September 22, 2023 – The city of Rimini hosted the eleventh edition of “Wheat, flour, and…”, the annual event that Ocrim organizes to share an exclusive educational, professional, and convivial experience with customers. This year the event took place, exceptionally, in the well-known seaside resort with the Arch of Augustus and the Bridge of Tiberius, a land of Romagna celebrated by great exponents of literature, such as the poet Dante Alighieri and the idealist philosopher Benedetto Croce. A territory where the great historical-artistic heritage merges with an agricultural world increasingly oriented towards organic and sustainability.
They are also the birthplace of the Antolini’s family. Their industrial activity began here with Paglierani, the world’s leading mechatronics company for weighing, packaging and bagging systems. And it is Paglierani, the Ocrim sister company, which this year opened its warehouses to customers. The historic Fulgor Cinema – an Art Nouveau building in the heart of Rimini, an iconic and inspiring place for the cinematographic and poetic art of director Federico Fellini – lifted the curtain on the first day, which began with the conference dedicated to the Ocrim world, where the common threads is the word “courage”.
After a short video, the Ocrim CEO, Alberto Antolini, took the stage and gave the opening speech: <<Welcome everyone This is our family’s land, we were born and grown here. We have become grownup, thanks to the sacrifice of an entire generation, my grandfather and my father. Thanks to the Ocrim and Paglierani family because the success of these days is thanks to them. (…) The courage comes from you who give us the opportunity to work and create with all the affection and professionalism we deserve>> The floor was then left to a guest of excellence, the Prefect of Cremona, Mr. Corrado Conforto Galli, who presented the project in collaboration with Ocrim. This is a social initiative aimed at encouraging the hospitality and inclusion of migrants – the Ocrim guests house currently hosts around fifty of them -, in particular families. <<Immigration is a phenomenon that must be governed and not undergo and, I am convinced that, at a local level, we can all do something. Asylum seekers, at this stage in which their application is examined, can work. Given that the Italian economic system desperately needs skilled and unskilled manpower, why not bring these two needs together? Hence the project with Ocrim to train a certain number of subjects was born”>>. Then it was the turn of Federico Vecchioni, the BF Spa CEO << We have become a large Italian infrastructure that has international projection in at least 40 production companies in the next 4 years. Ocrim is already there. You are expressions of many realities that have chosen Ocrim for technology. Well, BF will come for the management of the land. We will arrive with almost 180 thousand hectares managed by BF, where we will bring not only the seeds, the technical means but we will also bring the entire Italian manufacturing supply chain. We will also do what the Prefect said: we will train people; we will not have a predatory attitude. We will have a logic of collaboration, of exchange with the Mediterranean basin and with Asia”>>
After the institutional interventions, the Ocrim experts’ speeches followed. Stefano Mazzini, Ocrim Commercial and Marketing Director, illustrated the strategic turning point adopted since 2008 with the advent of Antolini ownership. In total contrast with most companies, they have not followed the logic of globalization by opening foreign offices, despite operating all over the world, nor by entrusting the construction of the various components to others. The Ocrim production chain is completely internalized and tracked, so that the quality offered is totally OcriMade certified. A choice that allows us to always integrate new production processes and provide a complete turnkey service. The creation of the agri-food supply chain in partnership with other leaders in the sector (agri-food chain choice) and new acquisitions are part of this direction of centralization and traceability. The most recent concerns the storage sector, which is now increasingly strategic due to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
With the acquisition of the company Sima srl, in the province of Treviso (Italy), specialized in the construction of plants for the storage of small, medium and large-sized cereals, legumes and flours, a further piece is added to the Ocrim supply chain to provide the customer with a service at 360 degrees.
Fabio Vuoto, Ocrim Technical Director, demonstrated how the acquisition of Sima allows us to offer a complete service through innovative storage solutions. He focused on the description of metal storage units with round or square/rectangular bins, highlighting the indisputable advantages that derive from them: investment costs significantly lower than the market average, very short construction times and the possibility of reuse.
Emanuele Bigna, Ocrim Production Director, demonstrated how the internalization process allows the entire production process to be optimized in terms of efficiency and total control of each manufacturing phase, focusing on the recent and substantial technological investments that Ocrim has made in the various departments. The result widely appreciated by the market confirms the superior quality obtained with the decision to centralize all activities in Cremona.
Ivano Scandolara, Ocrim Erection & Construction Manager, offered participants an in-depth analysis of the best techniques for the construction of mill buildings, going into detail about the pros and cons of certain choices. vano The expertise gained over many years of work allows Ocrim to support the customer by offering suggestions on the various construction options, advice relating to the technical details essential for correct design, reduction of the number of actors involved and, consequently, reduction of errors. With real savings in terms of costs and time.
At the end of the conference we moved to the Paglierani headquarters for lunch and the subsequent visit to the factories where all production is designed, built and assembled internally, as the maximum guarantee of Italian made quality. The visit developed along the company core departments: from the packaging machine assembly department to the metal conditioning and painting, from the assembly of hooding machines to the bagging machines with automatic filling system, passing through the mechanical processes.
The day ended with the gala dinner. The Marcosanti castle, one of the oldest (13th century) and best-preserved fortress complexes in the Rimini hinterland, hosted our 200 guests. The weather conditions were not particularly favourable, but we subsequently managed to enjoy the end of the evening in the wonderful and intimate internal courtyard.