There is strength in numbers: this is a core concept for SINTEX. Thanks to the experience and to the skills acquired by several entrepreneurs and companies, leaders in their specific fields, the firm based in Brendola (Vicenza province) has grown into an internationally renowned name when it comes to the manufacturing of finishing systems.
Alessandro Pizzeghello e Giuliano Griffante
A small “economic miracle” that has come true by putting together the potential of both SINTEX and of its managers, resulting in a work group that can rely also on the technical expertise of an experienced businessman such as Giacomo Agosti, creator of the GIDUE System, as well as on the machinery provided by El.Pa., company located in Altavilla Vicentina that supplies spray booths and tools. The final plant features a number of patents.
“The main difficulty,” explained Giuliano Griffante, “lied in bringing together three different technologies, that is, the management of paper coating, leather spraying and coupling, that must work together and be fully integrated, but we succeeded. When, in 2016, Giacomo (Agosti, editor’s note) came knocking to our door, we sat down to talk, involving also El.Pa. and its owner, Andrea Pegoraro. At the end of the same year, we signed the business deal, then we drafted a brand-new project; to date, we have already installed fully operational machines worldwide.”
“We implemented a comprehensive project, from A to Z,” highlighted Alessandro Pizzeghello, Sales Manager, “spending month after month with Giacomo, organizing endless meetings with designers and technicians. We started off with an idea and we developed it in a precise way, without compromises, and, at the end of the day, we have come full circle. The rest came accordingly: we fine-tuned the whole system, including the plant management software. Once the project was completed, we immediately found two top-level customers, worldwide leaders in the sector, with thousands of employees, one based in Vietnam and the other in China, to whom we guaranteed a prompt start-up. As a matter of fact, in the past, after the installation phase, it took further six-seven months before doing that. On the other hand, we just needed ten more days and then the tanneries were able to kick off their production. And, to date, there have been no issues, thanks to the excellent design and to the experience of our technicians. Three months after that, one of the two groups came to us for a second plant: now we know we are heading in the right direction.”
“We are the only one in the world,” stated Griffante, “that can fully guarantee the quality of the end product. We carry out pre-sampling operations, so that the clientele can run tests on them. Only then, the machine is sold, as confirmed by the signing of the leather that will be stored away by the customer up until the machine’s start-up. The first leathers produced are then compared with the original one and they must all look the same.”
“I joined SINTEX in 2011,” stated Alessandro Pizzeghello, “when the company dealt with the manufacturing of machines for synthetic materials and crusts enhancement. I was hired to make SINTEX known beyond the national borders, because my experience lied in extra-EU trading and, therefore, my customers and my main markets were China, India, Turkey, Arab nations and South America. Since then, we have also developed interesting products conceived specifically for the coating sector, aimed at chemicals companies, that, despite the small size of the machinery, can guarantee similar performances to mass production. We are lucky enough to be a streamlined firm, with a turnover constantly on the rise over the last six years. Thanks to Andrea Pegoraro, in addition to the highly sophisticated spraying system, we have benefitted from a patented system for cable washing that guarantees an unprecedented production continuity, the latter a pivotal feature for this type of application.”
“I started developing the system twelve years ago,” stated Giacomo Agosti, who calls himself a “technician” rather than an entrepreneur, “as I was the first one to get the idea for such a plant. Everybody agrees on that, even the competitors. After that, the meeting with Giuliano Griffante represented the starting point of this new, successful adventure. We have worked side by side and, to this day, we keep carrying on researches, on the lookout for increasingly sophisticated technologies.”
“This system,” explained Agosti, “has been firstly conceived for the footwear and leatherware sectors, therefore, basically speaking, for fashion, to be used with a type of leather that we call “half cowhide”. The idea is to later gain a foothold in the automotive and furnishing industries as well. At the beginning, the investments, even significant ones, did not bear fruit, then we succeeded in reaping the benefits and now our productions are fully operational.” www.sintexmachinery.com
A FOCUS ON CORPORATE HISTORY Headquartered in Brendola (Vicenza province), SINTEX was established in 1996 thanks to the experience of its founder, Bruno Griffante, that, since 1965, has acquired production management skills while working for textile machinery manufacturers. The goal is to build up an innovative enterprise in the field of coating for technical fabrics and imitation leathers, to be used in activities related to the textile, the footwear, the tanning as well as the plastics branches. More specifically, the firm provides special machines for resin coating, impregnation and coupling of fabrics and textile articles, for coating with release paper for PVC and PU; it also deals with the manufacturing of pilot R&D plants. “Family at the centre of the world”: this was the motto chosen by Bruno, who founded SINTEX together with his two sons, Giuliano and Giancarlo, kicking off a new, positive adventure that continues today. Over the years, the Veneto-based company has managed to expand its production range by adding new leather finishing systems, inspired by the closeness to the tanning district in Arzignano as well, thus developing a true sector, that is, leather enhancement featuring the use of transfer paper.