Maximum comfort, minimum energy

Not many companies can refer to 2012 as having been their best year ever, but this is the case for Ariston Thermogroup SpA, writes Barbara Rossi for Industry Europe.

The story of the group – headquartered in the central Italian region of Marche – began in 1930, when Aristide Merloni set up a weighing machine production business in Fabriano. The activity evolved and expanded over the years, alongside a few name changes. Despite all of this, the business remained in the hands of the founding Merloni family. The Ariston brand was created in the 1960s for the production of electric water heaters, and soon established itself as a European leader. Thanks to a list of prestigious acquisitions: Racold, Chaffoteaux, Elco, Rendamax, Cuenod, Ecoflam and Termogamma, among others, the company became a group, which adopted the Ariston Thermo name in 2008. The same year also saw the opening of the European Centre of Competence for Solar Thermal, 2009 the acquisition of world leader status and 2011 further expansion, with the acquisition of Cipag SA and Domotec AG.

Paolo Merloni, the third generation of the founding family, is now at the head of this fully established heating industry world leader which, despite holding to its traditional family-run Italian business spirit, is a real international player. In 2012 it had a turnover of €1.32 billion, the best result ever, and Ariston Thermogroup was actually in the position of repurchasing 18 per cent of its own shares from the Intesa Sanpaolo and BNL banks.

The group has 6700 employees worldwide, 19 production sites in 10 countries, as well as 42 companies and 6 representative offices in 129 countries. It also maintains 15 competence centres for product research and development and distributes 6.9 million products per year in over 150 countries, in addition to more than 33 million components (1500 people are dedicated to sales and marketing).

Three divisions

The activity of the group centres on three closely connected divisions, which address the needs of different markets: thermal comfort, burners and components, with products being distributed under a variety of brands. The component division products are offered through the Thermowatt label, while brand names dealing in burners are Elco, Cuenod and Ecoflam. Products from both of these divisions are sold to other manufacturers and professionals in related sectors. Thermal comfort is the largest business, offering energy-efficient heating and hot water products, systems and services for both domestic and commercial users around the world, through the Ariston, Racold, Elco and Chaffoteaux makes. The breakdown for the different divisions is: thermal comfort 89 per cent, burners 6 per cent and components 5 per cent. Each of these divisions has its own management and brand portfolio, so as to make sure to be close to its reference markets.

The same applies to R&D, which is not just concentrated at the Italian headquarters. In fact, over 270 people, deployed in 15 competence centres for product R&D in eight countries, are dedicated to this activity. In 2012 €58 million was channelled into R&D and investments. Obviously, all relevant certifications are held – ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and BS OHSAS 18001.

Currently 89 per cent of turnover is generated outside Italy (47 per cent in western Europe, 18 per cent in eastern Europe, 19 per cent in Asia and 5 per cent in the rest of the world). International expansion continues to be a strategic driver for growth, with Ariston Thermogroup being in a strong

position in European markets and a leading position in key emerging countries. In fact, its strength in markets such as China – in which it has been present since 1987, as well as India, Russia, Turkey and Latin America – is the basis of its 2012 success.

Energy saving

The company gained further strength from the employment of a new set of values and a new leadership model, and it intends to maintain its optimism and strong determination in tackling future challenges. It has several assets at its disposal, which can help it in this endeavour. After all, there must be a reason why over 6 million families choose its products every year. Employing highly qualified staff, dedicating over 2500 people to customer service, offering remote service and remote diagnostics can all partly explain this, but the company’s range of products – offering a high degree of comfort with the minimum amount of energy – are the foundations of this success.

The fact that the Ariston Thermogroup range is of high efficiency, while offering a reduction in greenhouse emissions, is of particular significance, when in Europe there is a drive for greater energy efficiency, as heating and hot water takes up about a third of the energy currently used in the continent. It is estimated that, if the 230 million water heaters and 200 million boilers in use in Europe could be replaced with their energy-saving Ariston Thermogroup equivalents, their power usage would be up to 50–75 per cent lower. To put this into perspective, this is equal to 260 power plants, each generating 800

megawatts of electricity; or the energy used by 85 million vehicles.

The group wants to go further and it has set itself a very ambitious target: that of having 80 per cent of its business coming from high energy efficient products and renewable based systems by 2020. It intends to do this by improving the efficiency of traditional products, such as boilers, water heaters and burners; by developing innovative renewable energy solutions, such as solar thermal and heat pumps; and by investing in the systems of the future, such as micro co-generation.

Ariston Thermogroup is in a very strong competitive position, well-balanced both at geographical and business sector levels. It intends to consolidate its achievements in Europe, while continuing to increase its sales in fast-growing markets; however, the group is fully aware of the fact that the world is in rapid evolution and could be completely different in the next 10 years. The group’s management believes that in future the world’s economy will have up to seven centres of gravity. The only anchor for the future is considered to be an ability to compete under any condition and economic situation. Brands will be reinforced, increasing commercial and communication investments in the different countries.

Moreover, even more effort will be made in acting as a truly successful team, so as to achieve the set targets in a sustainable way, because sustainability, alongside the values of integrity, excellence, people and customer care, will continue to be at the core of the group’s activity. Social responsibility is taken extremely seriously and in 2012 €1.2 million was channelled into activities supporting local communities, both in Italy and abroad. n