On March 21, the company Negri Bossi celebrated seventy years in business. It was, indeed, 1947 when Pietro Negri and Walter Bossi, with the participation of Marco Giani, founded what is now one of Italy’s oldest industrial companies. The three had already worked together, from 1943 to 1947, at Cogema (Compagnia generale macchine e apparecchiature per materie plastiche, founded by Giani), also a pioneering manufacturer of injection moulding machines. Within the newly formed company, Bossi had the role of technical designer, Negri dealt with production and service, while Giani looked after the commercial side. Having taken on around a dozen people, the company moved from its first headquarters in corso Magenta to a new site in via Bazzini, both in Milan. At the new premises it had a larger warehouse, allowing it to cope with the rapid expansion of its business.

The first injection moulding machine built by the company was called NB 28: this hydraulic machine also stood out for its two tiebars and 15-ton clamping force. The machine was sold for 450,000 lire to a processor from the Bergamo area, to be used in the production of polystyrene buttons with a shot weight of 28 grams. There is an interesting story concerning the machine’s Vickers pump: this was found in Aral’s oil fields, which were abandoned by the Americans after the end of the Second World War.

In 1948, Gianni Bodini joined the company, and a decade later, in 1958, he became its technical manager and head of design. In 1964, the company moved to Cologno Monzese, to the site that is still its general headquarters today. In this period, Negri Bossi deposited several patents and built presses with clamping forces ranging from 15 to 1,200 tons. Thanks to the company’s success, in 1960 it was possible to expand the production division at the new plant in Pero (near Milan).

Pietro Negri died in 1970, while Walter Bossi retired in 1979. After this, the Cologno Monzese-based company was taken over several times in quick succession, while nevertheless retaining the spirit of its founders. In 2014, Negri Bossi was taken over by Kingsbury, an American company that still owns it today.