Turkey, Spain and Germany. This investment has allowed ZML to add spheroidal cast iron to its current grey cast iron production. This is particularly important as this new type of cast iron is able to offer a performance similar to that of steel and therefore is in demand from not just the automotive industry but increasingly also the household appliances sector. The new line was completed in the spring of last year (2012). Investment has also been focused on the copper wire division, in which the company doesn’t cast copper, but cuts and enamels it. In view of the fact that copper prices are at their maximum historical value, clients are increasingly interested in substitute materials. For this reason, over the past three or four years ZML has developed and introduced its range of enamelled aluminium wire. The aluminium division has not been undergoing significant investments and will mainly be concerned with developing new product design with clients, but logically there is the intention of keeping up with the market in terms of new products. Research and development is carried out by internal technicians, aided by external universities such as Trieste and Padua. ZML holds regional and ISO certifications, such as ISO/TS and ISO 14001:2004. All the new production lines are at the cutting edge, environmentally as well as productively. The company has important achievements to be proud of in the environmental field, such as having more than halved its water consumption in the past five years or so. The ultimate objective
is that of a nil waste policy, with consumption reduced to a minimum. ZML subscribes to the European Foundation for Quality Management excellence model (EFQM), seeking to implement the best possible practices at various in-company levels.
Focused on export Export markets are crucial to the company’s activity, with over 70 per cent of output exported, mainly all over Europe (98 per cent of export) and on a smaller scale to
South America (2 per cent of export). Export has been growing since 2006 and now foreign markets, especially in German-speaking countries, are very substantial. This is partly due to the fact that ZML, based near Pordenone in the Italian north eastern region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, is geographically close to them, making their supply easy in logistical terms. But it is also down to the fact that in the post-economic crisis era foreign markets are growing at a faster pace than the Italian market is having a bearing
