1916

The history of Cornaglia begins on November 16, 1916, when the thirty-nine Giuseppe Cornaglia, born in Fossano, moved to Turin ten years before, became partner of Officine Metallurgiche Giletta. The company is engaged in processing and dealing in sheet metal, and its factory is located in Corso Regina Margherita.

It is the first step in a century-old story.

 

THE 20s and 30s

In 1921 a serious fire destroyed the plant in Turin, Corso Regina Margherita, and the factory was forced to move in Corso Racconigi. During the '20s and' 30s the role of Giuseppe Cornaglia in the company becomes progressively more important. He was honoured with the title of Cavaliere della Corona d’Italia. In 1937 Giuseppe Cornaglia takes over the property and prepares to introduce in the company his son Pier Antonio, just sixteen at the time. From the documents of the time in 1937 the Giuseppe Cornaglia metalworking workshops had 90 workers already employed. At just 17 years old Pier Antonio Cornaglia enters the Polytechnic University of Turin, where he meets the one who will become his wife also enrolled in Mechanical Engineering, the only woman in her class.

 

1940-1945

On 1 June 1940 Italy entered the war. Two years later, the twenty-one year old Pier Antonio Cornaglia left for the Russian front as a volunteer in the ARMIR (8th Italian Army in Russia, Russia Campaign), as Sotto Lieutenant. Dismissed at the end of 1942, he was able to return adventurously in Turin, where he graduated in engineering and in 1944 married Anna Maria Cabiati. From this wedding they had five children: Pier Mario, Valeria, Umberto, Giuseppe called Johnny, Roberta. Meanwhile, the conflict does not even save the company Cornaglia, whose factories are heavily bombarded between 1943 and 1945.

 

1946-1960

After the war, it is time to rebuilt. With great determination, and the financial support of the funds of the Marshall Plan, Pier Antonio Cornaglia makes the company restart, and on March 9 of 1953 the company takes its official name: Officine Metallurgiche G. Cornaglia. Its founder, Cavalier Cornaglia, died on July 16 the year later. Pier Antonio takes the heritage of his father, adding a modern management vision far ahead of the times. In fact, he is an entrepreneur who has had great insights: in the 50s he attended the IPSOA courses for improvement in management, at a time when the managerial approach was not so widespread.

 

THE 60s

It comes the economic boom. People realize to live in a growing period, the company Cornaglia grows as well. In 1961 the plant in Beinasco is built, and in 1967 Cortubi is founded. The new brand of exhaust systems for cars and trucks reflects the need for diversification of the company, who always in this decade begins to look forward to the foreign market. The open vision of Pier Antonio Cornaglia is shared by his wife  Anna Maria Cabiati: she achieves her graduation in physical science and engineering, she is assistant at the Politecnico, and in 1964 she creates the company LIT, industrial laundry that still nowadays operates with the most important hospitals and retirement homes in Piedmont.

 

THE 70s

The beginning of the decade saw rising a new generation of Cornaglia. Pier Mario, graduated in engineering, joins the company first and later his brother Umberto, graduated in financial science. Two strong personalities, with different roles and different management approaches - technical and production filed the first, more oriented to the administrative-financial the second - but both determinted in the growth of the family business. In 1975 the company Alcom is founded, and will be incorporated in Cortubi: with the production of silencers for trucks, tractors and other machines, Cortubi allows the acquisition of customers out of the cars industry. With the foundation in 1978 of Brassicarda Research Centre, Cornaglia demonstrates a vision orientated to the development of integrated production processes and the most advanced technologies.

 

THE 80s

The crisis of the cars requires new efforts to differentiate. A turning point for the company Cornaglia is the entrance in the plastics industry, implemented in the middle of the 80s with the acquisition of Nalin and the birth, in the AC Rotomode society. In parallel the company enters also in the After Market, with a full line of automotive clutches export-oriented. On 31 January 1986 it touches the tragedy: the roof of the plant of Cortubi collapses under the weight of an exceptional snowfall. Providentially, the crash occurs during the shift change, with no victms. With extraordinary will of the family and of the employees, the production does not stop and only a month after, a new factory is inaugurated. The event is remembered every year with a Mass of thanksgiving at the plant. The first initiative out of Turin is in 1982, with the creations of Cortubi Sud.

 

THE 90s

The relationships with FIAT became closer, and FIAT, through Gilardini, acquired a 30% of Cornaglia entering in the group management. In 1998 the family reaffirms the indissoluble relation with the company buying back the whole property. Over the 90s a strong improvement in the plastics industry rises, with the development of exhaust systems in co-design with FIAT plant in Villarbasse. In parallel, the Cornaglia expands its presence in southern Italy: in 1991 in Atessa it is founded Cornaglia Sud, for the production of components for mufflers and tanks, while in 1995 it is founded in Salerno the company Pecoplast.

 

1998-2007

In 2001, the plan of rationalization of the factories is completed. This is strongly wanted by Umberto, with the creation of Plastic Division. In the factory of Villarbasse three moulding systems are installed: rotational,  The strategy of Cornaglia, meanwhile, with the impulse of engineer Pier Mario becomes global. Between 1990 and 2000, the first foreign sites are established. In 1998 the Polish plant was established: in its factories there is the metal sheet assembly and engine tanks for the Fiat Uno, increasing the production up to 800.000 pieces. In 2000 it is the turn of Romania: Cornaglia buys a small factory, supplier of mufflers for Dacia that, at the time, was acquired by Renault. The commercial intuition is a succesful stage: the plant increases the production up to 300.000 pieces a year. In 2007 the group arrives in India, thanks to the joint venture with Lumax the production is more and more strengthened in Plastic field. Again in 2007, a plant in Genova province owned by Federal Mogul is acquired by Cornaglia for the production of filters: Cor Filters arises.

