Embracing the internet of things LOVATO Electric

EMBRACING THE INTERNET OF THINGS

For the past 94 years, LOVATO Electric SpA has been a key player in the production of electrical components for the control and protection of machinery and automation systems; the next step is digitalisation, as Daniele Garavaglia reports.

LOVATO Electric is a mid-sized multinational enterprise with a global outlook. Its history in the production of low voltage electrical components for industrial applications reaches back more than a century. Based in Gorle, Italy, it employs 420 people internationally and has an annual turnover of around €80 million, thanks to the sales generated by 13 foreign subsidiaries and a network of 90 importers/distributors, contributing to an established presence in over 100 countries worldwide.

“Since 1922, our family has guided the industrial development of the company. This continuity, together with a constant mission of change and innovation, has fostered our growing position as a leader in a number of highly competitive industries, in particular the production of electrical components for machinery and equipment, automation and energy. We always operate with the aim of ensuring reliability, quality and efficiency to our customers,” says Massimiliano Cacciavillani, CEO and representative of the fourth generation of the Bergamo-based group.

LOVATO Electric started off as an electromechanical firm, including in its production range technical products such as contactors, motorprotection circuit breakers, push-buttons and switch disconnectors. These are all components related to ‘motor control and protection’.

Cacciavillani explains: “Thirty years ago, we developed the production of electronic components, going from reference products such as timers and level control relays to an advanced electronic offer, including soft starters, network analysers, power factor controllers and gen set controllers. Then we came to the third strand; information technology as a logical response to market need, the increasing automation of machines and systems and the consequent need for control and support software, even remotely.”

Customers and markets

LOVATO Electric’s main customers are machinery manufacturers, including: woodworking, processing plastics, packaging and food & beverage machines: “All Italian manufacturers have always exported and we chose to stay with them even in foreign markets. We have adopted a strategy of keeping after-sales services and spare parts close to each other, to ensure immediate availability.” In addition to machinery industries, some 15 years ago LOVATO Electric launched a new area of business, introducing a range of products dedicated to energy management and targeted at companies that want

to achieve greater energy efficiency: “For the purpose of energy efficiency, oversight of the energy systems and data processing is essential,” adds Cacciavillani.

Production is carried out in-house, from the design and construction of moulds to the casting of plastic. “The parts and other small technical components (screws, springs) are designed by our technical department and produced by trusted suppliers. We have identified suppliers in Italy and in other countries such as Spain, Germany, Slovenia and China, and we now have a globally integrated purchasing department. The world offers great opportunities and globalisation is a factor in improving the supply chain.”

From a commercial viewpoint, the domestic market is still very important for LOVATO Electric but exports are starting to overtake it, owing in part to the rising demand, in developing countries, for machinery and automation. “Our best performing areas are eastern Europe, where a large part of the European manufacturing industry has moved, and North America, now recovering well and oriented towards high-end industrial products, where ‘Made in Italy’ has a certain value.”

The latest technologies

Decades of production experience will continue to be an asset for the company, as Cacciavillani points out: “Our manufacturing focus leads us to devote time and resources to product development, especially in the electronics and software segments. Smarter and more intuitive products will achieve great success in the coming years. Today people are talking about the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0: digitalisation in industry means the deployment of communication technologies and products. We are developing more and more skills to be ready for the arrival of this new integration between digital and manufacturing.”

LOVATO Electric, then, is a company that has change embedded in its DNA, always striving for improvement and investing in advanced technologies and new processes. n