A clear vision for growth Righi Group

a CLEaR VISIoN FoR GRoWTh

The Italian Righi Group, a leading producer of industrial automation, robotics and renewable energy technology, has three separate subsidiaries under its umbrella. Victoria Hattersley talks to managing director and company founder Mauro Righi about the group’s history, production profile and its plans for growth.

The Righi Group, headquartered in Cesena, is focused on the engineering of a wide range of industrial automation solutions, switchboard systems, robotics assembly systems and renewable energy technologies – offering its customers tailored solutions to meet their needs across the entire production process.

But this was not always the case: as Mr Righi explains, back in 1991 when he established Righi Elettroservizi SpA, the company’s first electrical plants and panels were made in Mr Righi’s home garage. However, the company quickly grew and over the years it has opened not only two more subsidiaries – Righi Energy and Denken Italia – but also several more branches in Italy as well as abroad, in Germany, Romania, France, Jordan, Iran and Russia.

Mr Righi explains: “We gradually made the move into engineering and began investing significant amounts into R&D. Today we have 70 people in our technical department.”

In 2015 the Righi Group invested in increased capacity at its head office, with the result that it now has over 18,000m2 of open space, a 7000m2 covered area and a new building facility called ‘Think Tech’, with over 1000m2 of R&D space. Group production profile

Righi Elettroservizi, the original company established in 1991, still accounts for the largest percentage of group sales with an annual turnover of €26 million. This arm of the group is a leading player in the fields of industrial automation, systems integration and information technology. Among other things, it is focused on the production of new switchboards and automated MCC lines. It operates both in Italy and abroad either directly or through controlled companies and partnerships. In 2007 the operations of Tecnoquadri, a company engaged in the production of motor control centres and power centres under the brand TQM Multisystem, was also incorporated into Righi Elettroservizi.

Righi Energy, established in the late 1990s, is concentrated on electrical, mechanical, alternative energy and energy efficiency. Energy conservation and sustainability has been an important focus for the group for many years – long before this became a general expectation for manufacturers – and it continues to invest significant amounts in this area. The latest asset acquired by the group in 2014, Storage Energy Esco, has further enhanced its capabilities in energy saving with the introduction of electric storage systems.

According to the company: “Reducing energy consumption and optimising the functioning of plants that burn fossil fuels such as petrol, coal and natural gas is an absolute priority in order to hand a better world to future generations. Energy saving and in particular the use of renewable energy are the most important levers to reach this essential aim.”

Finally, in 2012 the group founded a brand-new company, Denken Italia Srl, which is engaged in the development and manufacture of solutions for material handling and robotics. In this particular area, Mr Righi tells us the company will be investing to develop its capabilities in vision systems, an area of increasing importance thanks to the emergence of Industry 4.0 – the rapidly growing trend for automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. As many of our readers will be aware, this is affecting the entire production chain across all sectors.

Bespoke service

According to Mr Righi, the group’s customers fall into two main categories: producers of automated lines and users of technologies in a wide range of fields including oil & gas, metals and so on. “60 per cent of our production is sold abroad. Although we are mainly concentrated on the European markets we also sell much further afield, through our office in the US, for example.”

The Righi Group works with some of the biggest producers in their fields, with major customers including Siemens, ABB, Kuka and more besides, across Europe, Asia and the Americas. One example of a recent customer-specific contract was for the automotive producer FCA North America, for which it installed an automated logistics system in their car assembly workshop.

“Our mission is to provide customised systems for our clients. We are a systems integrator and as such we look to support them through every stage of the production process. We are focused on continuing to invest in increasing our skills base in order to help our customers grow and improve their own technologies.”

Future focus

Mr Righi tells us that the next few years will see further investments in R&D and expansion into new markets. “For example, we are currently working on an agreement with a company in Holland that will see us establish a firmer presence on that market. We are also looking at expanding into other markets but that’s something I can’t go into any more detail on at the moment.”

In conclusion, he states: “The key message we want to give out is that we are an innovative company that wants to support our customers in any way we can to help them remain competitive in their own markets.” n