Arburg Srl: 25 years of success in Italy

- Italian subsidiary celebrates silver anniversary
- Managing Partner Juliane Hehl presents anniversary sculpture
- First-class technology, expert consulting and continuity as the cornerstones of success

The Italian Arburg subsidiary celebrated its 25th anniversary in style from 20 to 22 September 2018. The celebrations were launched with an exclusive evening event attended by more than 160 guests, during which Managing Partner Juliane Hehl presented the traditional anniversary sculpture to Björn Norén, Managing Director of Arburg Srl. On the following two days, an open house event was held with exhibits, applications and expert presentations for customers and partners, followed by another for the employees and their families.

The historic Casale la Colombare estate in Castell'Arquato provided the perfect backdrop for an exclusive celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Italian subsidiary. The highlight of the evening event was the ceremonial presentation of the traditional Arburg anniversary sculpture by Managing Partner Juliane Hehl. With this gesture, she thanked Björn Norén and his team for their great commitment on behalf of the owner families and of the entire Arburg parent company.

Arburg Italy combines continuity with competency

In her speech, Juliane Hehl was especially impressed by the subsidiary's dynamic development in recent years: "Arburg Italy has long been the undisputed leader among our European subsidiaries. Accordingly, the team has more than doubled in size." She went on to express her delight that five of the original employees, including Björn Norén, have remained faithful to Arburg Srl over the years. This continuity, she explained, is combined with a high level of expertise – a factor which the customers in Italy value very highly and is an important element in the success of Arburg's Italian subsidiary.

Long-standing, trusting and successful cooperation

Managing Director Sales Gerhard Böhm also underlined this aspect in his speech and thanked the customers for the trust they have placed in the company: "The success of our Italian subsidiary is first and foremost due to you, our customers, who for decades have opted for us and our technology and with whom we have jointly implemented countless innovative projects."

The silver anniversary, he added, clearly confirms that Arburg was on the right track with the foundation of a fully owned subsidiary in Italy a quarter of a century ago. "This was a significant milestone and an important step for the successful development of our company in Italy – our largest European market!," said Gerhard Böhm, who gave a brief account of the company's history. Björn Norén followed this up by showing a compilation of numerous photos from the past 25 years, with which he took the guests on an entertaining trip down memory lane.

Decades of success on the market in Italy

Arburg's success story in Italy began long before the subsidiary was founded. Shortly after Arburg began serial production with its first injection moulding machine in 1956, Borje Norén, father of the present subsidiary manager Björn Norén and founder of Sverital, made contact with Arburg's owners Eugen and Karl Hehl. A short time later, successful machine sales started in Italy and Sverital became Arburg's official trading partner in 1960. The continued positive development of the Italian market led to the foundation of the Arburg Srl subsidiary in Peschiera Borromeo, near Milan in 1993 in order to better and more fully serve Italian local customers.

The many years of trustful cooperation between Sverital and Arburg also bore fruit in the seamless transition from trading partner to fully owned subsidiary. Björn Norén was appointed as subsidiary manager and 15 further Sverital employees who had previously been responsible for the servicing and sale of the Arburg machines were hired.

Specialist for demanding tasks

With a workforce of 38 employees and 14 sales representatives for nine sales areas, the Italian subsidiary enjoys a very healthy position today. Arburg Srl. is regarded as a specialist for demanding plastic processing tasks. This applies, for example, to multi-component, LSR and powder injection moulding, to high-end packaging and medical technology applications as well as to industrial additive manufacturing with the Freeformer.

Furthermore, many Italian injection moulding companies have upgraded their production in recent years and are increasingly taking on board the topic of Industry 4.0 with Arburg as a partner.

Comprehensive service and consulting offerings

The customers in Italy value the all-round package offered by Arburg Srl.: the expert hotline and the highly skilled service technicians provide prompt assistance by phone and on-site. Further offerings include a full range of support from application technology consulting and the configuration of machines and robotic systems, through to commissioning and process optimisation. The showroom at the subsidiary with space for up to six Allrounder injection moulding machines is available for trials and training purposes. The offerings are rounded off with an extremely well-stocked spare parts store and a wide range of training courses and seminars. Over the years, the cooperation with Sverital has also further intensified so that the company is today a major partner for automated turnkey solutions.

Open-house events for customers and employees

To appropriately celebrate "25 years of Arburg" and to present the company's products and services live, the exclusive evening event was followed by two open-house events at the subsidiary building in Peschiera Borromeo. Whereas on Friday nearly 80 customers and partners had an opportunity to find out about current topics on the basis of exhibits, applications and expert presentations, the subsidiary threw open its doors to all employees and their relatives on Saturday.

Afterwards, Björn Norén was completely satisfied: "It was an intensive 3-day event and in all cases we got the feeling that ARBURG is not only a machine supplier, but a long-term stable partner whose top priority are the needs of the customers."