Tronchetti is steering away from the traditional image of a family business by bringing in new talent with fresh ideas for the firm

Tronchetti shifts gear to tackle new markets

Most of the companies are managed by family members, usually the children or grandchildren of the founders. Family-run companies around the world often go through a predictable life cycle in which the first generation starts the company, the second generation builds it and the third generation sells it off. But this does not seem to be the case for most of the groups mentioned above - at least not so far.

There are several reasons for this, but a lack of potential buyers is certainly not one of them. Indeed, it is widely known that many of the multinational tissue giants such as Kimberly-Clark, SCA, Fort James and Procter & Gamble have from time to time approached several of these companies to learn if there is a possibility of buying them. The response is usually a polite, but clear, "Thanks, but no thanks".

Tronchetti's Foxy brand has built up a strong position in the market

All change

That is not to say that all the companies are content to keep things as they are though. As the new millennium approaches, at least one of these Lucca-based companies is taking a progressive approach to dealing with the challenges that it will face in the near future. Industrie Cartarie Tronchetti (ICT) is not selling out, but it is moving forward. ICT is in the process of installing a new management team, thus moving the business from a family-run organization to a modern management structure with few, if any, of the key people eventually coming from the Tronchetti family.

To be sure, there is still a Tronchetti in charge of the operation. The present CEO is Sauro Tronchetti, one of three sons of the company founder, Pasquale Tronchetti. Until recently, the considerable growth of the company has been the result of the combined efforts of Sauro and his brothers Renzo and Massimo Tronchetti. But today, Sauro Tronchetti is spearheading the transition to a modern management organization and even at just 39 years old, he is planning for the succession of the corporate leadership.

As part of this task, he has appointed several key people in the past 12 months to help manage the changes that will take place over the coming years. Among those hired by ICT to be part of the new team are Riccardo Baccelli, who previously spent 12 years with the converting equipment supplier, Fabio Perini, and most recently held the position of general sales manager. Baccelli is now commercial director at ICT as well as being president of Pozzani Disposables - an ICT company manufacturing baby diapers and feminine care products. He will be working to build an even stronger international presence for ICT.

Joining him from Perini is Stefano Santini, who has moved into the role of director of strategic marketing. And among the other young professionals that ICT has brought in recently are Mauro Tempini (who is the new divisional manager for paper mills) and Massimo Nofori (divisional manager for converting).

Humble beginnings

Tronchetti started in the paper industry in 1952, when Pasquale Tronchetti set up a paper mill to the northwest of Lucca. This unit originally made food wrapping paper, but today it is focused on tissue and coreboard production. The coreboard PM was installed in 1970 and the mill now makes 15,000 tons/yr of this grade, with 80% of the output sold in Italy.

In the mid-1970s, ICT noticed that their was a niche in the high quality, jumbo roll market that it could fill to offer converters, and the Italian market, a wider selection of tissue grades. The company made its first entrance into this business in 1978 when ICT installed a tissue PM at a new mill in Piana della Rocca. PM 1 is a 2.6 m wide Escher Wyss unit that produces around 16,000 tons/yr. When the group installed the new PM, ICT did not build any converting capacity, preferring instead to concentrate on supplying local converters.

"At that time we decided to make a big investment in high quality tissue production," Sauro Tronchetti explains. "We wanted to produce tissue with 100% virgin pulp to go after the premium sector. Before that, the only tissue producer in Italy that was in the 100% virgin, high quality sector was Scott. We then became the first independent virgin tissue supplier in Italy, allowing converters to compete with Scott in the high quality sector. That decision in 1978, to be a premium quality tissue supplier, has served as the foundation for our company since that time."

Over the next four years, Tronchetti remained a jumbo roll supplier only. However, in 1982 the company entered the converting business with the installation of new facilities at a site in Diecimo, north of Lucca. Over the years, further converting capacity was added so that Diecimo is now a state of the art converting plant with five roll-converting lines and four napkin-converting lines.

ICT made its next big move in tissue production in 1986, when the 2.7m wide PM 2 from Recard was installed at Piano della Rocca. This investment took tissue output to 40,000 tons/yr. At the same time, the company made a major marketing investment with the launch of the Foxy brand, which is now the company's flagship label. Foxy is the number three brand in the competitive Italian market, with approximately 6% of the Italian supermarket and hypermarket business.

More tissue production started at the Massa mill in 1993 and output is now 13,000 tons/yr of consumer tissue grades in jumbo reels. The company's tissue capacity continued to grow slowly, but steadily, and in 1996 the 25,000 ton/yr tissue PM 3 was added at a new mill site in Piano di Coreglia.

So today, the company's paper production facilities cover the three paper mills, all still located close to Lucca at sites in Massa, Piano della Rocca and Piano di Coreglia.

