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Taking care of your vehicle Ravaglioli
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.
The 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
the other companies of the group, as well as producing equipment for tyre servicing. The fourth production company belonging to the division is Space Srl, based in Trana – Turin area of north-western Italy – and specialised in wheel aligners and test lanes, as well as in all the electronic components used by the equipment manufactured by the rest of the group.
The vehicle lifting, tyre servicing and vehicle testing group headed by Ravaglioli SpA employs about 550 people, including the foreign subsidiaries, and achieved a €125 million turnover in 2012. The products manufactured are mainly for cars and vans, but the range extends to products for trucks, bus and earth-moving vehicles, while a smaller share is produced for large diggers – employed in mines for instance – and for railway lifting. The foreign commercial subsidiaries can be found in France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA, respectively in Paris, Freising, Tarragona, Maidenhead and Texas, in addition to which there are also representative offices in Belgium, Brazil and Japan. The division sells its products in over 140 countries.
“In terms of recent products, we launched a fully computerised super-fast leverless tyre changer, called G1800.4, whose development required a significant amount of R&D investment. We are also continuously developing new products such as wheel aligners, recently resulting in a new product, called Vistar, a workstation for fast and accurate alignment measurement. Moreover, continuous product updates are carried out for all of the lifting range.” Mr Santi explained. “We are very active in R&D. In fact all our products are designed and developed by us, here in Italy, using European manufactured components. We have three dedicated R&D departments: one at Ravaglioli for lifting equipment, one at Butler for tyre servicing and one at Space Srl for hardware and software for the electronics parts. Overall we invest about 5 per cent of turnover in R&D every year. Each of the companies of the division is present on the market, with personalised products and comprehensive catalogues, and each of them has its own specialisation.”
As well as having been ISO 9001:2008 certified for years, the division headed by Ravaglioli also holds all relevant EC approval standards and fulfils the requirements of most of the world automotive and tyre manufacturers.
Growing, despite the recession
“We have always invested in R&D, even during the crisis period. Before the current crisis we were invoicing about €138 million, but since then this level has been slightly lowered to €125 million. I have to say that we have only marginally suffered from the recent economic downturn and in the past four years, overall, we have invested about €25–30 million. First of all, Butler SpA has moved to a new location and €13 million were channelled into developing its new 14,000m2 site; then we spent €2–3 million in machinery on a yearly basis. I also believe that Sirio has one of the most modern and better equipped sites that can be found in our sector, featuring highly automated production machinery.”
The group’s main clients are distributors that supply car dealers as well as repair and tyre shops, and testing centres. Products are also sold to automotive and tyre manufacturers – or their branches located all over
the world. Export plays a major role, as previously discussed, and the main markets are European countries where the group is present with subsidiaries, followed by North America and, then, the Far East and India.
“In future we will certainly continue to improve and update our range. We have made a big effort in North America, which is paying off, as in recent years we have witnessed an important turnover increase there. Now we are also working hard in terms of the Far East and India.”
“Joint ventures are not part of our philosophy, as we like to retain control of what we are doing. On the other hand, acquisitions might be possible, considering that in Italy we are a very profitable company in our sector and opportunities could arise, either on the Italian or European horizon. What we are not interested in doing is delocalising our production outside Europe. For us all our future development will be centred around an increase of credibility on the markets, thanks to growing product quality, exactly to differentiate ourselves from competitors in emerging countries. We are obviously aware of the fact that the European market is experiencing a period of crisis, which has even started affecting Germany, but we have managed to avoid a dip in European sales, thanks to an increase in market share. We are going to try to further improve our market penetration and our after-sales offer, while we will also take full advantage of opportunities for growth leaps outside of Europe, focusing on North America, the Far East and India.” n
Group Scart - Industrial Packaging.
The history of our group goes back to 1952, when the Scart box manufacturing company, specialised in the production of small packaging boxes, was set up.
The group increasingly expanded from its original Casentino area, fi rst acquiring Imola based B.P Imballaggi and later Milan based Vodipack; both of which are specialised in special packaging production.
Currently the Scart Group has production facilities occupying 22,000sqm of covered space, located in areas stretching over 150,000sqm. The company has a direct staff of 80 people, who are ready to fulfil any clients’ requirements.
Our perfect knowledge of Know-How makes us the leader in the “customised packaging” sector, where we design and develop prototypes and manufacture products able to solve any structural issue of our clientele.
Our mindset geared to improving the safety features of packaging, as well as to a continuous improvement of fi nal product quality and to offering not just simple packaging, but a true service, has made our group the leading player on the Italian market.
