handing over in the name of continuity not just ... - Berco S.p.A

English EditionCorporate Newsletter - Free copyQuarterly pubblication - Year 12Number 46 - 2 nd Quarter 2006Editor: Silvia Ungaro Ferrara Law Court Registration n. 17/94 del 5-12-1994Poste Italiane S.p.A. - Spedizione in Abbonamento Postale - D L. 353/2003 (conv. in L. 27/02/2004 n°46) Art. 1, comma 1, DCB FerraraFRONT PAGEFROM BERTONI TO SATURNI:HANDING OVER IN THE NAME OF CONTINUITYBERCO PEOPLENOT JUST TECHNOLOGY IN THE NEW TRACKROLLER ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT

EditorialTHANK YOU, EVERYONE.AND NOW, ON WE GO!234-567-9101112131415IN THIS ISSUE:EDITORIALThank you, everyone. and now, on we go!FRONT PAGEHanding over in the name of continuityBERCO PEOPLENot just technology in the new track rollerassembly departmentMACHINES TOOLSGrowth plansSPECIALMaking historyINNOVATION & TECHNOLOGYquality diesENVIRONMENT & SAFETYKeeping an eye on the environment:atmospheric emissionsDEALERS & CUSTOMERSNew opportunities in Latin AmericaDEALERS & CUSTOMERSA Proud History... a Strong Future!ABOUT BERCOA true gentlemanA prestigious awardNEWS & EVENTSIntermat, a mixtureof continuity and innovationBercoNews is a quarterly periodical published for Bercoemployees, customers, suppliers and friends.The articles and photos can be copied only if expressly authorisedby the Editor.Cover: Mr. Bertoni and Mr. SaturniPublished by: BERCO S.p.A. - Communications DepartmentVia 1° Maggio, 237 - 44034 Copparo (FE) Italytel. +39 0532 864431 - fax +39 0532 864462e-mail: berconews@berco.comEditor-in-Chief: Silvia Ungarotel. +39 0532 864431 - fax +39 0532 864462,e-mail: s.ungaro@berco.comEditorial Committee: P. Azzi, L. Barattoni, L. Guzzinati,G. Micheletto, G. Neodo, B. Panin, S. Salatini, S. SalviContributors to this issue: F. Buriani, O. AstolfiEditorial Secretary: D.RoversiTel. +39 0532 864 270 - e-mail: d.roversi@berco.comGraphics and pagination: Communications DepartmentPhotos: P. Azzi, M.MingozziPrinted: Chinchio Industria Grafica S.p.A. (PD)Circulation: Italian 5.300, English 5.500, Spanish 1.400,Portuguese 500Dear readers,I can't deny that filling thisspace, the space always used byGiovanni Bertoni to express hisideas and thoughts about thecompany, is a moving experience.And I would like once more toconvey my most sincere thanksto this person for giving methe chance to work and grow athis side over the many yearsin which we have shared notonly the successes, enthusiasmsand satisfactions, but also theproblems, challenges and worriesthat inevitably arose on thislong path walked together.As many of you will know, I am not new to this job. I came toBerco almost thirty years ago, when, along with some other “youngengineers”, we were set the task of trying to bring together anddevelop the wealth of experience and professionalism bornfrom the far-sightedness, ideas and tenacity of the company'sfounder.It was in this soil that I sunk my roots and, nurtured on theprecious experience and teaching of my predecessors, withgreat enthusiasm and a constant desire to discover new waysof seeing the future, I have striven constantly to make myknowledge grow.In all these years, I have spent time in practically all thecompany's operational areas: Maintenance, Industrial Systems,Investment, Quality, Hot Forging, Production, Engineering andPurchasing.All those I have worked with have contributed to my professionalgrowth and it is certainly thanks also to them that the stockholderhas decided to give me and the whole of the BERCO “team” thetask of continuing to run this great company.And with this very team spirit, professionalism and renewedenthusiasm we shall carry on working, with an eye to thefuture. I am certain that, together with our customers andsuppliers, we can succeed in achieving new, ambitious goals.And so, thank you again, everyone. All the best in your workand on we go!Bruno Saturni, Managing Director

Front PageHANDING OVERIN THE NAME OF CONTINUITYAfter 19 years as Managing Director, Giovanni Bertoni wishesfarewell to the staff and passes the baton to Bruno Saturni,Managing Director as of the 8th of FebruaryOn the 8th of February, in a warm, movingceremony attended by staff from allBerco departments, Giovanni Bertoniformally resigned from his post as ManagingDirector of Berco and Bruno Saturni wasinstalled as his successor.It was a solemn occasion, one that willundoubtedly become part of the history ofthe company. After nineteen years of successes,difficulties and challenges, Giovanni Bertoni,gave us a personal account of his time asManaging Director and, with a touch ofnostalgy, bade farewell to the company, hisfellow workers and Copparo. Without tryingto hide the emotional content of the occasion,Bertoni went back over the extraordinarysuccess story of the company that has becomethe undisputed leader of the undercarriageworld. “There are four reasons