It’s better to grow well

Quality production (100% in house), personalization and customer service: these are the key words for Omas Tecnosistemi, which designs and builds automatic machinery for important industrial sectors, cosmetics and make-up first and foremost, but also healthcare and pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food. Fundamental steps for growth: expanding product range and manufacturing resources.

Capping and filling lines, a range of aseptic packaging systems,
sterile air and water bottle cleaning systems, cooling tunnels, tanks, dissolvers, turbo emulsifiers, fusers, labeling machines and other accessories…
These are the areas in which Omas Tecnosistemi has been operating since its foundation in Cerro Maggiore (MI) 1973, offering cutting-edge technologies. We spoke to marketing manager Stefania Giudici at Cosmopack in Bologna, who ran through the latest developments in the company’s growth, which although rapid (having gone from 15 employees in 2010 to the over 80 of today), has been guided by determination, common sense and a healthy dose of originality, offering the domestic and international markets an extensive offer that is focused on quality.

What are your primary target markets?
We have always focused on cosmetics and make-up, but also on healthcare, with the production of laminar flow machines and for the installation in sterile white rooms, which in particular in Italy is giving us a lot of satisfaction. But exports are also excellent. This is also shown by the growth in turnover registered in 2016 which should continue, as shown by the results of the first quarter of 2017: users are making major investments in new machinery, which indicates a willingness to produce, to make...
In recent years, we have also begun to propose systems for installation in clean rooms and aseptic lines, such as two suspension lines and two lines for antibiotics also in powder sold in Iran, complete with bottlewashers and a depyrogenation tunnel. We are also on the verge of delivering, in the Moscow region, three complete plants for preparing/packaging diagnostic test tubes. In short, we are working on multiple fronts in order to establish ourselves and consolidate our presence on the global market.

What are the new developments in terms of products?
More so than launching new products, we are working to expand our existing range; this is the case with our mixers, which will include new capacities and formats.
Our aim is twofold: on one hand we will continue to build simple and standardized machines, on the other, we want to use the knowhow we have accumulated to bolster our profile as a supplier of highly specialized turnkey solutions.

You have recently finished expanding your manufacturing area. What have been the most important changes?
It has been a major structural overhaul, strategic to the growth targets we have set ourselves. With an additional 4,000 sqm, the facility now covers a total surface area of 10,000 sqm, enabling us to revamp our dedicated mixer manufacturing division, allowing us to also produce large formats in-house, in addition to the new section dedicated to the serial production of tube fillers and semi automatic machines.
Of great importance, the extension of both the UNI EN ISO 9001: 2008 and 14001: 2004 certifications to the entire production site, that has been up and running since 2011. This means we now have the entire chain covered: sales, design, mechanical machining and surface treatments, assembly, up to post-sales and the new customer care service, active from May 2016.
Next year we will move to the new standards in the 2015 version and the challenge will be to integrate certifications as part of a common goal. I am very pleased with both certifications, but particularly the 14001, which attests to how our company maintains a healthy working environment and, in particular, is attentive to the environmental impact generated by our activities. Protecting our planet should be the prerogative of both large and medium-sized concerns like our own, where together we can make a significant contribution.

You have maintained, and in some cases even added many in-house processes. That’s contrary to the general trend...
Yes, and we believe in this choice. We believe that in order to show attention to the details of our machines, it is essential that we have full control over the entire process, from design to construction including mechanical machining, our company’s flagship procedure: everything is done at Omas.
For this reason, we have an internal production site, equipped with work centers, numerically controlled machines, traditional parallel lathes and milling cutters. We have also expanded our lightweight carpentry section, devoting an area to surface treatments such as welding, also adding a metal polishing area, activity which we outsourced up until last year.

It almost appears as if you have opted to follow the German manufacturing model...
Yes, but with the capacity for listening and bespoke flexibility that set Italian firms apart. Moreover, growing requires guaranteeing, on one hand a certain product standardization, and on the other, the possibility of personalization according to the customer’s needs. To this end, modularity is also imperative to our offer.

You’ve gone to great lengths to guarantee the maximum quality in your offer... But are user concerns then able to make the most of your solutions?
Most certainly. First of all because our machines are highly versatile, but also because we offer an excellent post-sale service, closely following our users, for example in the development of new format changeovers. In such a way we create a work continuity to encourage customer loyalty.                                                        
           
Omas and its proposals for the global market
Omas Tecnosistemi is also renewing its efforts to maintain a strong presence in target markets by participating at major international fairs. After Cosmopack, the cosmetic industry event in Bologna, 2017 brought the concern to Iran Beauty & Clean and soon after also interpack.
Here, the company exhibited the G-250 e-liquid cigarette monobloc, which aroused great interest, confirmed by the many requests received directly at the fair, but also the bottle blower installed in the GTS-11 sterile room and the new GMT70 tube filling machine for polythene tubes.
After Interpack, it was the turn of Beauty World in Dubai, where the company presented in absolute preview MICROBLOC, even smaller than the MINIBLOC in production for years: in appearance it could almost be seen as a “demo” of the automatic monoblocs, but it is in fact to all effects a machine run from the operating panel, designed and proposed for product samples of up to 50 ml. Also showcased the new GMT70, aluminum tube filler, and the GC-250, bottle filling and capping monobloc.
For its first time in Dubai, Omas has achieved results totally beyond all expectations, witnessing that the Arab markets are booming and worthy of great attention. And if Omas spring period featured for its proposals for the cosmetics sector, autumn will see the company attending PackExpo Las Vegas, CPHI in Frankfurt, and Andina Pack in Bogotá.