The managing director, Laura Bertacco, presented a corporate social responsibility project
Once again, OFFICINE DI CARTIGLIANO was included among the 1000 Best- Performing Enterprises based in Vicenza province, the latter ranked as Italy’s third province in terms of export rate, right after Milan and Turin. During the 2021 edition of event, hosted at the municipal theatre in Vicenza, Laura Bertacco, OFFICINE DI CARTIGLIANO’s managing director, was chosen as one of the speakers, the only businesswoman: she took the stage to talk about the firm, the markets, of business diversification, as well as to share a corporate social responsibility project.
“Foreign markets,” explained Laura Bertacco, “are our key assets. In 2018, our export share accounted approximately for 85% of the turnover, the latter amounting to 36 million euros in the same year. You can only imagine what it meant for us, in the pandemic era, not to welcome foreign customers and not to travel around the world, given that we export our leather drying systems to 180 countries worldwide. 2020 turned out to be a complicated year, because it is difficult to sell online, via ecommerce channels, a tanning plant; nevertheless, we chose to keep up with our customers by developing the Virtual Trial. However, in spite of a decrease export-wise, we have registered an interesting growth when it comes to the domestic market, where a company with no sustainability-oriented plan has no future.”
“Our fortune,” added the managing director, “has lied in our ability to diversify business activities, a path undertaken ten years or so ago. Starting with the analysis of some leather drying techniques, we have then proceeded to apply them to a completely different sector, that is, machines designed to dry sludges coming from wastewater treatment plants, both industrial and civil, even though our target encompasses all manufacturing enterprises. Thanks to our drying system, we can remove up to 80% of sludges volume by absorbing water, thus resulting in a marked decrease in waste disposal and transport costs.”
During the event, the managing director also chose to share an original experience concerning local welfare, a project devised and championed by OFFICINE DI CARTIGLIANO: thanks to this initiative, the companies based in the municipality take charge of some costs to support the community. “We have already implemented the corporate welfare, paying close attention to employees, because we know that making people happy at their workplace helps increase productivity. The starting point of the project called “Giano: fabbrichiamo il fututo (Janus: let’s build the future, editor’s note)” stemmed from an analysis of population decline trend: since 2008, it has registered a 70% decrease compared to 1970. It is not only a social issue, but also an entrepreneurial one: according to studies, in 4-5 years, firms, even those based in our territory, will be able to hire 20/22 people, while, up until a few years ago, they were able to find 50/60 qualified human resources. It is a troubling trend.”
“In order to deal with the declining birth rates,” stated Laura Bertacco, “the project aims at fostering activities to train the kids, who, one day, will be the future of our enterprises, by providing families with services and incentives for children attending school. The charity association “Giano”, established in April 2021, features the support of 45 firms that deposit the respective sums, calculated according to their turnover, that is, a sort of tax paid in favour of the community. There is a division between Master, Junior and Supporting companies; those belonging to the first group donate, yearly, 0.035% of their turnover for five years, with a minimum quota, pledging, for instance, to contribute to a family’s costs for a second child, who maybe goes to nursery school. In just a few months, we have managed to raise 40,000 euros and, this year, we took charge of summer camps’ fees, while now, we are setting up a multidisciplinary room at the local primary schools. We would like to see Cartigliano’s experience copied by entrepreneurs and industrialists based in other provinces or in different regions, because collaboration lies at the core of great projects.”
Laura Bertacco, OFFICINE DI CARTIGLIANO’s CEO