for thisextraordinary success,” he said. “The first isthe human factor, the extraordinary capabilitiesand skills of the people in all the differentareas of Berco that have dedicated themselveswith such enthusiasmand passion to theimplementation ofmajor projects; I mayhave been a fairlygood captain, butwe would never haveachieved the resultswe did without suchan excellent crew,such an invincibleteam. The secondreason is Berco'sexceptional abilityto come up with innovative products to theliking of international markets. The third isBerco's remarkable capacity for creating anddeveloping innovative products and processtechnologies way ahead of its rivals, andthe fourth is the extraordinary support givenby the stockholder in terms ofinvestment: the results attainedwould not have been possiblewithout belonging to a majorindustrial group, which gave itsapproval to our plans and sharedin their implementation”.A success underlined andacknowledged also by Dr. OlafBerlien, Chairman of ThyssenKruppTechnologies, present on theoccasion to say goodbye toMr. Bertoni and to welcome thenew Managing Director: “Not onlydid you run Berco as its ManagingDirector but you also restructured it, gave ita new outlook, set it in a new mould andbreathed new life into it.You had the boldness to takethe company to a newstrategic level, transformingit from a supplier of spareparts to a specialist inundercarriage componentsfor all kinds of trackedmachinery. All the bigmanufacturers - Komatsu,John Deere and Liebherr -are supported by Berco intheir presence on the worldmarket”.A legacy such as this is undoubtedly anexciting challenge for the person with theimportant task of taking over and pressingon from these results towards new goals andnew successes. Bruno Saturni, who hasactually already taken the reins of thecompany, dwelt on this very aspect, stressinghow his sense of satisfaction with thestockholder's decision to opt for continuityand place its trust in him is matched by a greatsense of responsibility. “I tell you that whatI feel today, more than a sense of satisfaction,is a great sense of responsibility, becausewe, all of us, as the Berco team, must beready to face the everyday problems and themarket competition in such a way as to showthat the trust that has been placed in us isjustified”.As a sign of recognition for the work ofGiovanni Bertoni and his time spent at thehelm of Berco, the Board of Directors, inthe name of the whole workforce, presentedhim with a high-precision, gold-plated modelof a Liebherr R994B undercarriage and acustom DEI “Imperiale Centenario” bicycle.The day ended with refreshments and thecustomary cutting of the cake.This day of festivities, in Bertoni's words,marks the move towards the fourth chapterin the history of our company.BN46 > April 20063

Berco PeopleNOT JUST TECHNOLOGY IN THE NEWTRACK ROLLER ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENTof the General Systems Division, headed by Orazio Astolfi,to tell us about his experience in the initial stages of thework: from the laying of the foundations for the productionlines and automated storage unit to the constructionof the building.Despite his outgoing, communicative personality, Adrianoat first seems reluctant to acknowledge his role as oneof the protagonists of this “adventure”,but when he does start talking it'sdifficult to stop him, and we realiseMuch has been written in recent issues of this magazine about the newtrack roller assembly department. Up to now, the subject has alwaysbeen approached from a strategic or technical point of view, but in thisarticle we want to look at it in a different way, through the eyes ofthe people actually involved in constructing the new building, installingthe equipment and, finally, starting up the new production lines.We interviewed some of the people who have been working in the newdepartment for months to hear what they have to say and, throughtheir words, to find out how the various implementation stages of thisambitious project actually took place.We asked Adriano Del Vecchio, in charge of the building works department“The initial plan - he tells us -was for a three-span building, buteven before the suppliers haddelivered the materials, we knewit would be necessary to add a fourthfor a line dedicated exclusively to CTLtrack roller assembly. And so we are preparing an areato the south of the building for the new extension.The land has been bought, the buildings clearedand the new routing of the public natural gas pipeplanned.Quite a few problems arose in the initial preparatorystages. First of all, there were two big public electricitypylons, which had to be raised up to allow for theheight of the new building. Then there was thecomplication of laying suitable foundations for theautomatic storage unit in the centre of the building.This kind of storage unit , weighing about 12 tonsper square