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

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