Taking care of your vehicle Ravaglioli

dedicated to logistics, one is focused on R&Dt, and the remainder deal with general production. In Mornago, on the other hand, where originally the site was opened in 2006 (and then expanded in 2012) production is exclusively focused on equipment for OEMs, accompanied by R&D activities. Furthermore, there is a production plant in Shenzhen, China, which is currently manufacturing for the Italian company, but which in future, probably in 2014, will initiate production for the Chinese automotive OEM market, in particular for European automotive manufacturers based there. While Meta System invested significantly before 2008, before the beginning of the economic downturn, since then investments have been mainly channelled into the expansion of the Mornago site, thanks to which the productive potential of the company has increased by one-third, effectively making it ready for the increase in production volumes expected for the 2014–2020 period, thanks to contracts already signed with automotive manufacturers. Here automation has been implemented, allowing the company to greatly widen its activity in terms of design and of the number of units produced.

Riding on electrics

As previously discussed, development of new products has been linked to the electric car and scooter world, for which the company has produced battery chargers for new vehicles.

The company holds various patents in this field and the first actual application of this stateof-the-art technology has been for the BMW electric car and scooter.

As well as being Tier1 and Tier 2 suppliers for OEMs, Meta System supplies the OES market through importers, head offices of automotive manufacturers, or their regional or national equivalents. Geographically, Europe is the first market of the company, with obviously, due to the link to automotive manufacturers, a strong presence in Germany, where all the three main automotive players are served, followed by France and Italy. Italy is mainly significant in terms of Italian clients that distribute the products abroad. Markets in which the company is present with its products and which will further develop in the future include North Africa and Malaysia. Brazil is another market supplied, albeit indirectly through Italian intermediaries. Things work slightly differently for the telematics market, where Italy plays an important role, due to the link with the insurance sector. A growing pattern for telematics products is also been experienced in the UK, as well as in South Africa, while in the future scope for growth in this area will be particularly significant in Russia.

When talking about future developments, Mr Simonazzi says, “These are the market segments within whose boundaries we will carry on operating in the future, with the telematics range experiencing a particularly important growth. In terms of the OEM production we do not expect surprises, as here planning times are longer, and we already have the contracts for the period 2014–2020. At least for the next few years, growth in production for the OEM sector will still be due to European automotive manufacturers, mainly German, French and Italian. Certainly further OEM development will require an increase of our critical mass. We’ll see what action to take with regard to this, depending on the opportunities that will arise. In future, we will develop in terms of new products and new markets. Whilst in the telematics sector we will acquire new clients and new geographical markets, with regard to OEMs we will look for new clients, but this also means taking advantage of the new opportunities arising from existing clients, in terms of new vehicles and platforms, which for us is equivalent to acquiring a new customer.” n

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 the 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, buses 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 devel-