metre, has to be capable of withstandingthe continuous load variations, in both weight andpositioning. So, we had to make a reinforcedconcrete bed, 60 cm thick, and rest it ona set of piles (64) going down to a depthof 22 metres. The concrete block was insertedinto the flooring like an island, separatedby expanded polyurethane padding ofthickness 4 cm”.immediately how much effort and enthusiasmhe and his team put into this project.When we finally get to asking Adriano, whohas been with Berco since 1992, for hisoverall impression of this experience, hesmiles and tells us he's “seen it all before”,meaning that in all these years at Berco,this isn't the first time he and his colleagueshave had to take on such a demanding task.Adriano's account is interesting, and so fullof little details and anecdotes that we want4BN46 > April 2006

FRANCO BRANCALIONHead of Department“This isn't the first time in my 19 yearsat Berco that I've had the chance towork on the start-up of new lines. Inthe 1990s, in fact, I was involved inthe launch of some work centres inthe die machining department.This time it's different though, first of allbecause this is an entire department andsecondly because I am now head ofdepartment. This is a really importantopportunity for me and I want to fulfil itto the very best of my ability, workingtogether with the men assigned to me.These personnel have been newly recruitedand I shall be trying to transmit tothem the desire to do their jobs well andtake care of the machines they'reto ask himmore, but hemakes it clearthat our time isup, and we haveto carry on withthe other interviewsanyway.working on. One thing I particularlywant is that the department maintainsAnd so we chat withFranco Brancalion, whonot only its functionality over time has just beenbut also the orderly, efficient look thatit has now. I am really proud andsatisfied that the company has putits trust in me to carry out thistask”.appointed head of thisnew department. At firstsight, you get the feelingthat he is a man whoreally puts a lot into hiswork, and this feeling isborne out entirely by his account.His Berco career, which began in 1987, has beenlong and varied and, last October, after lots of moves andchanges, he was put in charge of all the installation phasesof the process lines, working under the direction of FrancescoBuriani.As we listen to him, what shines through yet again is thesame passion, dedication and love for the factory that hascharacterised the many previous generations here at Berco.This is the kind of spirit that became familiar to us in theinterviews we made for the newly published book on the eightyyears of life of this great company of ours.MICHELE CAGNONIEngineering staff“I'm going to be incharge of the team offour newly recruitedmaintenance workers thatwill be looking after thisdepartment. I shall also be handlingrelations with spare parts suppliers”.Michele Cagnoni,with Berco since1994, will be incharge of linemaintenance. Hehas accumulateda wealth ofexperience in robots y s t e m sinstallation,working alongsideGiuliano Neodo.For him too, following all the installation stages, working ona daily basis together with the SIR engineers on theconfiguration of all the assembly lines in the department,has been a new and exciting experience.Giuseppe Friani, with Berco since 1997, comes to meet uswith a big smile. He works in the systems engineering officetogether with Luigi Franchini, under thedirection of Leonardo Bellini, and has beeninvolved for some years with electricaldesign, automation and line implementation.Here, he is workingspecifically on trackroller lubrication andfilling tests. To helpus understand whathe's doing he takes usto see how thisoperation works.Word of our presence in the department has gotaround and everybody wants to come and tell usabout themselves and their personal experiences,but time is running out and Francesco Buriani,head of the New Track Roller Assembly Area,comes up to the office and exchanges a fewwords with Franco Brancalion, the head of thedepartment. We gather that the time has cometo let them get back to work and, before going,we take a few more photos of the new lines,still clean and shining, which will soon be runningat full production rate.Berco PeopleGIUSEPPE FRIANIEngineering staff“It's a beautiful experience, and it givesyou great satisfaction to see a plan ona sheet of paper being translated intoreality, thanks also to your efforts andyour work”.ALESSANDRO FERRANTIWorker“I've been at Berco since last September.I did two weeks in the old track rollerdepartment and then I was transferredhere, to the roller painting line. The productiontechnology here at Berco is really advanced.I've never worked in such a highly automatedenvironment. It's a real novelty for me and I likeit".BN46 > April 20065

