The full service Gemmo

THE FULL SERVICE THE FULL SERVICE

Italian company Gemmo SpA is a major player in the field of large infrastructure and services, installing technological plants, public lighting and management facilities for clients throughout Europe and beyond. In a conversation with innovation development manager Massimo Nossan, Victoria Hattersley finds out about its recent high profile projects and plans for continued expansion.

For Gemmo, its full project engineering services are what sets it apart from its competitors. Established in 1919, the Vicenzabased company continues to refine its offer, moving increasingly into the areas of sustainable production and control and monitoring systems.

Gemmo specialises in large turnkey infrastructure projects, offering a wide range of services encompassing electrical systems and mechanics, from engineering to commissioning. The majority of its work is concerned with contracting and carried out on its customers’ sites; however, its headquarters in Vicenza also house a small production site for the manufacturing of electric panel boards, mainly for use in its own projects. Fully integrated

Gemmo’s services are focused on four main sectors: hospitals, airports, large civic infrastructure projects such as tunnels, and public lighting. Its clients are mainly government bodies, healthcare providers and large financial institutions. For each of these markets it carries out the full installation, engineering and maintenance from start to finish.

System integration is very important for the company. In recent years it has diversified its activities through integrating its production and technological services such as maintenance and overall management. This ‘two-step’ approach has allowed it to win major clients: it doesn’t just build, but is also present long after its systems are up and running.

“For example,” says Mr Nossan, “with public lighting we not only install the lights themselves but also work with clients on a long-term basis to supply the power and maintain the systems. Public lighting is a very good area for development as many of the existing technologies in place are obsolete and need to be replaced by more sustainable technologies such as LED. This is in line with one of our key goals to provide our clients with a more sustainable infrastructure.”

In order to streamline its business to fit this model, last year (2014) Gemmo completed the sale of its Railway Systems division to the PSC Group SpA. Mr Nossan explains: “The other areas of our business are all interrelated in some way and allowed for the two-step service we want to provide moving forward. The Rail division didn’t really fit this business model anymore so this was the right decision for us at the right time.”

Major projects and investments

Over the years Gemmo has been able to build strong relationships with some high-profile clients. For example, it has a long-term contract in place with the European Institute of Oncology to manage and maintain its offices, buildings and green spaces. This includes everything from providing energy for heating and hot water to power supply and the redevelopment of the central thermal cooling system.

The company has also won a contract with Fiumicino-ADR Aeorporti di Roma for the management and control of electric utilities flight assistance and the movement of aircraft. This project involves the re-vamping of the medium-voltage distribution systems at the airport (including 150,000 metres of ne electric cables, 29 transformers and two new substations) and is expected to be completed by 2016.

A series of investments – some small, some ongoing – have enabled Gemmo to maintain its leading edge. Mr Nossan tells us that: “Most investments over the past 10 years have been into our so-called ‘project financing’ initiatives. We set up companies in order to build and operate each individual project, such as the European Institute of Oncology project already mentioned.”

But Gemmo is also aware of the need to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to technological development. For example, it recently invested in a remote control system for public lighting,

Gemmo SpA main building in the outskirts of Vicenza, Northeast Italy

which has enabled it to make inroads into the rapidly growing field of monitoring devices. “After all, our lighting systems are now present in more than 100 municipalities in Italy so we need to be able to use the latest hardware and software to monitor and control these. Our remote control system is currently the largest of its kind in Italy.”

With such a range of projects, each with its own specifications and requirements, Gemmo understands the importance of maintaining good relationships with its suppliers. As Mr Nossan puts it, “Our business is to engineer and put together components built by others so they need to be of the highest quality or our own reputation will suffer. We therefore have a number of suppliers we work with, because each project requires slightly different things. These include well-known names such as Siemens, ABB and Schneider Electric.”

Market expansion

While the largest percentage of Gemmo’s work is carried out in Italy, the company does have an expanding global footprint. In Europe alone, it works in Belgium, Lithuania and Romania to name just a few. It recently

Near Turin, the royal palace’s systems are fully operated by Gemmo SpA

won a contract in Lithuania for the installation of a major civic building which will be constructed according to the internationally recognised BREEAM standard for sustainability.

Outside Europe, Mr Nossan informs us that Gemmo is working on expanding in Africa. In South America, meanwhile, it is present in Argentina and has also set up a local subsidiary in Brazil from which it expects to see some exciting projects emerge in the coming years.

In conclusion, Mr Nossan is keen to sum up Gemmo’s main priorities for the future: “Our focus for the next few years will be on two major areas: firstly, we will be doing our best to work more internationally; secondly, we intend to develop more in the field of energy saving and sustainability.” And indeed, if the company’s recent projects are anything to go on it is already making strong headway with these aims. n

One of the 100 tunnels fully operated and 24/7 monitored by Gemmo SpA