Over 110 years of experience on the market, for which it designs and sells customized industrial and marine systems. 2024 is a year to remember for DEUTZ Italy, which is paying tribute to its history and successes by expanding its offering nationwide. In fact, it opens a sales office in Naples, the first of a series of goals that the company is implementing to strengthen its presence and thus affirm its Brand Identity.
Talking about this, and much more, is Marco Colombo, CEO of DEUTZ Italy.
The DEUTZ brand: a brief overview
DEUTZ Italy is the Italian branch of the German multinational group DEUTZ AG, based in Cologne, leader in the production of diesel engines since 1864, and has an industrial complex in Lomagna (Lecco). This is an area of 16,000 square metres, where 60 employees work. It represents a global and solid reality with highly specialised services.
“Until the previous management, which lasted 30 years, the company had a widespread presence in Italy, with structured offices in Palermo, Naples, Rome and Milan”, recalls Marco Colombo, CEO of DEUTZ Italy.
In the current century the company has not only been able to affirm the reliability of the brand on the national territory, but has also taken the brand and its consolidated structure abroad, especially in the Middle East.
The opening of the Naples office
The project was born in 2020 as a result of an analysis of business service turnover, which led to the development of a clear objective: the need to offer services in the South of the country. And to achieve this goal, two things are needed: a good catalog of products and services, but also a structured presence in the territory. This means working on brand marketing and the people who will represent the brand.
“We need to be present. This activity cannot be carried out starting from the Lomagna headquarters and appearing in the area only a few times a month. The idea is to be there, experience the place, build a proposal with local people who, in turn, have links in these areas and provide important information that favors the business construction and development”, explains Colombo.
But why Naples? Naples has historically played a key role. It has been the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it is a central reality in the South also due to the connections it offers. Let’s think, for example, of the motorway and rail network, but also of air connections. It is a final destination but also a transit one, as is the city of Nola, the main reason that pushed DEUTZ to invest in this area.
Not only Southern Italy: the goals for the future
In addition to wanting to increase the presence in the South, there are other macro-regions of Italy to develop from the start. The opening in Naples is therefore to be considered a preliminary step towards new goals that include an operational center in Sicily, an island with its own sizable market, but also in Trentino.
Between May 2023 and May 2024, a +25% increase was recorded in the South, and the numbers therefore give hope for a concrete investment in the area. But beyond the practical operation, it is the people who make the difference, as Colombo points out:
“We hired two people at the Naples office in addition to two others we already had. And the idea is to hire another one to create a sales office with five active people to develop the business.”
Once the start-up phase has been completed, the company will make all the necessary evaluations and then add a technical and executive part to the order, up to proposing engine repairs. But this is another story yet to be written.