Machine ToolsGROWTH PLANSBerco expects 2006 to be a year of researchand continuity with past actions"2005 began with slight signs of recovery andended with a positive result and significantgrowth as compared to 2004, negativelyinfluenced by a crisis at global level ".Andrea Prampolini, sales manager for themachine tools division, underlines the effortsthe company is making in the research anddevelopment of quality solutions.What were investments concentrated onin 2005?In our market, investments have to be plannedand made in the medium-long term if they areto achieve tangible results. Berco has alwaysbeen very active in this area, both for itsundercarriage components productioninfrastructure and its machine tools division,which is considerably influenced by the intensepush towards evolution that all the company'sproduction technologies are subject to. It isfor this reason that Berco, for many yearsnow, has been committed to investmentsthat can lead to the global growth of thecompany, providing effective responses tocustomers' needs. This mentality has beenthe guiding light in reorganisation driveaimed at strengthening the company's marketapproach.From the products point of view, this hasmaterialized in the creation of a state-ofthe-artCNC orbital grinder, the Lynx 2000, formedium-large series production of crankshaftsand camshafts: a choice that led an increasein sales, the growth of the company andgreater market visibility, especiallyin Europe.What does being competitiveon the Italian market mean?The Italian market is a very particular market, with ahigh concentration of manufacturers and lots of overlappingproduct ranges, either complete or partial. This fitsentirely into a wider European context, where thedetermining factors for the success of a sale are stronglyinfluenced by price. In a period in which orders are notexactly flourishing, the competition acts as a lever on orderpurchase prices, to the detriment above all of the morehighly qualified and better established competitors.However, price alone is not enough to orient customer choice.The prospect of getting good value for money can, infact, turn their attention to products with a highertechnology/product content, and hence towards “qualityproducers”.What are the factors that determine the purchase ofa machine?The performance differences that stood out in the pasthave been partly reduced. It is true, though, thatmanufacturers providing above-average quality standardshave maintained a competitive edge over their rivals.Even though the quality factor is often taken for granted,the end user is still strongly conditioned in the choiceshe or she makes by the reliability and life of the product.Another important factor is the increasingly widespreaddemand for solutions that can facilitate the work of theoperators, or machines with automated systems thatmake them easier to use.What are Berco's goals for 2006?The animating force within our company is the desire toguarantee continuity in the process of innovation andexpansion that has distinguished Berco throughout thewhole of its long history, with the aim of sustaining thegrowth trends achieved in markets, turnover and productinnovation. All the investments made aim to increasecompetitivity. Berco depends above all on its R&D work,which continues to be one of the main ingredients ofits market success. In addition, the company is continuouslyassessing new technological solutions, in the constant driveto attain better value for money, increased profitabilityand greater customer appeal.6BN45 > Gennaio 2006

SpecialMAKING HISTORYAs most readers already know, a bookrecounting the history of Berco, of howit grew from a small craft workshop toa major leader in the world undercarriagemarket, has been published recently.The book, starting from the years when thecompany was first founded, goes throughthe different stages in its ninety years ofhistory: the early pioneering days of VezioBertoni and his partners Roberto Cotti andEdmondo Michelini, the war, the trade unionstruggles, the change of generations andthe internationalisation.The book ends with chapters on the GiovanniBertoni period.The story bases itself on the recollectionsof its protagonists, both major and minor,backed up by documents, photographs andreconstructions of the different historicaland social contexts.The book has been published by T&M AssociatiEditore and is the fruit of twelve intensivemonths of research and historical reconstructionby the authors, working together with theMarketing and Communications staff.LAUNCHING THE BOOKThe book was launched in the presence of theauthorities, customers, suppliers and employeespast and present before a capacity audiencein the De Micheli Theatre in Copparo, Italy,in the afternoon of Saturday, 28th of January.Giovanni Bertoni gave us a detailed accountof his personal experience, with reconstructionsof the strategic choices made during hisperiod of management and a few amusinganecdotesBN46 > April 20067

