Ceramica Globo expands production facility and prepares for recovery

To make production more efficient and thus prepare to seize the market recovery that "will certainly come, although the timing is uncertain: I think we will have to wait until 2025," explains Andrea Gulinucci, CEO of Ceramica Globo, a Viterbo-based company specialising in the production of sanitary ware and bathroom furnishings, with a turnover of around 45 million euros, 35% of which is generated abroad.

"Investment in the product and processes is constant,' Gulinucci points out. 'Of course, the market is in a reflective phase at the moment, in 2023 revenues fell by 5%, but we came from a two-year period of extraordinary growth, so it was predictable. At the moment 2024 is in line with last year, so we expect stability. I think the real recovery will only come next year. And we have to be ready.

In September, in fact, the renovation of the second production plant in Fabrica di Roma will be completed, costing around EUR 1 million, which the CEO describes as 'a significant step forward in the renovation process of the entire production site'. Not only has the aesthetic appearance of the building been improved, but space management has also been optimised to promote greater efficiency in the production area. "This intervention reflects Globo's commitment to continuously improve its facilities, in order to guarantee increasingly higher quality standards and a comfortable and modern working environment, confirming and increasing the staff structure in some departments," adds Gulinucci. Who emphasises the importance, for a company of made in Italy and design, of having premises that are not only efficient and productive, but also aesthetically beautiful, capable of expressing that quality and uniqueness that makes Italian brands famous worldwide.

Also on the sustainable development front, and in particular the improvement of energy efficiency, a few years ago Ceramica Globo embarked on a path of investment to implement an energy management system, which has made it possible to monitor and improve the efficiency of the company's energy consumption. Two inetrmittent kilns, which can be switched off when not in use, have been installed alongside the traditional continuous cycle kilns. In recent years, all departments in both production plants have been equipped with real-time electricity meters. "We have also implemented an energy efficiency project for thermal energy, which is essential in our production process for the drying of products. This includes recovering heat from our kilns and optimising energy efficiency by installing a new ventilation system,' he says. A project that the company would now like to further implement and structure through Industry 5.0 funds.

In addition, important investments have been made on the photovoltaic front, covering 50% of the roofs of the two factories: 'An investment of three tranches of 500 thousand euro each that we made out of a choice of sustainability, but which has also proved to be strategic from an economic point of view and in fact has already paid for itself,' explains the CEO: '30-35% of the energy we consume is self-produced. The system installed on the second production plant has a capacity of 500 kW/h and went into operation in January 2023. During 2023, 460,000 kWh of energy produced was used, of which about 80% was used within the production process, corresponding to 370,000 kWh.