Innovation, digitalization and efficiency for VitrA

range of products for both residen- have you set yourselves? tial and commercial applications. In recent years, Serra has seen Simone Gentili: Our performance in This characteristic is underscored by strong, continuous growth thanks these first few months is largely a rethe new Everytile payoff, which reto its exceptional production effi ciency and precise market positio sult of the excellent customer relafers to a range of indoor and outdoor ning. To give you an idea of Serra’s tions we have built up over the years. floor tiles for residential applications potential, the company has mainThe Ascot brand has always enjoyed available in the two thicknesses 10 tained 30% year-on-year growth a strong position in Italy, France, Benmm and 20 mm coordinated with Bi- through 2020 despite the pandemic, elux and North America, and this year Tech white body wall tiles. and its 10 million sqm/year capacity we also entered the German market Dom occupies a very different marcontinues to be insufficient to meet with good results. ket segment and consists of a brand demand. We aim to strengthen the mid to highof handcrafted floor and wall tiles end residential and commercial retail where material and design are the channel by extending our range of ackey elements of the range. tion in Europe and consolidating our presence in Amer It’s no coincidence that we have renamed it Dom De- ica with the acquisition of new customers. sign Studio. With Dom we focus mainly on the high- With Dom, which operates in the same geographical end residential, contract and hospitality sectors with markets, we are aiming for growth in the project and bespoke projects and collections designed in partner- contract segment. ship with customers. While the Ascot range concentrates on generating volTile International: Have you made any changes in umes, the more artisanal nature of Dom’s products terms of plant engineering at Ascot? means that we need to focus on creating margins. Andrea Bordignon: Right from the start, we identi- Tile International: Will the acquisition lead to any fied the areas of the production process that needed changes for Serra? to be optimised and were able to increase the capac- Simone Gentili: Serra has a well-established busiity of the two factories by around 40% while maintain- ness model that has already proved to be entirely fit ing the same plants. for purpose and, I would say, quite unique. We aim to We have also made new technological investments in strengthen the brand’s leadership position in the DIY large sizes (60x120 cm, 90x90 cm, 75x150 cm), includ- segment in Europe by expanding its presence in Gering the installation of a digital printing system in August. many and entering the French market with the introWe plan to follow these up with further investments duction of the larger sizes and rectified products that aimed at boosting production and improving quality. are currently in strong demand. Its operations in the Despite having a production capacity of 8.2 million Italian market will continue to be marginal. square metres per year, Ascot is also close to saturation. Tile International: How has the Covid-19 pandemic Tile International: Does this mean there may be new affected your plans and what end-of-year results are acquisitions on the horizon? you expecting for 2020? Andrea Bordignon: Victoria has always shown itself Simone Gentili: Following the April lockdown, we beto be open to further opportunities for external growth gan to see a recovery in May and enjoyed excellent rein the Italian ceramic district, not least because it aims sults over the three summer months. to bring the level of Italian turnover up to that of its We even worked on “Ferragosto”, the August 15th Italthree Spanish ceramic companies (around 235 million ian public holiday! euros in 2019), which have 4 plants and a production of At the beginning of September we experienced a around 26 million sqm/year. slowdown and are slightly concerned about the winFor the time being, the revenue generated by our ter months. brands in Italy stands at around 115 million euros per In general, however, we are meeting the 2020 targets year, so we still have a long way to go. we set before the outbreak of the pandemic. As I was Tile International: What sales results have you saying, Serra is expected to exceed these targets, while achieved so far with Ascot and Dom and what goals Ascot and Dom are likely to see a slower recovery in

the traditional channel although we anticipate reaching the same turnover levels as in 2019. This year we really felt the absence of trade fairs such as Coverings and Cersaie, which are capable of generating significant business volumes, as well as the reduced personal contact with the market, a factor that is essential in the case of Ascot and Dom where price is not the primary consideration. During these months of forced im-

We were able to increase

the capacity of the two factories by around 40% while

maintaining the same plants.

We have also made new techno-

logical investments in large sizes

(60x120 cm, 90x90 cm, 75x150 cm), including the installation of a digital

printing system in August.

mobility, we took the opportunity to refurbish our showrooms, redesign our three websites, organise meetings with customers and focus strongly on digital channels. The market is certain to change in the near future and we will need to adapt rapidly. We plan to do this by introducing dedicated services such as just-intime logistics to enable us to deal more efficiently with market challenges as they arise. ✕

INNOVATION, DIGITALIZATION AND EFFICIENCY

In many ways, 2019 was a year of all operations. As a result, each brand change and transformation for all the reinforces the others despite having Eczacıbasi Tile Group’s well-known unique core values (e.g. the agility of brands: VitrA, Villeroy & Boch and VitrA compared to the rich heritage Engers. Last year, the Turkish group and extensive experience of V&B). restructured the management team of The company also undertook a numits tile division and created new syner- ber of projects aimed at improving and gies by centralizing the management of strengthening its production infrastructure. Thanks to its strong sales performance in international markets, last year Eczacıbasi Tile Group won Turkey’s Export Championship Award. “In some of our core markets such as Russia, where the market contracted, and the UK, where the construction sector grew by just 2.5%, our sales

Villeroy&Boch - Rocky Art

VitrA - Urban Travertino Villeroy&Boch - Urban Jungle

were above the market average, while in some of our focus markets such as Benelux, and the Scandinavian and Gulf countries all our brands outperformed the market,” VitrA Tiles’ CEO Hasan Pehlivan tells us. The company also made a dynamic start to the first quarter of 2020 both in Turkey - where sales almost doubled compared to the first quarter of the previous year - and in international markets. “These results reflect a number of our strengths, such as the services we provide to our business partners, our highly competent production team, and our ability to keep abreast of changing market trends and customer needs and to incorporate them into our designs and product portfolios. Unfortunately, this positive trend was cut short by the pandemic,” adds Pehlivan. We met Hasan Pehlivan to talk about the company’s activity, future projects and expectations.

Tile International: What measures have you implemented to sustain your business since the start of the pandemic? Hasan Pehlivan: Business results are of course very important, but from the very first day of the pandemic our motto was “Health comes first!”, so our first response was to ensure the health and safety of every colleague. Today we continue to take every possible precaution in our offices and production plants to protect our employees while continuing to work, produce, and contribute to the economy. The period since the end of February has been quite different and the challenges have revealed our strengths. Naturally, the pandemic led to a slowing in demand, but by taking comprehensive precautions we were able to keep our business running. While many companies across Europe faced severe problems and came to a virtual standstill, we continued to operate nonstop. As a result, we were able to achieve much higher growth in some markets compared with the same peChiara Bruzzichelli c.bruzzichelli@tiledizioni.itriod in 2019, while maintaining our level of business in other countries. During the first few critical months of the pandemic, we also optimized our use of financial resources and rationalized our expenses. Since the start of the pandemic, we have used our online platform and tools as effectively as possible in our internal and external communication. We have periodically provided our stakeholders with transparent and accurate online information about developments in our business. And we have kept in touch with customers through our online channels and listened to their needs in order to respond quickly with solutions. Last but not least, the pandemic once again demonstrated the importance of digitalization, an aspect that remains at the top of our agenda. We rapidly developed and launched a platform to enable our sales teams working at physical stores to meet website visitors. Tile International: How have your main export markets evolved in recent months? H. Pehlivan: In recent months, we’ve been able to

Hasan Pehlivan