Insight

Since 1955 Viteria Fusani Srl has been a family run business, with the company now into its third generation. Here Sales and Marketing Manager Isabella Fusani gives an insight into how being a family company has helped it take opportunities within the challenging market.

After the success of participating at the 2018 edition of Fastener Fair Italy we were also planning on participating at the 2020 event. However, as we all know, due to the Covid-19 pandemic the fair was cancelled and only this year is it finally reopening its doors to its visitors. We do not have our own stand for the 2022 show because we wanted to prepare ourselves in the best possible way and present all the innovations implemented in these two years at the next Fastener Fair Italy. Instead, we decided to use Fastener + Fixing Magazine to make our voice heard.  

Since 1955 we have been producing custom made screws from M1.6 to M8 metric, both self-forming and self-tapping in a diameter range from 1.6mm to 8mm – all available in large quantities in order to feed the production chains of our customers’ manufacturing industries. 

We are very proud to be a family run business and believe it is a distinct advantage because we truly believe in what we do. We are heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the company, as well as the management of the B2B relationships with our Italian and foreign customers, which has proved to be very beneficial when facing the challenges of the last two years. The beginning of 2020 was really positive, with many projects starting with our customers and with various companies – with which we had developed interesting offers. Already between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the order book was growing and with very encouraging data. 

The real ‘cold shower’ was the announcement of the first national lockdown in early March 2020 with the fear (humanly speaking) of not knowing how we would get out of the Covid-19 pandemic. We stopped the plants and for the first time experienced the surreal atmosphere of silence in the plant – those who have visited a cold forging plant can understand how the absence of noise can be a truly unusual thing. We were stopped for two weeks at production level but kept constant contact with customers and suppliers by taking advantage of ‘smart working’. This allowed us to be available to immediately resume production to serve customers in the essential categories and so, little by little, we reworked a budget in-line with the situation.

The end of 2020, albeit subdued, finished positively and was a good opportunity to continue, admittedly slowly, the development of new projects with Italian and foreign customers; which we have since seen fully develop during 2021 and 2022. We also promptly helped customers who were not receiving supplies from the Asian markets and needed emergency supplies that we were able to provide in record time.

Whilst 2020 is to be forgotten for so many ugly aspects, we did obtain for the first time the IATF 16949 certification, which opens up the automotive sector and this was a source of pride for us. It is also not the only positive note of the last two years because we have also made several investments to improve the efficiency of our plants; expand our range and production capacity; and to achieve the objective of Industry 4.0 with the interconnection of all our processes. These investments included replacing and/or adding machinery such as a screw and washer assembly machine in plastic materials, a printing machine, an optical sorter, a weighing system, an ultrasonic washing machine and a new water purifier. That’s not all, many improvement activities have been carried out on our workflows in order to guarantee our customers consistent punctual deliveries – even in the most difficult moments on the market.

For example, among the many problems due to the pandemic period, one that has strongly impacted our sector was the scarce availability of raw materials. Thanks to our procurement policy and the reliability of our suppliers, we have never had work interruptions and this has allowed us to constantly serve our customers even in 2021 and all the way up to the first quarter of 2022 – with a peak increase of approximately 52% of parts ordered. Extra work shifts were also needed to satisfy a request of this magnitude, but the effort of our entire team allowed us to always respond positively to our customers.

Then with the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the situation became complicated again, This time due to the occurrence of the insane and speculative increases in energy and gas prices that brought everyone to their knees, forcing them to revise costs and prices. It is difficult to make predictions at a time when there is no economic stability. However, we are ready to defend the excellence and quality of the ‘Made in Italy’ concept in which, despite the many obstacles in our country, we have always believed in and which has led us to continue to invest in innovation.