Italian David beats Asian Goliath. And he flies to the Olympics. It's the story of Schio Pliers Factory, a small company in the Vicenza area, with just 20 employees and a turnover of 4 million in 2011. A provincial company that has recently won one of the most incredible challenges in its century-old history, bringing home a 350 euro order to supply the London 2012 Olympic village. During the three weeks of the Games, over 17 people including athletes and staff from the various delegations will eat three times a day with disposable plastic cutlery produced in Schio. A rain of forks, spoons and knives. In all, approx 15 millions of pieces. With a peculiarity: every single product is obtained from renewable sources, made of eco-compatible material and can be disposed of through composting. That is to say, zero impact on the environment.
"Our cutlery is among the few in the world to comply with the European standard EN13432, which states how products must be made to be then disposed of with compost", he explains to FIRSTonline Armido Marana, CEO of the company. Precisely this feature has allowed the Venetian factory to overcoming a competitor from Taiwan in the final rush of the race. The Asian company was a real giant, “at least 10 times bigger than us – Marana underlines again -, but it couldn't count on the same technology”. An important success therefore, which “particularly gratifies us, above all because the supply chain is completely Italian: the raw material is grown and processed in Umbria, then it is transported to us, who make the finished product”.
The name of Fabbrica Pinze Schio is linked to distant origins. At the beginning of the 900s, the company produced large wooden tongs for the tanning industry, highly developed in the Vicenza area. Since the 5s, it has been automating production processes, but it is only in the following decade that it transforms into a modern industry. In the new millennium the company begins to work with recycled plastics and after XNUMX years of experimentation Ecozema is born, a line of disposable, biodegradable and compostable catering products, made with biopolymers or vegetable fibres. Ecozema cutlery is the first in the world to obtain OK-Compost certification. A peculiarity that has not escaped London.
And for the after-Olympics? Marana admits that “investment programs have been slowed down in recent times by low liquidity on the market. However, we believe that our market, a niche, has very interesting development potential. For the next few years we plan to achieve a growth trend of 10%. Even if making predictions is very difficult, we remain confident”.
