UI_Giugno_2018

New ideas on the horizon Nicola Altobelli is the current commercial director of Eceplast, an Apulian company founded by his father in 1995, inwhich all three of his sons are involved.The company is young, a little over twenty years old, but already in its second generation. “I like to say, in fact, that I represent the first generation and a half,” Nicola ironically remarks. “Eceplast was founded bymy father 23 years ago and I joined the company in 2003, immediately after graduating, when it was taking its first steps,” he recalls. “I was just a boy, in the second year of Classical Lyceum, with quite different expectations in life, when one day my father called a familymeeting to inform us that he was leaving his job to start his own company. According to our capacities and possibilities, my brothers and I lent a hand and helped launch the startup – a termnot much in vogue at the time,” he adds. “We witnessed the company’s birth and growth, almost as if it were a sister.” Howdid the idea of working in packaging begin? “My father started the company in 1995, relying on the technical knowledge and business experience he had acquiredwhile working with the Eni group. He took risks and managed to develop a production technology, subsequently patented, whichwe saw being born in the garage of our house. While all our competitors were outsourcing, we invested continuously to develop the automation of our process, in order to remain competitive in the market. After just a few years in our market niche, we are the only ones who still produce in Europe, managing to ensure quality and a high level of service at competitive prices. We did not succumb to the siren of outsourcing but retained our production capacity as a strategic asset, while relying on product customisation. Automation and internationalisation have been the two pillars of the company’s growth.” giugno 2018 33 Generazione Erasmus Informazione, assistenza e consulenza, supporto ai problemi delle aziende. Quali sono le ragioni che spingono a fare parte del sistema À * + il gruppo giovani dal 2011 in avanti, e l’ho fatto attirato da un progetto di , ,-) ,-). / + una dimensione totalmente nuova che mi ha completamente attirato a sé e che mi ha gradualmente trasformato in un‘attivista”. Fino ad arrivare alla / nominato vice presidente - riferisce -. In realtà già nel triennio precedente ero À del progetto G20YEA. Adesso sono responsabile per gli affari internazionali. 0 $ Come funziona il mercato? “Il nostro prodotto di punta è il Liner per Con- tainer, ossia un saccone in plastica uti- lizzato per il trasporto alla rinfusa di materie prime nell’industria chimica e alimentare. Lavoriamo con le grandi multinazionali della chimica per esem- pio ENI, BP, DOW, Basf, Basell. E que- sto è stato anche un traino determi- nante per la nostra traiettoria di cre- scita sui mercati internazionali. Oggi l’80% del nostro fatturato deriva dalle esportazioni, in Europa, principalmen- te in Germania, Olanda e Belgio, ma negli ultimi anni ci siamo affacciati al Medio Oriente, Emirati Arabi e Ara- bia Saudita. Oggi guardiamo agli Stati Uniti, Centro e Sud America, ma sono mercati che contano ancora relativa- mente poco in termini di fatturato. E poi, l’India che sta diventando un Pa- ese strategico, soprattutto per quanto riguarda le forniture e lo sviluppo di partnership con aziende locali”.