The first plant, in Pontenure, was acquired in 2011. How did this happen?

Back then, we imported materials from four Xella plants from four different countries and found that our logistics were neither economical nor sustainable. We considered developing a greenfield project, but it never came to reality. In 2011, we had the chance to take over the Hebel plant in Pontenure, which changed everything.
Despite the recession that was affecting severely all businesses, in these years we had the chance of substantially grow our business and create a real Company with administration, production and sales and starting to become really organized; we had to transform the organization with specialized people covering most of all business topics, like how to set up efficient and safe production.
We had to learn by doing, and we made a lot of mistakes, but we benefited from them.

What kind of mistakes?

For example, during the 2011-2012 financial crisis, we had no proper credit management, we were not structured to do it and we had not even dedicated people for this; under this circumstances, due to the acquisition of the Pontenure plant, we more than doubled our turnover and the number of customers overnight, in a moment of economic crisis.
We had to work quickly, creating and organizing a Credit dept with specialized resources. We improved significantly, and I believe that today, we are top-notch in terms of credit management.
With the opening of the second AAC plant in Atella in the south of Italy, which began producing under the Ytong brand in 2020, structuring the organization became even more important.

What were important strategic steps in sales?

From the beginning, we tried to develop business for external walls. . While this was a standard business in other countries, in Italy we were still at the beginning of the discussion for energy-efficient housing. So with the support of the Product Management and Marketing team, we invested in this “niche” and I am convinced that Xella actively contributed to the positive development of energy efficiency concepts in construction. We also expanded our product portfolio from AAC blocks alone to include materials such as glue for the blocks, then Multipor, plasters, renders, and it’s not over...
Instead of focusing purely on the blocks, we thought about what would have been useful for our customers and building partners in Italy.

You have joined Xella in May 2006. Is Xella Italia’s story part of yours?

Definitely yes, looking back I started working in Xella when my kids were really young, now they are at the University…
Taking charge of this small team was a challenge. My former boss in Hilti informed me about the fact that with no plant in Italy, it could be difficult, he was right! In fact, everything became easier after we acquired our first plant, the organization became more stable. It was a completely different experience, but surely having faced difficulties supported us in overcoming next steps.
Seeing the team develop and build careers together was very satisfying and motivated me to continue. I'm proud of what we did and still do together.

Xella Italia started early with installing photovoltaic systems in the plants. Why was that?

In 2021, we seized the opportunity to implement a photovoltaic system at our Atella plant, achieving significant energy and CO₂ savings. Two years later, we did the same in Pontenure. This improved our results while lowering the impact of energy costs and utilizing renewable energies. However, this is not the only measure we are taking for ESG. In Pontenure, we have made significant progress in minimizing heat gas. Since the plant was built in 2008, some measures have already been implemented to safeguard, maximize production output, and minimize costs.

How would you describe your relationship with other countries in the group?

Initially, we were directly affiliated with the French organization, so we were integrated in that organization and sharing services. On top of this, we had many chances to meet all colleagues, at that time from all over the world, and due to the fact that we had to import from many foreign plants the good connections and the cooperation were fundamental, and this has always been seen as the added value and not as an issue.
We adopted many business practices from other countries. We would not have gotten anywhere alone. However, at a certain point, we were also able to contribute and give something back of what we had taken and learned from the others. For example, we supply sister companies with plasters and glue. There is still room for improvement in terms of sharing knowledge and expertise as a multinational company.

What will the future of Xella Italy look like?

It is clear that challenges are not over - there is always huge potential for improvement, these are common sentences, but what's special about Xella Italia is that we have learned to play as a team in a constantly changing environment and our challenge is to maintain our hungry spirit and passion for people, customers and innovation.
When your market share is close to 10 percent, you still see possibilities for growth, so it's up to us to recognize and take advantage of them.
We need to maintain at a high level the innovation we had in our first 20 years, for this we need to keep our eyes wide open on the market development, anticipate the needs of the customers.
Internally we need to improve our processes, digitalize them, supply the market with products that are less labour-intensive and have enough production capacity to feed the market.
Last challenge will be to improve the team spirit knowing that the world has changed, motivation, engagement and satisfaction will be more and more important for tomorrow’s success.