“…why is this book important? Becausecultivating the memory and history of companiesis important. The essential thing to rememberis that a company is above all an organisationof people who participate, cooperate and makeplans, and this is what makes the wealth of acountry...”.“…the story we are told in this book epitomisesthe idea that the wealth of a country and acommunity lies in its capacity to produce, itscapacity to have skills, its capacity to accumulateand transfer knowledge on a continuous basis…”Patrizio Bianchi,Rector of the University of FerraraTo illustrate the part of the book on the pre-Bertoniyears, references were made to the recollections ofa number of ex-employees and other people linkedin some way to Berco and its past.Giovanni Bertoni's account was interspersed withcontributions from various public figures with personalconnections with Copparo and Berco.First of all there was the Mayor of Copparo, Maria TeresaBertuzzi, who underlined her great personal link tothe factory, where her father had worked for more thanforty years.Then there was Dr. Alfredo Santini, Chairman of theCassa di Risparmio bank, a native of Copparo andnephew of the Vezio Bertoni's first partner, Cotti.Another native of Copparo present amongst the“…without the close relationship between the populationand the factory, Berco wouldn't be what it now is”.Alfredo Santini,Chairman of the Cassa di Risparmio bank, Ferrara“…going through the pages of this book, whatstands out immediately is that the strongestmotivation underlying this success story is the closelink with the Copparo community, even now when ithas become a major multinational company. Whatemerges from the pages of this book is the smell ofthe courage, the smell of the efforts, sacrifices,strength and pride of the many people who havehelped to make this company what it is now …”.Maria Teresa Bertuzzi,Mayor of Copparo8BN46 > Aprile 2006“…what is very important is that this book, and thechoice you have made - rightly - to tell it how it is,contradictions and all, is not reticent...”.“…what is there in this experience? Well, I thinkthere's something very current, when a person with apioneering spirit from a bicycle repair shop startsbuilding up an industrial process in an agriculturalzone. What there is is courage, the desire to get upand do things, vision, a dream, the ability to lookahead, even without having the means to do it.What there is is a highly important stimulus for asociety like ours, that tends to sit back, to holdback...”.Vasco Errani,President of the Emilia Romagna Region

Specialauthorities was Professor Patrizio Bianchi,Rector of the University of Ferrara, whosefather worked for several years at Berco.Bianchi gave a socio-economical analysis ofthe “Berco phenomenon”, about the companythat had brought industry to such a profoundlyrural setting.The Rector went on to talk about Berco'sexemplary achievement of transforming afamily business into a managerial enterpriseof worldwide importance.Next there was the President of the Region,Vasco Errani, who expressed his appreciation and esteemfor the book and the story it tells, followed by thePresident of the Province, Pier Giorgio Dall'Acqua, the Mayorof Ferrara, Gaetano Sateriale and, finally, GiovanniBertoni's successor, the new Managing Director Bruno Saturniwho, amongst other things, entertained the audiencewith a first-hand account of the adventure of bringingthe maxi-press to Copparo.THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO “WROTE” THIS BOOK …GIOVANNI BERTONI, who launched the idea and who so much wanted it to be doneGIOVANNI MICHELETTO, who coordinated the publishing ventureFAUSTO FICARELLI, who promoted and developed the publishing planAZIO MINARDI, the author of the written passagesANNAMARIA GOZZI, who organised all the interviewsGUIDO SIMEOLI, who helped find the testimonies, historical documents and photosANTONELLA GUARNIERI, ROBERTO PARISINI, DAVIDE GUARNIERI,PIERGIORGIO MASSARETTI and ANDREA GANDINI, authors of the “Società e territorio” sectionsAnd finally, all those - employees, former employees, customers, suppliers and friends - who provided the testimonies, historicaldocuments and photographic material that would otherwise have been lost.BN46 > April 20069

