling production shifts, Fiamma has managed to maintain an excellent lead time in its processes. The goal is now to maintain good performance, and as a next step, Fiamma plans a major physical expansion of its warehouse to cope with the increase in production that is expected soon and that will have to be managed. Charles Pozzi predicts that, barring further unforeseen events, the production and delivery bottleneck will last at least another year and a half, until early 2024: “We have implemented every possible growth strategy to get through this difficult time, investing across the board in every area of our business. However, a certain degree of cooperation will be required between customers and suppliers for some time yet”. All companies are under great pressure and, at this time in history, a major manufacturer like Fiamma that receives very large orders can offer the B2B customers the choice of having a product right away but overpaying for it, or planning for the medium term, better protecting profit margins and gaining the certainty of meeting the delivery deadlines to end customers. “It is a very tricky balance and it is really a matter of working in concert between our production capacities, which we are constantly striving to increase, and the planning capacities of our customers. As long as these troubles and pressure continue, it will be difficult for manufacturers not to exceed the cost limits However, Fiamma is containing the emergency very well and will continue to offer good delivery performance strong of its careful planning”.