THE OCRIM CHARACTERS: LUIGI GRASSI, BRILLIANT TECHNICIAN OF MILLING ART

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He was certainly one of the most innovative technicians in the international milling industry. Luigi Grassi, cousin of the founder Cav. Guido Grassi has been able to combine new processing methods with the different production needs of world markets. He didn’t like to show off; praise embarrassed him, but he had a passion for research and the great natural talent of teaching. He was in fact an authoritative and unforgettable teacher for generations of young people. He had prestigious awards and was awarded with the “Star of Merit of Labour”, one of the most important honours of the Italian State.

Milling innovation was written in his DNA. He attended the best school, the one in the field, starting to work as a simple worker in the family mill, in Cavatigozzi (a small village near Cremona). Later, in 1945, he followed and supported his cousins Guido and Ettore Grassi, founders of Ocrim – at that time called “Officine Cremonesi Impianti Mulini – O.C.R.I.M. – Società a Responsabilità Limitata “- covering the role of technologist manager. His perceptiveness and the desire to learn have helped to develop his natural technical-scientific inclination and to express extraordinary gifts on the research and experimentation matters.

Luigi Grassi, born in 1908, devoted his whole life to studying how to improve grinding methods by adapting them to the different needs of foreign countries. His contribution was fundamental to open new horizons and allow Ocrim to enter the world markets as a leader. Even today, his special grinding diagrams are used. These work tools, 46 years after his untimely death, are still avantgarde and unsurpassed.

His watchwords were: experimenting with new methods, improving processes, optimizing yields. Hundreds of plants all over the world carry his signature. He knew all the secrets of cereal processing, in particular wheat and corn, which he shared and divulged with great passion by explaining each phase and each new discovery. Who, if not Luigi, could teach to the new generations? He did it with great enthusiasm. He had a shy character, but when he taught he attracted everyone with his genuine enthusiasm. Having dedicated the Ocrim School of Milling Technology to him was a dutiful and grateful consequence.

There’s no doubt that he was one of the best and most brilliant technicians of international milling art and, when in 1966, he was decorated with the “Star of Merit of Labour” – one of the most important honours of the Italian State – thought common was: “Well done Luigi! Never recognition was more deserved“.

 

On the cover: from left Luigi Grassi, Piercarlo Grassi, Giuseppe Spinelli (general manager). In the second group Guido Grassi (the President) with some technicians.