Environment & SafetyKeeping an eye on the environment:ATMOSPHERIC EMISSIONSIn the last issue we said we were goingto look into different aspects of improvingthe company's Environmental ManagementSystem which, as we all know, in 2000obtained the certificate of conformity tothe UNI EN ISO 14001 Standard.As you will remember, last time we looked atwastewater treatment and so now it's theturn of “atmospheric emissions”.We must start by making a point: despitethe fact that the expression “emissions intothe atmosphere” has become an everydayexpression, very few people know exactlywhat the words mean. The1979 Geneva Convention ontransboundary atmosphericpollution defines atmosphericpollution as "the introductionby man of substances orenergy into the air which havedeleterious effects on humanhealth, damage biologicalresources and ecosystems,cause the deterioration ofmaterial goods and are harmful to recreationalvalues and other legitimate uses of theenvironment…".Pollutant emissions into the atmosphere arethus the "pressure factor" responsible foraltering the atmosphere's composition andare the origin of some of the environmentalproblems that are now seen as priority issueson both national and international level,such as climate change, the hole in theozone layer, acid rain, , etc...International studies have shown that thereare close correlations between environmentalconditions and health and have identifiedatmospheric pollution from emissions into theatmosphere as one of the main factorsaffecting human health. In a Europeancontext, there are five main areas that causeatmospheric pollution:- energy production- vehicular transport- industrial production- agriculture and forestry- other uses.Virtually all atmospheric pollution originatesfrom the first three areas: energy, industryand transport.Identifying and knowingthe characteristics ofatmospheric pollutants andcompiling emissions dataare crucial actions thatneed to be taken in orderto assess their impact andformulate policies aimedat the reduction ofatmospheric pollution.For this purpose, anEnvironmental Management250200150100500Program, structured in accordance with theISO 14001 Standard in order to gain a detailedknowledge of the environmental impact of theemissions consistently present in theatmosphere, has recently been completedin the Copparo factory.The program, which lasted 5 years andinvolved more than 1000 analytical tests,made it possible to reclassify all the emissionsand allowed us to focus our engineeringsystemsactions on the pollutants with thegreatest environmental impact and to identifythe critical substances that would have to besubject to more frequent checks.One of the main actions taken in recentyears as a result of the monitoring has beenthe gradual reduction of the amount ofsolvents in the paints used (see the graphbelow that compares the quantity of pollutantthat could have been emitted on the basisof the current authorization and the quantitythat would actually be emitted if all thesystems were running at the same time) and1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Volatile organic substancesthe reduction/grouping of emissionscontaining particulate material.And so, for “atmospheric emissions” too,the measures taken and the constantresearch into new low environmental impactprocesses and improved technology forreducing pollutants, bear witness to Berco'sparticular care for the environment.Ing. Saverio SalviManager, Environment and Safety ServiceBN46 > April 200611

About BercoREMEMBERING MAURIZIO BISSIA TRUE GENTLEMAN“He was a true gentleman, thekind you don't meet anymore”.This is what somebody was heardto say on learning of the deathof Maurizio Bissi, the engineer incharge of sales product support. Hewas a true gentleman, Maurizio,always ready to help, with his vastreserve of knowledge acquired onthe job and his proverbial abilityto analyze problems. He loved hiswork, and he loved to share hisexperiences; people smile tothemselves when they rememberwhat a great flow of words he was capable of producing!But not a single one of those dialogues was vacuous oruseless. They were deep, rich and “true”.One day last summer he said to me that he'd “almost comeof age”, referring to his forthcoming 18th year at Berco. Hefirst entered the engineering department in 1989, immediatelyafter the acquisition of the Simmel factory in CastelfrancoVeneto, where he was one of the mainstays. He alwaysstressed the importance of providing adequate valueadded for a technically basic product like the undercarriage,and of selling not only the “pieces of iron” but also theknow-how required to use it correctly and get the bestout of it. Many, many customers and associates expressedtheir condolences for the death of Maurizio Bissi; companiesthat were little and had grown and developed thanks tothe providential support given to them by Maurizio.He died on the 17th of February, on a Friday, just as theBerco siren sounded for the end of the working week. Anhonest, sincere and courteous man, who gave much to thiscompany. This is how we want to remember him, givingus one of those smiles that made it easier to cope witheveryday problems, one of those smiles that warm the heart.Thank you, Maurizio!Stefano SalatiniProduct Support, Field Tests14A PRESTIGIOUS AWARDBerco is the winner of the “TrainingCompany of the Year 2005” ("ImpresaFormativa anno 2005") award for theprovince of Treviso. The award, the secondsince the competition was established, waspresented last month by the chairman ofthe Treviso provincial Confederation ofIndustry (UNIndustria Treviso) to AldoBattistin, the Berco representative on theoccasion.Berco was chosen in preference to the largenumber of Treviso firms that entered thecompetition.