Insight

As part of its corporate philosophy Bontempi Vibo has always seen difficult or challenging times as an opportunity to invest in the business and the future, which is why it is continuing with its industrial growth plan to achieve €80 million in revenue by 2025.

Vittoriano Calomeni, general manager at Bontempi Vibo SpA, explains: “Last year was our 60^th anniversary and we celebrated in the proper way, by achieving a record year for turnover and tonnage sold. Obviously, there were challenges regarding particular situations – such as raw material prices – but it was still a very good year for us and for our industrial
growth strategy.” 

With that in mind the forecast for 2022 was even higher, with Bontempi Vibo expecting to have its best year ever. “Of course, in March the Ukrainian/Russian war started and this started to impact the energy situation,” points out Vittoriano. “By the middle of the year we had the incredible situation where prices increased 500% compared to the beginning of the crisis. This made things unpredictable and also difficult to manage, as there was nothing we could do apart from increase our prices – in-line with what we were experiencing.”

With customers’ stock levels also being high, it led to the turnover for 2022 so far not meeting the targets Bontempi Vibo had set, although it is still the business’ best year when it comes to turnover. “Whilst it has been difficult and there has been uncertainty in the market, we still believed in our industrial growth plans, which is why we decided to push forwards with investments – as we have always done in difficult periods,” points out Vittoriano. “When we set the growth strategy in 2020 our plan was to achieve the €80 million target through internal growth, which is why we have numerous investment projects for the next year, including the doubling of the production capacity in our southern plant in Calabritto. This will also give us a chance to have more efficient processes through each stage of production – ensuring better performance and a better control of the cost structure.”

Bontempi Vibo is also investing in a new heat treatment furnace, as well as new packaging machinery. Plus, it will introduce new machinery at its northern plant. “Our strategy is to become the first manufacturer European distributors think of when it comes to fasteners. To do this we need to continue to increase our production capabilities, and capacities, so that we can increase the range of several product families, as well as introduce new families of products.”

Last year the company also completed another investment, which saw the doubling of its automatic warehouse to 18,000 pallet spaces. “The extension of the automatic warehouse will enable us to give better support to our existing customers, as they can buy more products – from stock. Through the warehouse investment and production additions we also hope to attract new customers – who are looking to buy strategic ranges all from one source.”

A key part of Bontempi Vibo’s industrial growth plan is also sustainability. “The energy crisis will push all companies to have a serious look at finding different possibilities to have energy production within companies,” points out Vittoriano. “We already have in our southern plant some production that is produced with solar power and we will be pushing new projects in this area going forward to help us reduce our energy costs.”

This approach to investing during ‘difficult time’ is something that Vittoriano believes helps Bontempi Vibo stand out from other companies. “Throughout my time at the company, the management has always pushed the aspect of investing during any crisis period. The aim is to look at new strategies and new investments that can put us in a good position for when the market starts again. We are following the same philosophy during this period as well, and we are sure it will be the correct approach.”