SITuation & action

Imagine reaching 300 million in turnover; wanting to grow internally and externally; to (obviously) want to invest in manpower but also (obviously) in structures and technology to optimize production, organization and the supply chain. A complex and audacious design, which can only be achieved, as Simona Michelotti, founder of SIT Group, claims «thanks to the optimism that comes from drive and passion».

Stefano Lavorini, Luciana Guidotti

I find myself once again in a spacious and quiet room, sitting at a table with people who are first and foremost happy to do what they are doing. Face to face with Simona Michelotti, her daughter Neni Rossini (since 2018 president of SIT Group SpA) and CEO Claudio Carattoni, I find confirmation of the fact that we can live the present, aware of the past while succeeding in imagining the future... in this case that of the SIT Group.

They all three firmly believe in it and show it by illustrating the different projects that are taking shape, following an apparently simple guideline, that is “... doing well what was previously done less well and doing for the first time what had been ignored before... since, in a company nothing is irrelevant, nothing is undeserving of full attention... »*

Work in progress at...
138 million euros in 2018, about 600 people working in three factories, with a production capacity of 650 million sqm of printed films. But numbers alone are not enough to do justice to a reality that, in addition to being among the major operators on the market of flexible packaging in Italy, expresses an out of the ordinary capacity for vision and operational pragmatism in implementing a wide-ranging industrial expansion plan, with the aim of combining production efficiency and global relationship skills, in particular with the large multinational food groups.

An expansion subordinated to the clarity of ideas, the ability to reinvent itself and, something not that common, to an economic solidity built over time.
There is talk of investments fielded by the ownership for 60 million euros between 2018 and 2020, which involve at various levels the three plants in Faetano in San Marino (also site of the headquarters), Pesaro and Stanghella (PD), whose tasks and destinies have recently been redefined.

«Our goal is indeed to become a great European player» underlines Claudio Carattoni. «In our business, indeed the interchange between continents is irrelevant, as customers require physical proximity and speed of service. For this reason, although we are expanding and improving the capacity of existing plants, we do not exclude the possibility of acquiring specialized converters in productions that complete our offer, nor possible investments in other geographical areas, considering the needs of some of our customers».
But let’s put things in the right order though.

… San Marino.
As Neni Rossini tells me, «Everything started from the “old “ production unit of Faetano in 1978, which grew, with successive extensions, from the original one of a thousand square meters to the current 12 thousand, considering the new headquarters inaugurated in 2015, to which it is connected with a tunnel.

And yet, the 4 thousand square meters of offices, the engraving department and the automatic cylinders warehouse alone are no longer adequate to the development programs we have given ourselves... This is why we are building a second plant in a contiguous area 10 thousand square meters, where we will not relocate anything that we currently have in production. In fact, we have already purchased ex novo rotogravure printing machines, a laminator, all the auxiliary equipment, including the solvent recovery plant, as well as automatic systems for the handling and storage of materials. We plan to expect to be fully operational with production as early as December 2019. We will hence restructure the old production area, earmarking it for finishing operations and… who knows for what other projects».
 
... Pesaro and Padua. Radical changes also for the Marches site, acquired by SIT in 2006: with a patient work of years, the entire area, once divided between different properties, has been merged, thus enabling the creation of a state-of-the-art facility in terms of rationality and safety. In total 22 thousand square meters, of which 14 thousand covered.
«Piece by piece, we have built in practice a new, very efficient factory, equipped with 4 roto machines and 3 new flexo» Simona Michelotti intervenes.

«Initially, we had thought about specializing our companies based on printing technology, but the growing interest of big end-users in flexo made us change our mind. Furthermore, in this way, we have the great advantage of having a back-up on two production sites, also as regards flexo printing». The fact remains that in Padua we will continue to supply the local market with flexo printed packaging, thanks to the great reactivity and service attitude expressed in these years by the company.

Being and not just having
So much, however, is not enough yet to build a project for the future. We need to know how to change together with the changing market, doing a great job, less visible, perhaps, but fundamental.
Claudio has no doubts: «We have been debating for years on the issues of the evolved supply chain, and on the changes in organizational models and in relation to customers: competitiveness is certainly on prices, but above all by creating value processes, for example by implementing collaborative planning models with the main customers and suppliers and by creating logistics hubs with external partners, to improve transport and delivery times.
This allows production to be optimized, provided that the management system is computerized and that new professional skills are invested.
Likewise, the demand for services with greater added value on the part of large groups has grown, which, for example, has led us to invest heavily in research and development on packaging materials, but also to include in the company a person like Dario Dainelli, Policy & Regulatory Affairs Executive, internationally renowned expert for regulatory issues, food contact and sustainability regulations.
In short, we must be able to cope with the inevitable increase in structure costs while remaining competitive, so as to improve the company’s reputation and customer satisfaction level».
A road that forces to grow in size, both internally and externally.
«For this reason - says Neni - we imagine, remaining independent, a reasoned and sustainable growth of turnover until reaching a more substantial critical mass, a part of which also deriving from acquisition processes, to which we are already dedicating ourselves».
«An objective certainly not taken for granted, but born from the desire to give continuity to the company in the times to come. It is not easy to predict how the world will change and for this reason I have worked to put the company in a position to face the future» says Simona, faithful to her story of a courageous and determined businesswoman.

The meeting ends here. However, leaving SIT, I take with me a sense of serenity and measure, emotions that I am, alas, unaccustomed to.
A nice surprise, that always returns!