The winning formula that allows Tecnopool to operate in industrially mature markets combines flexibility in adapting its technologies to different needs and the high level of know-how and specialization.
Marco Mier, Tecnopool's sales man for Central and Northern Europe and Israel, summarizes the characteristics that allow a leading food industry company to position itself distinctively in its reference markets creating value over time.
"I work in the German-speaking countries, the Scandinavian, French and Israeli countries, mature markets characterized by strong competition and similar production and technological needs. In these markets, innovation plays a crucial role and for this reason Tecnopool constantly invests in research and development improving technological aspects and anticipating the trend of demand as much as possible. The reliability and flexibility of our technology are the objective qualities that customers recognize and that allow positive dialogue in these countries. If a company knows the market and its needs, it can adequately respond to customer requests, increasing trust and security towards it."
For these reasons, those who provide equipment and facilities for the food sector cannot ignore a good deal of experience and precision, even in commercial relations. These aspects, if perceived by the customer, allow the establishment and maintenance of a constructive relationship of collaboration between customer and supplier.
"The experience gained - says Mier - has allowed me to understand that for many customers being able to get to know people directly and see the plants in operation live is an important step to consolidate the opinion they have of the supplier and, consequently, the trust with which they rely on his service. The innovative Test Room, built in our headquarters,where customers can test our technology and appreciate the performance of our plants, also responds to this need."
For the same reasons, despite the many opportunities for contact that digitalization offers, the presence at international events and fairs remains crucial. Tecnopool's work and constant investment in trade fairs in recent decades has created a base of notoriety that continues to prove its fruits.
"It's not just a matter of visibility. Tecnopool - explains Mier - boasts an excellent longevity of employment and insiders can find and recognize, fair after fair, the same people. This tells the solidity and seriousness of the company better than any brochure: if those who work with us do so for many years, it means that the
company is stable and the working environment is healthy. Two factors that are taken into account abroad and in particular in my reference markets."
Obviously, once the first contact has been facilitated, the relationship with the customer must be enriched with substantial elements that for Tecnopool are enciling in: customer satisfaction, the merits of the product and its performance, reduced maintenance - service friendly - and a lower rate of wear and tear of the equipment. The other aspect that certainly benefits a company in the food industry is the ability to customize the plants. Under the range of food processing comes a very diverse world: from bakery to frozen products, from fresh products to ready meals to the most niche processes. Clearly, in such a multifaceted landscape, being able to count on a technology applicable to different areas means benefiting from the know-how gained in all food segments. As for the ability to adapt towards the customer with whom you collaborate, a company like Tecnopool finds itself operating in very different contexts: from the automation of small industries to the first industrialization of growing artisan companies, up to the modernization of large plants in navigated food giants. To this double variability - type and size - Tecnopool responds with the elasticity of its layout in highly customizable systems.
"The examples of plant engineering that we have built over the years - says Mier - are almost amazing for diversity: bread and bakery, fresh vegetables and fruits, pasteurization of meats and dairy products. I have seen dry plum pasteurizers designed for Europe's largest dried fruit group in France: 4 tonnes per hour for 24 hours a day, with 2 spirals and 1.5 km of conveyor belt. We have created meat processing plants in which meatballs are pasteurized and then cooled to fry, others to pasteurize sealed trays of spreadable meat, with the spiral of the belt under showers of water at 80 °C that then passes in a cold shower. We have designed a plant in Finland that cooks and pasteurizes raw packaged soups and, in 90 minutes of steam at 95°C, produces soups in a tray already cooked and cooled at cold temperature. It is clear that having a single standard product with an operating range from -40 to 110°C, or up to 300°C if baked, allows us to respond to anyone. Our system is so versatile that in some cases it limits, and they are almost fun anecdotes, with our technologies we have even made wood maturation or veterinary tablet drying plants."
The development process possible with Tecnopool solutions allows the Paduan company to directly support the customer in his particular needs. Think of the advantage of a spiral that condenses long thermal processes in a small space or the flexibility of the spiral that can be designed with output both at the top and with return at the bottom, without the need for elevators or lowerers at the end of the oven.
"Of course- concludes the commercial - many clients make use of prepared consultants who facilitate the negotiation. We are convinced that the other side of the coin, with respect to flexibility, is specialization: being analytical and highly professional in the face of customer requests is an important advantage and increases the probability that the negotiation will be successful. The long-standing, mature and technically performing markets arelooking for this specialization and being able to fit it into a wide range of applications is certainly the stretch that has enhanced us the most over the years."
Daniele Toni