A bigger factory, the 40th business anniversary, the increasing engagement of the second generation of the Sella family seem to be accelerating the pace of Essetre in Thiene, now mostly focused on the wood construction sector.
Gianni Sella
“Do you see this machine? We had been thinking about it for some time and customers were requesting it. It’s called “PF1250” because it can process beams, panels and walls up to 1,250 millimeters on six sides, vertically. The lower section incorporates a fixed unit with toolchanger, featuring ultrafast opening and closing cycle time to handle the workpieces. We release the clamps just as required to move the beam or wall, and we are ready to start again in few seconds. It’s really a wonderful machine, setting new standards in our portfolio, optimizing each phase, each movement, each part to make it faster!
As a matter of fact, we have revolutionized our “PF” range, these machines have given us great satisfaction and, for some customers, they are still the ideal solution… And then we are really selling lots of “Techno Fast“.
And also “Techno Saw” is a hit, a high-performance machine that has helped one of our customers increase the production of elements for playgrounds by 400 percent! It’s amazing to see it work…”.
He is like a swollen river. When Gianni Sella talks about his machines, there’s no stopping him: he illustrates every detail, showing strong confidence in our capacity to understand. And he calls everybody in the company to show us how the move, how fast they are, how thrilling it is to see them in operation. We are glad to listen, because we can learn a lot, and most of all, because his passion, his glittering eyes, the love he feels for a huge power spindle that moves very close to the machine walls with utmost accuracy.
Mr. Sella, these times are hard, aren’t they?
“The sanitary situation is scary, but I must say that the market does not seem to suffer so much, as we keep working: today, at Essetre, we have about forty people and our revenues have grown to 10 million euro. We are considering new investments, because the six-thousand-square-meter area of these premises we moved into in 2021 are no longer enough. As we are now building huge machines for wood constructions, we have decided to add 5 thousand square meters next to the current site: right now, we are forced to wait until we ship the machines before we can start making others, and we have lots of orders ready for 2021! We have to handle 18-meter-long workbenches, versus 13 we were used to, so space is essential to keep growing”.
Things are changing…
“We have always been able to manage “new things”. We have learned to machine beams, what “Clt” is, and we are now dealing with a new generation of glue-free timber walls, with “Timber frame”, the framework constructions for which our “Techno Multiwall” are much in demand. The wood construction business is in turmoil, new methods are introduced each day, but it takes a lot of experience, because a timber house has very peculiar features and issues. We are achieving excellent results in these segments, especially in some markets. One of these is North America, where we have decided to open a subsidiary, Essetre North America LLC“.
Andrea, Cristina, Nicola and Gianni Sella
Despite the current situation…
“We have faced this tough period by focusing on quality and innovation in our customer relations,” said Cristina Sella, marketing and communication manager. “I mean we need to restore “deeper” relations with our counterparts. A key role in this respect is played by our new “interactive virtual showroom”, created in collaboration with a software vendor with whom we have developed a digital platform that is offering great results. It’s not a conventional online catalog, more or less sophisticated, but a real sales tool that will not be accessible to everyone, but instead it will be used to manage relations with customers who want to know more about us, see our machines, how they work, what they can do, how they are made… We might call it a virtual branch, if you want, showing every aspect of a machine, from its construction up to the products it can make. In practical terms, once you are authorized to access the platform, you enter a big indoor structure – with a wonderful ceiling of wood beams – where you can choose a visiting route based on the product you want to make or the type of machine you are interested in. Each machine is placed inside an environment, a space created with the products made by the machine itself”.
A major development…
“We wanted and had to grow quickly in recent years, because there are many challenges to face. As a result, this year we have been among the winners of the third edition of the “Best Managed Companies” award, an initiative launched by Deloitte to support and recognize Italian companies with excellent organization, strategy and performance. Today, it is no longer enough to be good at developing technology, you also have to manage, communicate, spread, understand, support, participate… we want to be a better company from every point of view,” Cristina Sella concluded.
