TAKING CARE OF
YOUR VEHICLE In need of an MOT testing station or a repair service bay? Ravaglioli SpA is part of the solution. In fact, the company, part of the Samiro Group, is today at the head of four Italy based companies specialised in manufacturing vehicle lifting, tyre service and vehicle testing products. Barbara Rossi spoke to CEO Silvano Santi.
T
he four production companies comprising this division are: Ravaglioli SpA itself, Butler Engineering and Marketing SpA, Officine Meccaniche Sirio Srl and Space Srl. Ravaglioli SpA is the company from which the division has originated and it is based just outside Bologna – currently in Sasso Marconi – while at the time of its establishment in 1958 it was situated on the opposite side of town. Its activity is almost totally focused on the
production of vehicle lifting equipment. At first the company manufactured small devices for vehicle repairs, but after having started to grow, towards the end of the 1960s, it started producing vehicle lifting equipment, a range to which in the 1970s the company added tyre changers, wheel balancers and test lanes. The early 1970s was also the time when the company started to push the export of its products, culminating in a boom in the 1990s
when the export share started growing from 50 per cent of turnover to the current 85–88 per cent. Butler SpA was acquired by the Ravaglioliled group in 2006 and is based in the Reggio Emilia area of northern Italy – specifically in Rolo – where it carries out its tyre changer manufacturing focused activity, while from its base in Ferrara (San Giovanni di Ostellato), Sirio Srl manufactures components for
