PAJUSCO TECNOLOGIE, founded in 1960 in Montebello Vicentino, was acquired in the early 1980s by Giuseppe Storti. His sons Silvio, Giovanni and Olimpio are now at the helm of the company.
In 1960, the father took over and then relaunched the company, letting it becoming a market leader. From over ten years, his three sons are at the helm of it, managing different tasks and duties: they were able to further improve the success of their brand in Italy and abroad producing cuttingedge systems for the tanning sector for over half a century, focusing on wooden drums and automations. PAJUSCO TECNOLOGIE, based in Montebello Vicentino – in the Arzignano leather district – boasts an exciting history, that goes beyond the mere business. It is a family story.
As the Made in Italy philosophy – very much appreciated abroad – requires, every item is built in-house: the owners also run a steel factory, so every raw material is sourced there directly. In addition to an approximately 6,000sqm covered area, the company also relies on a warehouse in Emilia Romagna, next to a containers’ hub. The old headquarters were located in Zermeghedo, another town of the same the district; 12 years ago, the board decided to move to a new and modern warehouse in Montebello Vicentino, where about forty employees are currently working. This number didn’t change over the last decade, also due to the fact that increasingly advanced automation requires far fewer employees for each type of processing and machine.
Giuseppe Storti, who passed away last December at the age of 86, took over Pajusco (which produced wooden drums only) in the early 1980s and changed the name of the brand into Pajusco Tecnologie with a precise action plan: the automatization of the plants and the addition of milling drums’ production, a strategy that has proved to be successful over time.
A path marked by sacrifices and a life dedicated to work; the three sons, current owners, after graduating from high school at the end of the 80s, gradually joined this path: Silvio, who is now 54, is an accountant, Giovanni, 50, a surveyor and Olimpio, 45, a tanning expert, who also spent one and a half year in England for an additional Master degree in the chemical tanning sector; this period allowed him to master the English language and to better manage contacts with foreign operators and customers while attending fairs all over the world. There are also three sisters in the Storti family, who never entered the company. The owners themselves have children, who are currently students, therefore there might be a third generation at PAJUSCO TECNOLOGIE in the next few years.
The owners cover different tasks, following each one’s specialization: Silvio takes care of the economic and financial aspects, Giovanni is responsible of the technical department, production and maintenance, while Olimpio follows up commercial issues and relations with customers worldwide. Silvano Castegnaro, 45, in charge of automation and of the electrical part, completes the team as if he was another “member” of the family and of the management: he has been working in the company for about thirty years since he was hired at 16 by the father Giuseppe. “Our father – explain Silvio, Giovanni and Olimpio – taught us how to perform at the best, within this scope he has always been very strict with us. His dedication to work was unique, he used to be the first to enter the factory and the last to leave; following his philosophy, meetings had to be held before 6 am and after 10 pm, otherwise on Saturday afternoons or on Sundays, because, in his opinion, the rest of the time had to be fully dedicated to work and to the growth of the business.
At the same time, he owned an electric cable company and a quail farm, which he later sold. For us, the salary was reduced to the minimum wage. We didn’t have any privilege and we had to hardly earn everything we got. About ten years ago he chose to retire afterwards, we could manage the business with no interference from his side, as long as we did it with our own economic resources.”
The health pandemic has made the market unstable. “More than the fairs themselves – they say – we lacked human contact with customers, to which we periodically introduce new items and give the opportunity to see them working. Webcams and Zoom are very useful tools, but they cannot replace live visits, at least for machines like ours: whoever makes a purchase must absolutely see and test it. We are currently working at a good rate, being very active in the district of Arzignano, which is our main point of reference. During the year 2021 we traveled by car throughout Europe, as it was allowed to. As for the other continents, the biggest problem is the shipment of goods, because costs increased up to 4-5 times, becoming impossible. We hope that with the consumption recovery, prices will realign. We regret having to register a slow-down, right after a strong growth related to the period 2017-2018.”
Our goal is to always introduce different items, the latest technologies and a variety of options: we offer the a customization service, both in terms of automation and size. Furthermore, we let the customer choose his favorite color: while our standard one is green, we offer any other color, without any price increase to be in line with the market standards”.
