Interviews: Automotive

Keywords: experience and flexibility

Interview with Salvatore Giorgio Giordano, Commercial Director Elmeg

Elmeg mainly serves the Italian market, formulating a direct dialogue with two major companies: Fiat Auto and Iveco (industrial vehicles). The competitiveness of the company of Isola d’Asti is based on agility and flexibility in the development of projects, with the ability to manage modifications even during works in progress, along with a vast experience, economical competitiveness and quality services.

How does Elmeg position itself on the market?
Giordano: With thirty years of experience in the sector, Elmeg has directly entered in the automotive sector only in the past few years. A big step up the ladder in quality, growth and development is due to its strong commitment in the logistic organizational arrangement, as well as product development. Today Elmeg serves as direct and privileged interlocutor for the major Italian automotive sectors. Elmeg mainly produces with blow molding technologies.
Particularly air distribution ducts, underhood technical ducts, tanks and complete windshield wash systems besides some special products such as integrated glove compartments or blow molded products for the appliances industry sector.

What is Elmeg’s competitiveness to serve the automotive sector based on?
Giordano: Product quality and economical competitiveness are the necessary factors to remain present in this market. But our vast experience gives us more: the ability to develop projects with flexibility, which also means knowing how to manage modifications during work in progress and offering new technical solutions, even before they are requested. In this way we become partners in the development and planning of the pieces. An example? Some of the typical products of our sector are the so called “poor” that is to say, they are produced with consolidated technologies, without great difficulties and are not valuable parts of the general economy of the vehicle. For this reason they are productions with low margins. To tackle them with an agile and slim structure is different than with a complex one.

What are the requests of the automobile industry?
Giordano: The requests are quality of the product and economical competitiveness as always and furthermore, requirements regarding quality of the service given. I strongly believe that the requests will rise in the direction of product dependability in the future. The ability to combine product dependability and economical competitiveness is the key of success.

What do you think of the opening of the Eastern Markets and the movement of the productions, already begun in some sectors?
Giordano: There is more space for growth in the internal market for Elmeg. Presently, we are not interested in moving our production plants to the East.
The transportation costs of our products (ducts and tanks) are still too high.
Of course the updating on the events and the internal company decisions of our customers is fundamental, not to be caught unaware by important structural changes. This is why we treasure our 30 years of activity in the sector.