Ekosystem looks to the internet, Middle East

Ekosystem was founded in 2002 by two employees from another nearby Italian machinery company. Simon Robinson visited them at their small factory in Desio, near Milan, Italy.

Ekosystem is a relatively new player on the Italian machinery scene and has found a niche for itself in a number of markets which are relatively off the beaten track.

The company, which found that more established players had strong positions in traditional markets for polyurethane machinery also uses relatively unusual marketing techniques, with orders coming from online sources and other internet marketplaces.

According to company figures for 2015, 35% of its output went to Saudi Arabia; 30% went to the UAE; 22% to India, with 9% going to the Lebanon and the remainder of the machinery going to other destinations.

In 2014, machinery was bought in Brazil, Vietnam, Romania, Macedonia, Algeria, Kyrgyzstan, and Pakistan as well.

Marta Romano, marketing assistant, said: “For me the future is the internet, we are not big but many of our requests come from the internet.”

Typically she said, “They contact us and we make the offer, and if they like it, one week later this is confirmed and down payment is made.”

Romano added: “The important thing is to reply as quickly as you can to the initial enquiry.”

“Up to 40% of business can come from the internet. We are interested in new customers and also current customers, so we will be modifying the website to help with areas such as technical assistance,” Romano explains. She suggests that in future it could be “possible to upload photographs or short videos of plant for example. There could also be online tutorials for customers.”

The emerging polyurethane machinery market strategy, is not without its difficulties said Grazia Caglio, managing director.

She added: "We are trying to explore other markets such as Brazil, but it is very, very difficult. We have sold three machines there but the import duties are very high.”

Angelo Rivolta, production manager, explained that, “One of the Brazilian machines was a moulded foam plant for an automotive components maker. We sold a similar line to a factory in Romania.” This is an Romanian plant owned by American company making steering wheels for a number of OEMs.

The areas which are biggest geographically are the Middle East, “Our partner Gilberto Iorio, sales director visits the UAE on a monthly basis, and from there he moves to India, Saudi Arabia, the Lebanon and other countries in the area.

As a fairly new and small company, Ekosystem’s approach to production involves more outsourcing than the larger companies with which it competes.

Ekosystem designs its own mixheads, said Rivolta, but it buys other parts such as heat exchangers, process controllers and pumps from other European companies. It then assembles them on site before shipping.

“The first thing to do,” he said, “is to find the best supplier with the best products that we can rely on.”

“Then,” Rivolta added, “we assemble machines in Italy, after they are assembled, they are commissioned and tested so there are no problems. There is a thorough paper trail and everything is electronically recorded as well. This includes the serial numbers of the parts.

“So if there is a problem in the future, we can contact the supplier. This process enables us to get our CE Mark.”

Romano added: “Our ISO consultant said that we operate an island production system, with the technicians involved in all phases of the production and assembly. There is no serial production since machines are mostly tailor-made."

In one case Ekosystems specified a continuous rigid panel line that used a roll-forming machine from China.

Rivolta said: “Ekosystem supplied the wet part, the double belt and dry parts of the machine came from China.

“We visited the Chinese plant with our customer, to check all the parts as they were put in the content of shipment,” he added.

Young and experienced

Although the firm is young, its staff have polyurethane industry experience. Rivolta has over 30 years’ experience in the polyurethane industry starting work at 19 and as a processor.

Caglio said: “In the beginning, we worked from my home, with technical assistance and spare parts. In 2004 we sold our first machine to India to a company called Harita .

She continued: “After we sold the first machine, the number of enquiries increased and we had to move to the first factory.

“We were there for 10 years, and then two years ago, we won a big bid and the space we had was not sufficient. We had to make 30 low-pressure machines in a workshop which was 300 m²,” Rivolta said. “Every time the machine was made we put it in a box in a container.”

“Then we decided to buy this building,” Caglio said, “We were growing and so we needed more space.”

The firm moved to a new 1000m² factory, located in Desio, about 15km (9miles) north east of Milan, in September 2015, said Romano. There is an additional 200m² of office space at the site.

Ekosystem, which had taken on extra technical staff ahead of the move completed construction of a 30m double metal-faced rigid panel line in mid-December 2015. “Moving to new premises made it possible for us to complete such a large machine,” Romano said.

“The new building was also used to produce some repeat business for the firm,” she explained.

Business relationships

“We have had a relationship with this customer for five years, their base is in Saudi Arabia and they trust us, they gave us this order because were not just good in words we’re good in facts,” she added.

“At the moment demand is for high-pressure machinery, but two years ago, we produced several low-pressure machines.

Rivolta explained: “The largest number of machines we produce are for low-density rigid foam panels for domestic refrigerators and boilers as well as some moulded and flexible foam.”

Ekosystem has also worked on pentanisation projects with International organisations

Rivolta said: “At the moment customers use water and 141-b, blowing agents.” Ekosystems modifies machinery for use in hot temperatures “We increase the cooling power with a bigger heat exchanger, and usually we suggest putting machines inside air-conditioned rooms as the best solution. Usually when I meet a processor all of the drums and so on are in an air-conditioned room,” he added.