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A word from Alessandro Riello, President of Aermec, one of the most important companies in Italy that works in the air conditioning sector. From our founding in 1920 to the present day, we have come a long way, filled with successful bets, investments, and increasingly stronger international relations, without forgetting a very close connection with our homeland.
Alessandro Riello, President of the Aermec Group, an international leader in the production of air conditioners.
The Aermec Group is an international leader. Tell us briefly about the history of your company.
Our family’s entrepreneurial history began in 1920, when our great-grandfather, who emigrated to Brazil at a very young age, returned to Italy and founded the company Riello Bruciatori with his three sons – Raffaello, Pilada, and Giuseppe. In the early 1960s, our father Giordano, son of Raffaello, decided to leave the family business and found the company Riello Condizionatori and began producing small monoblock air conditioners for home use on behalf of third parties. A few years later, the Aermec brand came to life with a project to market products directly, and the decision was made to enter the world of industrial engineering with lines of refrigerators up to 200 kW and ventilated terminals, in which we today lead the market. However, in the mid-1990s, the decision was made to change the appearance: the name “Riello Air Conditioners” was abandoned, and a new identity was adopted as the company name: Aermec. At the same time, two other important facts intervened in the life of the company and marked its future development: starting the production of large installations with chillers up to 4 MW capacity, which gives the company an international image. Today Aermec splits its turnover as 50% into the domestic market and the other half into foreign markets. It is present on all continents with 7 directly controlled commercial companies and a dense network of distributors. Today, Aermec’s turnover has exceeded 350 million euros and can count on 890 employees, while the international group Giordano Riello, which also controls Aermec, operates with 7 factories in Italy and one abroad, having more than 1,900 employees, with a turnover exceeding 550 million euros. As for Aermec, we are proud of the fact that all products sold worldwide are produced at our plant in Bevilacqua, in the lower Verona region.
What elements and conditions have made your company successful in today’s market?
The most important condition determining the success of Aermec is maintaining a family atmosphere that promotes strong loyalty among our employees, the sense of belonging that is important so that all people working with us feel included and involved in the project. Our family deeply feels the roots of the territory that gave birth to the company and cannot forget the gratitude that it feels towards this land and to those people who gave it the opportunity to be born, grow, and achieve the goals that it has set for itself.
During these years, even despite the crisis, how much of the search for success in international markets has been a choice for your company and how much of a necessity? How does international activity affect Aermec’s business today?
In recent years, and they are certainly not easy, Aermec has continued its strategy of growth and expansion in order to have an increasingly consolidated and organized presence on international markets. Our goal is to have 50% of our production volume go to the domestic market, which we always want to cover properly, and the remaining 50% directed to export. Our growth in international markets has always been aimed at creating a strong and competent pre- and post-sales organization, even before the start of distribution activities. Today, the foreign organization Aermec has 7 directly controlled commercial companies and 60 distributors worldwide, operating in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Mediterranean countries of Africa, South Africa, North, and South America.
How are your relations with the bureaucracy abroad and, in general, what were the main difficulties you faced?
The main challenges we face, especially in some regions of the world, relate to the ever-changing regulations governing the use of components and gases, especially addressing issues related to environmental impact. The problem is not so much the difficulty of adapting products to new needs, but rather the deadlines that are often imposed. It is clear that in some countries regulations are created, even as a tool, to protect local producers.
What are your future development plans? Are you already planning to conquer new markets?
Of course, our plans for the future are consolidation and growth. We have a goal to enter new markets, but we do not announce this in advance: it would be convenient for competitors if we revealed our plans.