“The Impresa Formativa prize - says thecompetition statement - has been awardedto Berco S.p.A. for having seen training asa tool for the professional growth and thesharing of their internal resources and forhaving attained a good level of developmentand awareness of the importance of trainingin the company, with particular referenceto:- the propensity to training- management of training- the opening of the company to the outsideworld, to create a "place of trainingopportunity".On receiving the award, Aldo Battistin toldBN46 > April 2006the UNINDUSTRIA management committee howtraining at Berco (18,000 hours in the lastbusiness year) was seen by the managementas one of the strategic success factors behindthe company's growth and consolidation.Training the employees properly means givingthem the tools to do their jobs more efficientlyand enabling them to understand and sharethe company's goals, and results in anincreased human potential and a heightenedsense of belonging. In other words, it helpspersonnel to grow professionally and canimprove both the quality of their work andtheir position in the company.Furthermore, the training, open also tostudents in their final year, enhances reciprocalknowledge and makes it easier to choosewhen starting off in the world of work.Ing. Aldo BattistinDirector, Berco 2

News & EventsINTERMAT, A MIXTUREOF CONTINUITY AND INNOVATIONBerco will be present at Intermat 2006 (Paris, 24th-29th April 2006), the most important fair of theyear for the earth moving machinery industry, withits latest important production novelties.A continuous drive towards technological innovation inproduction processes is the most significant aspect ofBerco's strategy, a strategy that has helped it to conquersuch a sizeable share of the market. For this reason, at thefair, a lot of space will be reserved for the productionprocess upgrades and developments that the CopparobasedItalian company has been able to implement overthe last few years, thanks above all to the massiveinvestment policy (more than 100 million euros havebeen set aside for the 2005-2007 period).In particular, in the mining products area (some examplesare on display on the stand), Berco is able to offer an evermore extensive range of components and has thus beenable to consolidate its leading position on this market. Frontidlers and sprockets, track links, track shoes and trackrollers can be produced on the biggest mechanical pressin the world (maximum thrust equivalent to 32,000 tons)and the new ring rolling line. Both these lines guaranteeextremely high quality components, thanks also to the forgingprocess, which ensures better metallurgical characteristics,longer life (also because of the subsequent speciallygauged heat treatments) and matchless reliability.Another important step has been taken in the engineeringof a new generation of track rollers (some examples of trackrollers for excavators weighing up to 24 tons will be onshow on the stand), which take advantage of all theprocess innovations in the new automatic assembly line.As well as researching into ever more efficient productionprocess, Berco is also going ahead with the developmentof complete undercarriage systems for tracked machines.In order to meet the ever more pressing demands of OEMsfor so-called “turnkey” solutions, Berco is able to providesolutions for a wide range of applications, such as pavers,asphalt pavers, combine harvesters, etc… By workingtogether with the customer right from the design stage, Berco is able to deliverthe undercarriage complete with all its components, both mechanical and hydraulic,perfectly ready for installation on the machine being manufactured on the OEMs'assembly lines.Some of the examples on display on the 741m2 stand in pavilion 6 are:- a wedge-shaped undercarriage for asphalt pavers with polyurethane-lined trackshoes for greater stability and to avoid damaging the road surface. The track chainis 4.2 m long with a pitch of 155.1 mm- an undercarriage system for pavers, with rubber-coated track shoes. The paverhas 4 independent tracks, each one 2 m long with a pitch of 155.1 mm- a complete triangular undercarriage system for rice combine harvesters - analternative to wheeled versions giving greater stability and the possibility of usingan extremely useful float effect. The track chain is 2.8 m long with a pitch of171.45 mm.So, Berco will be at Intermat with a series of novelties which, while being the fruitof a policy based on continuity, make it abundantly clear that the drive towardsinnovation plays an essential part in staying ahead as market leader.BN46 > April 200615