Then you say fate. “On July 6, 39 years ago, my father died and I was taking my last university exam in aeronautical engineering. He would have liked me to follow in his footsteps in the public sector, he was afraid of my desire to be an entrepreneur. Last July 6th is the day I have listed SolidWorld on the stock exchange, on the Euronext Growth market. I like to think that now, wherever he is, Dad is calm ”.
Roberto Rizzo has more than one reason to be moved, rethinking the path of the company he founded in 2003 and today the parent company of 11 companiesleader in Italy and among the main ones in Europe in 3D digital supply chain.
The numbers are enough to certify it: 14 operational offices, 3 technological centers, over 150 employees, a turnover of 55 million euros at the end of 2021. But the numbers only tell part of the story.
The other part is the vision, which has led the company to be what it is by relying on three bets (“certainties”, says Rizzo, lucky him).
First bet / certainty: “we always have reinvested everything in technologies, because without technological leadership you can’t go anywhere “. The result is, for example, that they are the first in the world to produce one, thanks to the collaboration with the University of Pisa 3D printer that uses cells, hydrogels, growth factors and biopolymers as materials to create “tissues” that mimic the complexity and functions of human tissues. The applications are dizzying: think of the possibility of reconstructing transplant organs and tissues starting from the patient’s own cells or those of relatives, in order to reduce hospitalization times (and eliminating the waiting times linked to the identification of a compatible donor ) and the risks of rejection.
Future
3D printing with living materials
Second: not just focus on hardware and software, but also on services, from technical assistance to professional training (“But we also think of the designers of tomorrow, with free campuses to teach children the use of 3D tools”) to consultancy for design, planning and production activities. Hence the opening of 14 offices in Italy “Because we want to be close to our customers, to help them build digital factories in the transition to industry 4.0”. And customers appreciate, if it is true that there are more than 8 thousand, including the main Italian brands and listed groups such as Leonardo.
“We need the listing to become international, to start the export of Italian technology and machines, which we will be able to build by acquiring factories, also thanks to the capital that we hope will come from the market”.
Speaking of capital, i funds of the Pnrr represent a great opportunity, how do you plan to take advantage of them?
“Our customers will invest through these funds will invest in the digital transition to automate the factory according to the dictates of Industry 4.0. From this point of view, with our know-how and our technologies we are obviously at an advantage “.
However, it is difficult to think of a worse time to enter the stock market. Why did you do it? “For three reasons. The first is improve standing: given the level of clientele that we have, being listed guarantees our client a future stability of the technology supplier. Let me explain: if a company today has to invest in strategic technology, it obviously does so with a supplier that is as reliable as possible. And nothing is more reliable than being listed on the stock exchange, the financial statements are public, there is maximum transparency. The second reason is improve the ability to attract talent, the best students and graduates in scientific disciplines. In the end, our quotation is doing wellwe have raised capital that we will need to invest and improve our technology ”.
Then there is the third bet / certainty, more relevant than ever: help the production system to move more and more towards sustainable production and design, based on the circular economy, and above all by eliminating the waste of raw materials.
“The era of outsourcing and globalization is over” says Rizzo with undisguised satisfaction, “it’s time for reshoring and zero-kilometer hi-tech do-it-yourself “.
The magic word is additive manufacturing, a Copernican revolution compared to traditional (but really traditional, we are talking about millennia of history) “subtractive” techniques that involve the removal of the material from a single piece with lathes and cutters. To understand this, the Michelangelo who “sees” the work in the marble block goes to the attic, in favor of a technology that allows the same work to be created through a process of layering (of addition) starting from a digital model. With today’s Michelangelo as the designer who tells the programmer how to set up the algorithm.
Art 2.0
The sculptor robot who plays the role of Michelangelo
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But there is more: all the solutions that the group distributes and the materials used for the prints are developed starting from their ability to be disposed of or reused, creating the least possible impact on the environment.
And if it is true that, according to the S&P Global PMI index, we recorded the first decline in manufacturing production in 2 years, due among other things to the difficulty of producing due to a lack of material, then “additive” production takes on everything. another sense also in economic terms, as well as ecological ones, assuming that today the economy can disregard ecology.
“In developing a new product, SolidWorld plans its production in a circular way, evaluating not only its entire life cycle but also its final disposal, based on three fundamental rules that all designers in the group must respect: reduce use of raw material; improve disposal; produce at kilometer 0 ”concludes the founder.
But from that July 6 39 years ago, Rizzo has traveled many kilometers, up to Piazza Affari. “I won’t stop here, in 5 years we want to be the first Italian group (and we hope among the most important in Europe) in the technology of the digital factory. We must have all the present and future technologies to allow Italian manufacturing companies to be competitive and have factories as automated as possible “.
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