The partnership involves the Idea CCR1 funds and the Flexible Capital Fund, both managed by DeA Capital Alternative Funds SGR,  and Trasteel, through the subscription of a capital increase for a total of €15 million. The operation was made possible thanks to the direct involvement of Roberto Signoriello, former general director of ITT Friction Technologies Fine Blanking Division and of Feintool Italia, nominated CEO of Util.

Util, founded in 1959, is among the leaders in Europe in fine blanking and one of the largest producers of plates for car brake systems. The group has over 400 employees in two facilities in Villanova d’Asti and Guangzhou, China, and closed 2023 with €79 million in revenues, an EBITDA of over €8 million, and €28 million of equity, including the capital increase. The company has been controlled by DeA Capital Alternative Funds SGR since 2019, which coordinated its restructuring and relaunch. The funds will be used to support the new business plan.

“I am proud and enthusiastic for this assignment and to share and promote with the shareholders Util Group’s new development and growth strategy, which includes a solid medium and long-term industrial plan,” stated the CEO of Util, Roberto Signoriello.

Vincenzo Manganelli and Federico Giribaldi, Managing Directors of DeA Capital Alternative Funds SGR, added: “The collaboration with Trasteel will allow Util to develop important synergies and know-how from both a commercial and a procurement point of view, strengthening the prospects envisaged in the industrial plan.”

Gianfranco Imperato, CEO of Trasteel, concluded: “We are happy to accompany DeA Capital Alternative Funds SGR and Roberto Signoriello on this important journey. Our entry into Util also establishes our entry into blanking processes, continuing the verticalization strategy of our group that began in 2020.”

L'articolo Trasteel Trading Holding SA invests in Util, in partnership with DeA Capital Alternative Funds SGR proviene da Util Group.

In particular, our joint activity with the prestigious Italian technical university will be centered around the development of mechatronic systems for handling parts inside fine blanking tools. We at UTIL will mainly take care of the mechanical parts, while Politecnico di Torino will deal with the electronic systems.

The proposed project aims at developing innovative design methodologies for handling systems by appropriately identifying actuation systems suitable for the creation of automation systems inside the tools. The ultimate goal is to ease the implementation of innovative fine blanking tools equipped with internal automation systems for handling parts during the processing phase.

Among the various activities that will be carried out throughout the program, it is worth mentioning the following:

• definition and synthesis of handling mechanisms using additive manufacturing.
• numerical modeling of mechanisms.
• mechatronic design of the handling system.
• design of experiments methodology.

“We value the importance of strategic partnerships with qualified academic institutions like Politecnico di Torino” – comments Rodolfo Pizzio, Global Fine Blanking Technology Leader at UTIL – with whom we carry out specific programs to co-develop advanced solutions to the benefit of our customers while aiming to reduce the environmental impact of our operations.”

The program is supervised by Stefano Mauro (DIMEAS – Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), and Paolo Minetola (DIGEP – Department of Management and Production Engineering) while Rodolfo Pizzio is UTIL’s Manager for the program.

L'articolo Next generation actuated Tools – The second Ph.D. program financed by UTIL in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino proviene da Util Group.

Recently we have concluded the first edition of the Consea Women’s Leadership Development Program for five of our female employees. On this occasion, we have asked Util to give us an overview of the activities we are implementing in terms of Talent Development and Diversity at our company.

Women’s Leadership Development Program, what is that all about?

“Overall, women are still underrepresented in managerial positions. In order to succeed, women must learn to navigate both the external factors limiting their access to leadership positions and the internal ones, which very often represent the first barrier. The Women’s Leadership Development Program is a concrete action to train women to get access to managerial positions in their professional future.”

From left to right, Chiara Altomonte, Consea Owner, Sara Brino, Consea Consultant, Elena Martin and Elena Ercules, UTIL HR Manager and UTIL Program Manager, and Sara Ruffinatti, Consea Senior Consultant

How does that tie in with supporting the growth of our company through talent development?

“In the recent years our organization has been growing rapidly worldwide and we have brought 8 new talents on board in key functions. Of these, 4 hold managerial positions at global level and are already part of our succession plans for the future of our company. Also, we have identified 6 talents for whom we have developed ad-hoc career plans. I am happy to say that 4 of these talents are young women currently holding roles as team leaders or project leaders.”

It sounds like we are doing great with white collars. What about blue collars instead?

“We firmly believe that talent development is essential at all levels in our organization. That is why we have significantly powered the training programs for our shopfloor experts. In total, in 2022 we provided 392 hours of technical and managerial training more than the previous year.”

That’s quite some ambitious plan on talent development. How are we doing regarding diversity?

