Stars and Stripes future for Negri Bossi

The Sacmi Group officialises the sale of the plastics division to US Kingsbury. The ability to lead in several different industries and business branches. Yet also a rare capacity to look ahead and remain true to a challenging commitment, one that has been the group's hallmark for decades: investment in technology and human capital to bring about the conditions - through future-oriented corporate and managerial decisions - for growth and expansion on world markets. These are the key points underlying the transaction, officialised on April 11, via which the Sacmi group will transfer the entire plastics division to the Kingsbury group, a multinational based in Rochester (New York): global player in the automotive, aerospace and electronic components industries, it has been doing business for over 120 years. "This sale is in keeping with Sacmi's desire to streamline management and focus more on the ceramics and packaging sectors", stated the Sacmi group's general manager, Pietro Cassani (who will, following this operation, become a member of the American giant's board of directors).
Three "family jewels" will, thanks to their transfer to Kingsbury, experience new growth opportunities. The first, Negri Bossi, one of Europe's leading designers of plastic injection moulding presses, has been a Sacmi group company for some ten years now and during that decade this Cologno Monzese-based (near Milan) company has undergone extensive reorganisation and seen its product range steadily expand towards the top end of the market. The second jewel, Bi-Power, is a Sacmi branch specialising in the manufacture of very large presses and is already a long-standing supplier to Europe's major automobile manufacturers such as Fiat-Chrysler. Last but certainly not least, comes Roboline-Sytrama of Vignate (Milan), a provider of robotized business solutions to the plastics industry.
"The Kingsbury Group" explains Cassani "undoubtedly has the skills needed to give this business, currently worth some 100 million euros, a further boost". Given the huge contribution the "new entries" will make to this American giant (Negri Bossi subsidiaries in Spain, France, UK, India, Canada and, naturally, the Usa will also be "going American"), overall business volumes are expected to rise to 250 million euros. Then, of course, there are the positive effects the deal will have on Sacmi itself. "My presence on the new Kingsbury-Negri Bossi board of directors ensures strong ties with the Sacmi group, which remains the main supplier of high-tonnage presses, built in Imola.
In other words, this internationalization process is good for growth and employment here in Italy, as the new owners have expressed their intention to maintain the current output facilities, especially in Cologno Monzese and Imola, without any personnel cuts. In fact, the emphasis is on growth, which is being driven by the two most promising markets, the Usa and the UK. New and even more ambitious goals, then, for both groups. And all the ingredients for success: the Kingsbury portfolio, in fact, spans - to name but a few - from the Us Ministry of defense to Chrysler, from Ford to Briggs & Stratton, from Whirlpool to Honeywell. And Sacmi, for its part, closed 2013 positively, confirming that the performance of 2012 has continued (also into the current year), with further growth of volumes and revenues across all divisions.