Looking ahead

This month, ICT is set to conclude a massive Lira 120 billion ($72 million) investment program. The centerpiece of the scheme is a new tissue machine at the Piana di Coreglia mill, which will start commercial production in April of this year. When the new 55,000 ton/yr PM 4 is up and running in March/April this year, ITC's total tissue capacity will reach 140,000 tons/yr, making Tronchetti a significant player in the European tissue business.

Aurelio Alessandrini is mill manager at Piana di Coreglia. He is an experienced tissue maker who has worked with numerous Italian tissue producers over the years. In total, he has spent 32 years in tissue production and has been closely involved in the startup of six tissue machines. These include projects at Burgo-Scott, Errebi Paper, Cassino, Rapik, Tronchetti PM 3 and now Tronchetti's PM 4.

With such a wealth of experience in tissue, Alessandrini has certainly seen a few changes in the business over the years. "I have seen numerous dramatic developments over the past three decades, especially on the product quality side. Back in the 1960s, we were making tissue from 100% old newspapers (ONP) using very deep-tone dyes to color the sheet, basically to hide the poor appearance and formation. The basis weight was 35 g/m at a speed of 400 m/min. It is no comparison with the lightweight, high quality, high bulk tissue we make today at nearly 2,000 m/min."

Although much of Alessandrini's attention is taken up with the new PM 4, the older machine at the mill is still doing sound work for the company. PM 3 is a 2.7 m wide Voith crescent former unit that started up in June 1996. It has a two layer stratified headbox and has run at speeds of up to 1,960 m/min. The stock preparation line includes one pulper, two stock chests, a refining line for the softwood pulp and a deflaker for hardwood. The split in the stratified headbox is normally 60% hardwood and 40% softwood, although this can vary depending on the grade. The PM makes 14.5-21.0 g/m tissue for both toilet and facial grades. The machine has run very well, says Alessandrini, with the top operating speed still climbing even now.

Coming up

The new machine is a 5.4 m wide Valmet crescent former unit, which has a design speed of 1,980 m/min. Among the features of the new PM 4 are a stratified headbox and dilution profiling system for basis weight control. The machine will run on 100% virgin pulp purchased from suppliers around the world. The stock preparation and approach systems are very similar to PM 3, which indicates that Alessandrini has been pleased with the way they have performed on the older machine.

However, PM 4 differs from PM 3 in the configuration of the pressure rolls. Whereas PM 3 has two pressure rolls, PM 4 uses only one to allow for the production of higher bulk grades. "We are going for higher bulk for the ultra premium market sector. However, we are fully prepared to switch over to a two roll configuration if needed," Alessandrini explains. "The foundation is built to handle it and the dryer hood is constructed to allow easy access for placement of the second pressure roll. Flexibility is a key consideration here."

ABB has also been a major supplier on the project, delivering the control equipment. Included in the contract are three Advant 520 Operator Stations, one IMS information management station, one Advant Engineering station, one Advant Controller 450 Process Station and three Advant Controller 410 Process Stations.

The QCS delivery includes a Smart Platform 1200 frame, a Smart Basis Weight Sensor, a Smart Hemiplus Moisture Sensor and a sheet width sensor pair. The process parameters controlled by the system include MD weight control, MD moisture control, dry stock flow control, headbox control, dynamic Yankee/hood control and crepe calculation.

The ABB order also covers almost all of the drive motors, including 26 AC motors on the paper machine and eight AC motors on the rewinder. Other suppliers include Jagenberg for the rewinder and FIS Impianti for the wrapping and handling lines. Overall construction, erection and electrical installation has been managed by a local company, Demont. The entire project, from feasibility to actual erection, was managed by Jaakko Pöyry Consulting.

Heavy investment

Over recent years, ICT has placed a significant emphasis on research and development (R&D) in the company's products. A strong technical initiative has allowed ICT to develop high quality products and market-leading brands. And it looks as though this trend will continue as ICT invests even more to meet the increasing challenges presented by the European marketplace.

Heading the R&D department is Sergio Casella, who has a doctorate in chemistry. He is one of the key men behind recent product and process innovations at ICT. When asked about the trend toward through air dried (TAD) technology in Europe, Sauro Tronchetti is clearly confident that ICT can produce a level of quality which the consumer perceives in a TAD product through the use of conventional tissue making methods.

"Our Asso Ultra kitchen towel has been rated as superior to the TAD products in numerous independent consumer tests. This did not happen by chance, but is the result of our policy to invest heavily in R&D and to develop products of added value for consumers. We have a patented process that took two years to develop, which gives this kitchen towel superior performance. We have always had the philosophy that we should invest money in the best resources available to make the best product. By resources, I mean people, of course, as well as equipment and processes. I am very pleased that we have been able to achieve such a very high level of quality and market acceptance with these products. So I would say that, although we have looked at TAD as a possibility for our new machine, we are confident that we can make products at a level of quality which can compete successfully with TAD."

With the combination of a good team, strong resources, modern machinery and high quality products, Industrie Cartarie Tronchetti does look well positioned to prosper over the coming years.