An automatic locked gate in the desert with a magnificent lion guarding it and a prestigious car speeding through the gate. Few but powerful images for a plunge into the 1980s, when FAAC, Fabbrica Automatismi Apertura Cancelli, was among the first companies to invest in a TV commercial on national channels for non-consumer products. But let us take a step back. FAAC was founded in 1965 in Zola Predosa (BO) when building entrepreneur Giuseppe Manini had a winning intuition to overcome the problem of building gates that regularly ended up staying open all the time because no one felt like getting out of the car to close them. Manini, therefore, devised an automatic handling system that worked using hydraulic technology. Thus, the 750 underground, the first automatic gate handling system, was developed.
The shift to industrial production
This first product was followed by the 400, the first external swing model, and the other products in the hydraulic range. Soon, it became necessary to create a sales network for their distribution and switch from artisanal production – as FAAC’s one was in the beginning – to industrial production while maintaining the same quality standards. Aluminium die-casting moulds are made, and new materials are researched to make the products more high-performance and innovative. The company expands, the first branches are established, the first training courses are organized, and it begins to look beyond national borders.
Innovation… opens new doors!
Innovation broke through at FAAC, especially with the advent of microprocessor electronic cards, which the company used to develop ever more innovative locking and opening systems within the reach of an ever wider user base in Italy and Europe. Continuous investment in research and development allows FAAC to file a number of patents and to create products that are always on the cutting edge. Thanks to SMT (Surface Mount Technology), for example, the size of electronic boards is significantly reduced, paving the way for the pocket remote control that many of us have today.
An Italian multinational
And so we get to the famous 1987 commercial. Filmed in the USA, a choice of iconic and powerful symbols quickly made the Bolognese company known worldwide and a leader in its industry. In 1991, Michelangelo Manini, the founder’s sole heir, took over FAAC. He died in 2012 at only 50 years of age, unmarried and childless, leaving all his assets and the company to the Archdiocese of Bologna. Today, FAAC Technologies is a multinational group of 53 companies operating in 29 countries, with 8 main production sites and 16 assembly centres. The company, which operates through two main business units, FAAC Access Solutions and HUB Parking Technology, develops efficient, simple, high-performance solutions to meet mobility and access management needs. It is led by Andrea Moschetti, executive chairman, has 3500 employees and a turnover of more than 600 million euros. Every year, FAAC invests its profits in charitable projects to support the frail and needy and allocates one million euros to scholarships, internships and start-ups.
Congratulations to those who bring Made in Italy creativity and technology to the world!
Read about other companies that keep the flag of Italian innovation flying.