 

2008-2016

In more recent years, changes and new activities continue to emerge. The process of globalization of the company proceeds, with the creation of productive and partnership units in various countries of the world. In the exploration of new markets it is crucial the input of energy of the fourth generation of Cornaglia, with the young Tommaso and Pier Antonio who deal to expand the European and worldwide horizons. Hence, the Cornaglia began to operate in Turkey in 2010, in Canada in 2013 with ABC, in Brazil in 2015 with NGC. However, the focus on the Italian reality never fails: the acquisition of the plant in Airola is very recent, it brings together the two plants of Atessa and Fisciano. Edoardo, also a representative of the new generation, becomes the key figure of the Exhaust Systems Division, assuming the position of General Director.

The story goes on....

 

ENTREPRENEURS I TWO A.D.

Different personalities, sometimes with different approaches to business problems. However, the success of Cornaglia is in the strength of its affections and in the ability to undertake important decisions for the company and personal life, as demonstrated over the years, overcoming the unfavourable difficulties.

Eng. Pier Mario joined the company in 1970; He never had any doubts about what to do "when I grow up", guided by a strong desire of freedom, that the entrepreneurial life has allowed him to have.

Right from the start he felt that dependence on Fiat as too strongly reductive and for this reason he has always tried to "go on the market" with his own products. The idea of ​​developing the business in an innovative way has led to important investments, with a strong focus on "machines", the most tangible item one can think of in the company, in the typical mentality of the engineering business tradition, and with less tension aimed at marketing and promoting its image on the market.

Eng. Pier Mario acknowledges that he has had the opportunity to make mistakes, granted by his father who has never prevented him from realizing his dreams. His determination led him to conceive the business development, creating an industrial network distributed in Italy, on whose territory where there are nine factories, and plants in Poland, Romania and India. The realization of the production pole for the exhaust and silencing systems in the Asti area, with the two plants in Villanova d'Asti Valfenera, is an his intuition. One of the most recent satisfactions is the achievement of the Audi VAX Group certification and entering into the German market.

In his continuous research, Ing. Pier Mario tries to seize all the opportunities that the market offers him, managing to manage the most difficult situations quickly. Improvisation is certainly a part of its way of being and it must be understood in an absolutely positive way. It is because of this that he has developed the ability to quickly decide by following the own intuitions, in a world where timeliness is often more important than the careful evaluation of each risk. He passes down to his collaborators the passion for work, a strong involvement and the desire to do, the trust and sense of group. He is a brilliant and hyperactive man, receptive to innovations and committed on a personal level to his employees too. Among his passions, there are the automotive rallies and vintage cars, with the wonderful family collection.

The dott. Umberto had a dream: the Modena Academy. The decision to undertake Economics University derives from the father's desire to create the corporate organizational structure: Pier Mario, involved in the technical-productive area and Umberto, involved in the administrative-financial area. After graduation, Dr. Umberto attended the SDA Bocconi, and later, in 1977, he joined the company with the idea of ​​"being a manager". He would have to deal with the administration, managed until his enter  by his uncle. It was a difficult role because finance had never had the power to influence choices, as corporate growth was always in first place in the priorities and the launch of new industrial initiatives was the fundamental objective. The dott. Umberto began to deal with industrial accounting, with the introduction of information systems and with the management of human resources. The creation of an organized and unitary corporate structure is his result, as it is the restructuring of the plants and the rationalization of the production sites. The dott. Umberto is extremely careful in management and he is able to communicate clear objectives to his collaborators. His charisma derives from the intelligence and ability of leadership that is natural to him. He does not need to impose himself, precisely because he is confident, capable of motivating, able to learn and ready for change. And an authoritarian man, tenacious and strongly determined. He feels the need to plan, to have an idea of ​​the future development of the company. This is why he works with ISVOR to define a strategic plan and he promotes internal research studies to try to outline the technological evolution of the automotive industry. The dott. Umberto believes that a danger can be represented by the entry of multinationals in the automotive sector, for their financial strength and for the managerial mentality that characterizes their top managements, which choices are often functional to the career path. His vision is directed towards the technological niches of the automotive industry that can not be presided over by others but not by the medium / small company. He has a passion for his work and a vision of the multi-sector business.

The two personalities represent the heart of the Cornaglia. The correctness and the tenacity demonstrated over the years arouse esteem and consents towards the family. The sense of belonging and of attachment to the group and the attention for the people are the values ​​that Pier Mario and Umberto communicate every day to those around them. And that's why the 700 employees who represent the company are not simply numbers but are people, with a life, a family and sometimes serious problems to deal with daily.

 

Women in Cornaglia

Annamaria Cabiati Cornaglia: Woman feisty and ante litteram graduated in '44 IN Physics and in ‘46 in Mechanical Engineering, she teached at the Polytechnic of Turin as assistant of Eng. Micheletti, but in 1963 she decided to open an industrial laundry, so in 1964 LIT was born, despite the serious deaths affecting her family. She never lost the will to move forward and she remained the strong point of the Family. In 1994 she became President of Cornaglia, and she held this position until her death on December 16, 2011.

Roberta Cornaglia: she graduated in Law, her dream was to become magistrate and the first woman of the Constitutional Court but while she was studying for the final exam, firstly her brother Umberto then Pier Mario have offered her the opportunity to join the family company and to create the legal department. Gradually, obtaining the experience and trust, the brothers have assigned her the responsibility of the Healt & Safety area. When Ing. Cabiati died, Pier Mario and Umberto decided that the role of President of Cornaglia should have been held by her.