Nando Ottavi
President of Nuova Simonelli SpA, Client of Manini Prefabbricati
Nuova Simonelli, Italian Taste Worldwide
When was Nuova Simonelli founded?
It was founded in 1936 in Cessapalombo, thanks to the ingenuity of a young thirty-year-old, Orlando Simonelli, who had a passion for mechanics in his blood. The first machine built was so innovative for its time that the prototype was awarded at the 3rd ‘Exposition confort dans l’habitation’ in Brussels. On an industrial level, the company developed in the post-war period in Tolentino, where it found the necessary skilled labor, managing to produce highly innovative coffee machines based on patents created by Simonelli himself.
Besides you, who are the founders of the company?
After the founder’s death in 1971, I personally, along with other employees – including Graziano Boldrini, who recently passed away – took over the company, giving birth to Nuova Simonelli. In 1974, almost coinciding with the move from Tolentino to Belforte del Chienti, Sandro Feliziani, the current vice president, joined the company.
What are your reference markets?
Today, Nuova Simonelli has a truly globalized market. We export over 90% of our production and are commercially present in about 120 countries, where we sell directly or through our American subsidiary, established in the early ’90s, based near Seattle (USA). In recent years, the entire Asian area has represented the market with the greatest development, as well as Oceania.
What are the fundamental characteristics of your production?
Nuova Simonelli has always specialized in the professional sector. Our production is almost entirely aimed at bars, restaurants, hotels, and the most well-known coffee shop chains. In addition to our brand, which over time has become synonymous with high technology and continuous innovation in the coffee machine and grinder sector, since 2001 we have also been producing machines under the historic Victoria Arduino brand, which in turn is synonymous with elegance and refinement in style. Today, our two brands share the most advanced technologies, the use of our highly innovative patents, such as the recent T3 system, and attention to ergonomic aspects along with the use of high-quality materials.
How has Nuova Simonelli faced this period of crisis?
Espresso and cappuccino are symbols of Made in Italy. In addition to this aspect, which is far from secondary, there’s the quality and innovation of our products. From this mix come extremely reliable coffee machines, the result of constant investments in research which, being appreciated worldwide, can face expanding markets and thus compensate for the lower demand from geographical areas in crisis. Our expansion in Asia, for example, has more than compensated in these years for the contraction of the Italian and partly European market. That quality and innovation are winning cards to play always and in any case, especially in times of crisis, is also demonstrated by the fact that from 2009 to 2014, Nuova Simonelli’s top-of-the-range coffee machine, the Aurelia, was chosen by the international WCE organization as the official machine for the World Barista Championships. And this high technology that Nuova Simonelli has also transferred to the Victoria Arduino brand will allow us to continue being a technical partner of the same organization for the next three years, making the brand new VA388 Black Eagle machine available to competitors in the world barista championship.
We know that you have also supplied your products for film sets. Which ones were they?
We had our first experience of this kind in 1985 with the Italian film ‘L’attenzione’ by Giovanni Soldati, starring Stefania Sandrelli. Then in 1996, one of our machines appeared in an internationally successful film, ‘The Game’ with Michael Douglas. Last year, the ‘Musica’ model, one of our machines with a refined design, small in size but great in performance, aroused the interest of the screenwriters of a series aired on Japanese TV.
The experience of the coffee machine designed by Fuksas?
A machine that is beautiful to look at, capable of giving personality to the place where it was to be installed, has always been an important goal for all our productions. In 2003, the Microbar model, designed by Carlo Viglino, was awarded an honorable mention at the ‘Compasso d’Oro ADI’. So when we recently decided to produce a new machine with the Victoria Arduino brand, which has always been a symbol of style and elegance, we decided to entrust it to a great design name. Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas created ‘Theresia’ for us, named in honor of Pier Teresio Arduino, who founded the old coffee machine manufacturing company in Turin in 1905. ‘Theresia’, of which a prototype was presented at HOST 2011, has been in production since 2013. Due to its technological and stylistic characteristics, it is aimed at venues with particular attention to decor, prestigious hotels, restaurants and resorts, cruise ships and yachts. Due to its rather compact dimensions, it can also be placed at home by those who love to experience the kitchen environment and, above all, want to guarantee themselves an excellent espresso like the one from the bar, as soon as they wake up or after meals.
What was your experience first as President of Confindustria Macerata and then of Confindustria Marche?
Although my mandate, which began in 2009, has so far unfolded entirely during the years of economic crisis, I cannot hide that it has been a good experience. After the three years spent at the helm of the Macerata section, my current position as regional president allows me to experience from the inside all the problems of the industrial system and particularly of the manufacturing sector, the main sector of the Marche economy and beyond. The need to acquire knowledge and have continuous exchanges of ideas with all the protagonists, institutional and non-institutional, of the socio-economic system also constitutes an important opportunity for professional growth.
How did you come to know Manini Prefabbricati, did you already know it before the purchase?
The Manini name is now famous in Italy, and then several years ago I had the opportunity to get to know the company more directly on the occasion of the construction of the industrial structure for a Tolentino company supplying components for Nuova Simonelli.
What are the elements that made you choose Manini Prefabbricati?
The references it enjoys, the quality of the products, and the professionalism with which it prepares and implements projects.
If you had to choose three adjectives to describe us, which ones would you use?
Competent, professional, reliable.
What are the characteristics that you considered essential for the choice? The history of Manini Prefabbricati and that of Nuova Simonelli are similar in many ways. From a small specialized company, initially projected towards a regional market, Manini, like Nuova Simonelli, has gradually and constantly expanded and improved both its product range and the quality of services offered, positioning itself fully in the highest and most qualified segment of the market. Moreover, like Nuova Simonelli, Manini Prefabbricati also distinguishes itself for its continuous investments in experimentation, innovation, and constant updating of technologies. So, I would say that this consonance of business philosophy has contributed to directing our choice.
