Fifty years of Giardina Group: the interview with Stefano Tibè, Sales Director of the group

Fifty years of Giardina Group, fifty years of a company that has always combined dedication with expertise, quality with reliability. To celebrate this important anniversary we have decided to talk to you about what happens ‘behind the scenes’, about the people behind the improvements, growth and objectives of Figino Serenza group. After the first interview with Stefano and Riccardo Mauri, it is now the turn of sales director Stefano Tibè.

“My journey at Giardina Group started a long time ago, in 1992, when I officially joined Giardina Finishing. However, my journey in the sector began even earlier. As a child, I joined my family’s company, Eurotecno, which made wood painting and sanding machines and was taken over in 1992: in short, it’s not just a job, but a part of my life”.

“In 2009 Giampiero Mauri offered me the position of sales director at Mauri Macchine. I had received several offers, many excellent opportunities after the end of my stint at Giardina Finishing, but I chose to start again from Mauri Macchine, a leading company and a family I knew personally and with whom I had an excellent relationship. I immediately perceived Giampiero‘s trust, his desire to focus on me, to make me feel at the heart of an ambitious project. I’ll tell you an anecdote: when I signed my contract I didn’t know that Giampiero would soon take over the Giardina Finishing brand and I clearly remember the moment he told me about it: we were at the Ligna fair, my first Ligna with Mauri Macchine, when he took me aside and he told me he wanted to take over the brand. It came as a great surprise…”.

A new brand, a new challenge…
“A challenge we have risen to with expertise, commitment and the ability to work together a team, to stick together. Since the creation of Giardina Group we have put our body, soul and mind to show the market and our customers how good our project was and that we wanted to create a reliable, quality product that would stay with them for years”.

How has the sector changed over recent years?
“Over the years there has been an ever-increasing focus on customers, on the creation of lines and systems that could be adapted and follow any production need. A tendency to increasingly find customised solutions, specific systems that can adapt to manufacturing areas, paces and numbers”.

What is at the basis of the success, the values ​​that customers recognise in Giardina Group?
“Definitely the growth of any company mainly depends on the quality of the product offered on the market. Without quality, if you don’t have a good product, you can’t go anywhere. Along with the very high quality of the finish, one of the features that our customers particularly appreciate is the reliability of our machines. A clearly above-average resistance that over the years has also somewhat become our hallmark. What’s more, one of our pride and joys is our focus on the customer also at the after-sales stage. Our customers know they can always count on us, that we will always be there for them. Because the first machine can be sold by the salesperson as well, but the second, the third are sold because of the quality of the product, the company’s ability to innovate and modernise, as well as knowing you always have someone by your side. Someone who is ready to help when needed and, above all, support you in making the best choice, ensuring great communication and putting the customer’s interest first.
We are not just ‘suppliers’, we are sector experts who provide their expertise. Expertise is the keyword for which we have stood out over the years…”.

What are the goals in the near future?
“To be honest, we have done a lot in recent years, we have managed to move forward on a growth path that has allowed us to reach a turnover of around 20m euros, with a sound, solid and robust structure. As the near future, we need to consolidate our position, constantly starting from the good things we have done and we need to keep on showing our customers Giardina Group is reliable and we have cutting-edge technological solutions. In a nutshell, we are a solid and competent company with further margin for growth and we need to continue on this path”.

A long history with a constant leitmotif: innovation. How do innovations come about at Giardina Group? Where do ideas come from?
“Innovation is always something that comes from the market, from requirements, from a customer needing a different solution. We really enjoy tackling these challenges, looking for the most suitable solution. With every idea, every request we look for something more, we look for a new solution. Salespeople and area managers are the first to receive these messages, as we liaise directly with customers. This means we constantly follow the market to be able to identify trends and always have technical solutions suited to a changing market.
This is one form of innovation. Then there is progress related to chemical and industrial processes. If paint manufacturers create a new product, we need to understand how to supply the right machines, be it drying ovens or sprayers. This is why we liaise closely with paint manufacturers: to understand how we can best adapt.
Then there is also innovation ‘from scratch’ stemming from the search for increasingly high-performance solutions, capable of improving productivity, reducing the impact of machines, optimising time and energy costs.
Innovating means coordinating all these phases, putting heads and ideas together to always obtain more. Once again, preparation and expertise make the difference in this sense”.

What are customers looking for today?
“Up until some time ago, the trend was to reduce intermediate warehouses to a minimum and there was a tendency to work on a ‘just in time’ basis. This demand still exists, just as there is the desire from furniture manufacturers to truly focus on the individual nature of products: multiple colours, multiple types of paint, multiple surfaces and types of products. Plus, over the last two years, what companies are looking for is a greater balance in their warehouses, they try to streamline production. With material procurement difficulties, being able to have a great warehouse is essential. The predominant trend is to ‘save for a rainy day, maybe with more substantial orders that can cope with all the difficulties”.

What was the great innovation for the sector?
“Something truly innovative in recent years was the introduction of excimer ovens to have a matte finish with a very unique visual effect, which can be achieved with a very resistant surface. An interesting technology, which has changed the way we think of painting and which still has great potential”.

Fifty years of Giardina Group, thirty years at Giardina, 13 years at Giardina Group: which system or installation did you find most ‘satisfying’?
“I could say the next (smiles, ed.). I wouldn’t actually be able to indicate a particular system, each one of them is a challenge in itself and winning a challenge always gives great satisfaction… right?”.