From US hospitals maxi order for Oppent's robots

Robotics is a relatively recent business for a company founded in 1960 by Alberto's father, Ettore Beretta, and which has grown over the years thanks to the logistics of the 'old economy', conveyor belts and above all pneumatic mail (Oppent stands for Organizzazione Posta Pneumatica e Nastri Trasportatori), activities directed, for example, at large-scale distribution customers, for the internal transfer of money from supermarkets and hypermarkets.

In 2013, the first delivery in robotics, at the Garbagnate Hospital, the first experiment in ward automation, which was followed by many other applications: today Oppent's system is present in 30 countries in 106 different locations, 60 in hospitals and 46 in industries, for a total of 450 mobile robots already installed and operating worldwide.

The latest orders, the largest in history for Pmi, come from four hospitals in the US and Canada, the main ones from the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center in Columbus and the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, facilities that will become the ones with the world's largest fleet of automated vehicles upon completion.

'Overall we have orders for 65 million. Or rather, no,' Beretta corrects himself, 'because with last week's four million to be precise, we arrive at 69'. Growth that translates into the need to scale up production, which has gone from 200 robots last year to 270 planned for 2024, with a demand seen increasing for hi-tech objects that, depending on the specifications, can cost as much as 120 thousand euro per piece.

"In the light of this trend," Beretta explains, "we are gearing up to handle this new incoming demand. Six years ago our production was in an area of 2 thousand metres, now we have increased to 6 thousand. But we are already working to build a new 16 thousand metre site: based on our forecasts, within 4-5 years we aim to double our production".

The workforce, which currently stands at 140 (90 in Italy, the remainder in sales and service branches around the world), is set to increase, with 20 new recruits already planned in the coming months, leading to a doubling of the workforce in 2021.

"In this niche of hospitals we are world leaders, in the US for example we have a 70 per cent share. But now we also want to grow elsewhere, for example in industry, where the market is huge and where we already have some interesting applications. For example for Airbus Helicopters, in France, where seven of our robots are capable of handling 2.5 tonne loads'.

Growth that in any case will also continue in the area of healthcare, with new applications within the hospitals themselves. The Ohio centre, for example, has already asked Oppent for a bid for 110 robots that can also handle drugs, examinations and test tubes.