The company, with turnover in 2020 at 5,700,000 euros (-13% compared to 2019), produces cables and ropes with a density lower than water but ultra-resistant for Luna Rossa
by Marcello Frisone
The company, with turnover in 2020 at 5,700,000 euros (-13% compared to 2019), produces cables and ropes with a density lower than water but ultra-resistant for Luna Rossa
3 ‘of reading
Cables with a density lower than water but resistant like steel. Self Red Moon manages to reach 100 kilometers per hour in the match against Team New Zealand, it is due to the super light weight of the boat thanks also to the cables and lines in Dyneema. Produced from Novara Gottifredi Maffioli, the company recorded a turnover of about 5,700,000 euros in 2020 (-13% compared to 2019) and is at the forefront in the production of cables and ropes in ultra-high modulus polyethylene, that is an extremely light fiber so much that it succeeds to float. Sometimes, Dyneema cables are used in cranes or to carry weights with helicopters. From the tops in natural fiber, to Kevlar, from Pbo to Dyneema, here is another fine example of the Made in Italy that sails in the waters of Auckland for theAmerica’s Cup.
In 1926 they were natural fiber cords and ribbons
The company was founded in 1926 by Maria Gottifredi and shortly after her husband, Ettore Luigi Maffioli, joined in the management of the company which thus took the name Gottifredi Maffioli. The company, now known as a reference point in the nautical market, was born as a support to the textile industry for the production of natural fiber cords and ribbons.
In fact, in 1954, the Novara-based company developed the first synthetic mountain ropes ever made, thus making a decisive contribution to the success of the Italian expedition that conquered the summit of the mountain for the first time in history. K2. Since then, the silhouette of the mythical mountain of theHimalaya has become a symbol of the company.
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In the 80s, he entered the world of boating
In the early 1980s the company seized another great opportunity. Thanks to the first pioneering experiences with the Kevlar (fiber which thanks to its resistance characteristics is also used as a reinforcement fabric for the construction of bulletproof vests) Gottifredi Maffioli was commissioned by Azure, the first Italian boat to participate in the America’s Cup, to create the innovative racing lines. It was the entry into the world of boating, the current reference market of the Novara company, which continues to this day and which has allowed the company to become a market leader in the world of sailing competition. Moor of Venice, Red Moon, Alinghi and Oracle are just some of the very successful boats supplied by Gottifredi Maffioli in the history of the America’s Cup. Not only. The company supplies the ropes to many boats engaged in all the most prestigious sailing competitions such as the Vendéé Globe, to the trimaran Maserati Giovanni’s Soldini which will be involved in numerous events during the next season and will provide numerous qualified crews for the next Tokyo Olympics just as he is preparing his presence at the next Ocean Race.
The 20-year relationship with Luna Rossa
The collaboration between Gottifredi Maffioli and the Luna Rossa team began during the America’s Cup in 2000, the first in which Luna Rossa participated.Since then, the Novara company has been supplying ropes and cables to the Italian team, developing solutions together with more innovative and high-tech, some of which later became very successful products, such as when in the 2000 campaign they developed the tops with sock in Pbo (Polybenzoxazole, fiber particularly resistant to abrasion, heat and with extremely low elongation), whose extraordinary resistance to wear still represents an absolute reference point for the market today.
The evolution of the boat then led to the substantial modification of the products supplied, which now includes a range of lines (today precisely in Dyneema) with a diameter from 0.5 to 13 millimeters, with the focus that has shifted a lot on the maximum reduction of the elongations for the most precise possible adjustment of the maneuvers and on the creation of custom-made tie rods to create flexible connection elements between the actuators hydraulics and loading points on the sails and mobile parts of the boat.
The numbers of the company
Still in the hands of the Maffioli family, the Novara-based company employs 56 people and in 2020 recorded a turnover of approximately 5,700,000 euros, down 13% compared to 2019. This decrease, of course, is due to the pandemic and the consequent lockdown but sales in some specific sectors, such as super yachts, have grown surprisingly, mitigating the overall losses.
For the future, the forecasts seem positive. The acquired orders are numerous in all the nautical and industrial sectors, so much so that the company will shortly hire other staff. «We have decided to invest – explains Rossella Maffioli, financial director – on new high-tech industrial sectors, such as lifting and the production of energy from sustainable sources: we believe that at the end of this moment of crisis there will be opportunities to grow and develop new business opportunities ».