“Well, generally speaking, we have increased female presence by 7% compared to 2021 and with the opening of a new production area in Italy, we have hired 4 new female figures. Needless to say, that is a trend that we intend to continue in the years to come, not only in Italy but at all of our locations worldwide.”

In conclusion, is Util a great place to work?

“We are definitely getting there. It’s on our radar screens. We constantly monitor employees’ engagement and positive attitude through Bamboo HR, a dedicated software to collect, maintain, and analyse people data, improve the way we hire talent, onboard new employees, manage compensation, and develop our company culture. The good news is that in 2022 the employee satisfaction index grew by 8% compared to 2021. In addition to that, in Canada we have launched “Humana Care” a wellbeing program for employees and families, to assist them in solving the various problems that they may be experiencing and provide adequate counselling and the tools to identify a possible path forward.”

L'articolo Talent Development and Diversity at UTIL. Our commitment to creating a stimulating and inclusive workplace proviene da Util Group.

In particular, one of the main areas of activities concerns the introduction of vegetable lubricants in the fine blanking of metal sheets so as to minimize the environmental impact of our industrial operations.

Another challenging goal that the Ph.D. program targets is the reduction of the “buy-to-fly ratio” – i.e. the weight of the raw material compared to the weight of the finished part – for the manufacture of fine blanking tools, through the use of inserts manufactured in an additive manner. This way, we can minimize scrap of the material machined away from the initial block of metal and reduce overall waste generated through the machining process.

Last but not least, our joint effort with Politecnico di Torino aims at extending service life of tools, which results in less frequent replacements of active components. That is key to minimize the consumption of high-quality steels and reduce energy consumption through the optimization of active components production cycles, including material processing, milling, heat treatments, electrical discharge machining (EDM).

“These new design solutions” – comments Roberto Baccani – General Manager Global Operations at UTIL – “will allow us to implement an efficient use of raw materials, reduce the amount of machining by chip removal, with consequent lower energy consumption and a smarter adoption of low environmental impact lubricants.”

The Ph.D course is supervised by Daniele Ugues (tutor, DISAT – Department of Applied Science and Technology), and Davide Paolino (co-tutor, DIMEAS – Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) who oversee the activities of the Ph.D student. Rodolfo Pizzio, Global Fine Blanking Technology Leader at UTIL, is UTIL’s reference manager for the program.

L'articolo Toolings Life Increase and sustainability improvements – The first Ph.D. program co-financed by UTIL in collaboration with Politecnico di Torino is well underway proviene da Util Group.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by an exceptional panel composed of the Prefect of Asti, Claudio Ventrice and the Mayor of Villanova D’Asti, Roberto Peretti – as well as some internationally renowned customers and Vincenzo Manganelli, Managing Director of DeA Capital, UTIL’s majority shareholder. On the occasion, UTIL was represented by Fernando Bertoni – CEO and President, Roberto Baccani – Director of Operations and Engineering and Carmelo Seminara – Director of Marketing and Sales.

”We are proud to celebrate the opening of this new area dedicated to high-precision mechanical operations as a key part of our strategy to provide new products and services for the fast-growing e-Mobility segment’’, commented the CEO and President of UTIL, Fernando Bertoni. “We have accepted the challenges of the future and proposed ourselves as solutions providers for electric and hybrid vehicle systems, a move that has been very positively received by important global customers”.

The new area will consist of two numerically controlled lathes, a threading machine, a component washing machine, a laser marking machine and some auxiliary equipment. It is the largest investment made so far by UTIL in the territory in which it is rooted, and it will create 10 new jobs of medium/high technical profile for the local community.

With this strategic development worth over 2 million euros, we continue our industrial expansion by means of focused initiatives. Among these are worth mentioning the opening of the production plant in Mexico, the acquisition of a business unit in 2020/2021, as well as the development of a photovoltaic park of 7.700 m² in 2022 to power sustainably the operations of Villanova d’Asti plant.

L'articolo A great success for the inauguration of our new high-precision mechanical operations area at our Italy Plant proviene da Util Group.

At UTIL we have recently inaugurated a new 1,600 kW photovoltaic system to power our Villanova d’Asti, Italy plant sustainably. With a 7,700 m² panel surface, 1.5 million of CO² emissions cut yearly, and a 2 million EUR investment, this project demonstrates UTIL’s commitment to preserve the environment. We have talked to Carolina Marocco, Process Engineer at UTIL, who led the team in charge of deploying UTIL’s new photovoltaic system.

Carolina, what is the rationale behind this new photovoltaic system?

Well, for a company like ours, whose processes are quite power-intensive, minimizing purchase cost of electric energy is key to be competitive on the market – particularly during this timeframe, with energy costs soaring to unprecedented levels.

