Wire drawing machines
The voice of businessmen: Gimax Group
The voice of businessmen: Gimax Group.
The first half of the year is almost over, and to make a preliminary assessment we asked Mr. Romagnolo of Gimax, based in Sovizzo (Vicenza, Italy), to confront us, and to tell us about his company, leader when it comes to respooling machinery.
Gimax was the first company ever to manufacture an automatic respooler 20 years ago. Today, are you working on something new, on some new machinery?
We have been focusing a lot in recent years on a respooler specifically for small size spools. The model is called REV. It is a unit that we developed over the past two years, suitable for an evolved market, a niche market probably, but we still felt that there was a need for something specific. Especially in areas like the United States, Canada, or Europe, and even in certain areas in the Far East.
To what extent do you export?
It’s hard to say exactly, it depends very much on a specific year. Let's say that between 70 and 80% of our machines are generally sent abroad, but then there are moments in which the Italian domestic market springs up absorbing much of our energy, and other times when the internal situation is more stagnant. Europe and the United States have always been our main markets. However in the last 7-8 years we have been focusing extensively on China, India, Russia and Latin America. The latter, Russia and South America had been slow starters, but we now seem to be penetrating the markets at a reasonable pace. India has proved a very competitive market, whereas China, despite the competitivity is a huge market and Gimax has well established itself in these past 8-10 years.
With all these foreign customers, you must be always on the go.
Well, for example, on average every two months one of us is in China. Yes, we are often out of the office, and that also includes the owner of Gimax. I control sales, and there are three of us who travel, depending on the areas of relevance. Having contact with many customers all around the world, you are able to take the pulse of the wire market. Do you feel like making a forecast for the remainder of the year?
The second half of 2011 could very well show an upturn in orders, judging by the comments we have been getting from our customers. The first few months of the year were very good, compared to the same period of 2010, but then with the approach of summer the pace began to slow down – a trend that many had seen coming. From September onwards it should begin to accelerate again.
From the point of view of communication, which actions are you taking?
This year we took our corporate image and decided to review it completely. We started with the logo, which has been completely redesigned for more modern image. We are also working on a brand new website, which will be ready within a month or two. In our opinion, these aspects relating to our image are very important, we have always invested a lot in advertising, both printed and online. And we have seen that more and more companies have understood that it is important to dedicate time and attention to their presence on the Internet.
What about fairs?
Primarily we invest in Wire Düsseldorf and Interwire in the United States. In these two fairs we are very keen to show machinery in operation at the exhibition, regardless of whether it has been sold or not. We want the customer to have the opportunity to see the machine running with his own eyes, to see how it works, and even to bring his own wire if he wants to. An exhibition is really to “show” as opposed to sitting at a table and discussing. We do not believe that offering drastic discounts is an appropriate sales technique especially where quality and reliability is major requirement. We sell our technology and experience, and technology has to be seen, tested, and then, of course, paid its appropriate price.
This is the difference that lies between Gimax and its competitors?
Yes. You must remember that Gimax was founded over 30 years ago by engineers, not by managers seeking only financial returns; by people of the industry, who know the issues and the specific aspects of the wire industry.