This initiative also goes in favor of the increasingly sustainable practices that UTIL is keen on implementing…

Yes, definitely! At UTIL we are investing considerable resources in designing and engineering cutting-edge solutions that also aim to limit environmental impact in terms of energy consumption and raw materials as well. We are strongly committed to walking the pathway of energy transition to increasingly shift from fossil-based energy to zero carbon emission sources. That is the direction we have taken for the future.

Can you give us a brief overview on this project?

The new photovoltaic system came from the idea of self-producing the energy necessary to power our operations of Villanova d’Asti plant. Also, we wanted to make use of some free areas that we had available at our headquarters so that to maximize the utilization of available floorspace. Kick off was at the end of 2021 and completion was achieved last July as per the original schedule.

That makes 8 months only! What an achievement in terms of project management…

I must admit we are quite proud of this remarkable result – meeting deadlines and quality targets is never easy. It has been a company wide effort and I would like to publicly acknowledge all my colleagues who participated in this project. From maintenance to engineering, not to forget purchasing and manufacturing, everybody gave their best to make the commissioning of the photovoltaic system successful.

Before we wrap it up, one last question. How do you combine your being a mother with your role in a mostly male environment?

To be honest, I don’t sense any inequality or bias towards me as a woman. UTIL is a great place to work and I feel accepted for what I am, a Project Engineer. I have the opportunity to learn from experienced colleagues, who are always available to help and treat me with dignity and fairness. Yes, being a working mother can be challenging at times – yet with some organization and a little help from family and colleagues, I get by and enjoy my job.

L'articolo Top class Project Management enables industry decarbonization proviene da Util Group.

That is of primary importance as offering our customers the opportunity to sample prototypes in the product development phase enables them to make informed decisions before going into mass production.

To this purpose, we have recently established a partnership with a leading internationally technology company specialized in fine blanking, forming and electrolamination stamping for processing steel sheets.

We have asked Rodolfo Pizzio, UTIL Fine Blanking Technology Director, what steps our company is taking to further consolidate our position in the fine precision machining sector.

Rodolfo, can you tell us a bit more about this partnership? 

It is a new and innovative collaboration centred around advanced integrated toolings with one of the leading fine blanking companies worldwide. The initiative started a few months ago and will carry for a few years.

Yet, this partnership is not totally new…

As matter of fact, we have been working with our partner for many years across various business areas, from equipment technology to advanced toolings. But, as time goes by, it is more and more crucial for us to have constant and immediate access to the latest developments in fine blanking tooling design to shape our future and differentiate from our competitors. That is why we have decided to give it a try, yet with a renewed approach.

What is going to change compared to the past?

This partnership will enable us to be even more competitive, by integrating a number of operations into the same fine blanking tool and eliminating secondary operations that will remain exclusively for extremely complex products. That will translate into better quality, faster manufacturing times and even lower production costs.

In which sectors can this fine blanking technology be particularly beneficial?

The new technology will be crucial for a wide range of industrial sectors such as automotive, e-mobility, construction and two-wheel motion, to name only a few. It is a huge technological advancement for us at Util, as toolings become “real machines.”

L'articolo Powering our capabilities on advanced integrated toolings through focused partnerships proviene da Util Group.

With over 60 years of specific know-how, research and development is at the core of what we do daily to integrate and streamline production processes, while enabling our customers achieve their business targets in terms of product quality, faster manufacturing times and lower production costs.

We value the importance of strategic alliances with qualified partners, with whom we carry out specific programs to co-develop advanced solutions to the benefit of our customers while aiming to reduce the environmental impact of our operations.

With this in mind, we are extremely happy to announce the beginning of a long-term scientific collaboration with Politecnico di Torino, one of the most prestigious Italian technical universities, to work on highly innovative R&D programs. We will develop a joint PhD program in the area of advanced tooling for fine blanking, covering multiple disciplines such as metallurgy, materials lifting, 3D manufacturing, and performance prediction.

“For us at UTIL it is a great privilege to collaborate with such a prestigious institution like Politecnico di Torino to promote R&D applied to fine blanking technology and develop unprecedented solutions to enhance sustainability through innovation.” – comments Fernando Bertoni, UTIL President and Chief Executive Officer.

Given our strong commitment to protecting our planet through technology sustainability, this joint program will be focusing on developing technologies that will serve as key enablers for a larger diffusion alternative transportation practices like e-mobility. To this purpose, our efforts will be directed towards increasing the adoption of environmentally sustainable blanking fluids, maximizing the use of 3D printing technologies for components, and making molds for components for the electric mobility sector.

L'articolo Enhancing sustainability through technology innovation. Our renewed approach to research and development through selected partnerships proviene da Util Group.

L'articolo Util develops a value-added E-Mobility system proviene da Util Group.

L'articolo UTIL increases its production capacity worldwide proviene da Util Group.