The company Ascoli continues to be talked about, reconfirming the spearhead in the field of composite materials.
More than a year has passed since the last public meeting of the Ascoli company that makes its presence on the territory more than ever. For some time now HP Composites has gained a reasonable market share in the advanced composite materials sector, becoming a world leader in the production of carbon components for Motorsport and Automotive.
From 2014 to today, the company has managed to conquer the podium in a sector still considered a niche market and to strengthen the value of Made in Italy in the world. A reality born and that, despite everything, continues to grow in an area still full of problems and inconveniences due to the economic crisis but also to those that were the consequences of the earthquake two years ago.
In a not so positive scenario the only note, in this case not painful, is the success of a company that in a few years has achieved important goals.
With a strong change of course since 2014, the Ascoli company has capitalized its skills, professionalism and desire to do so allowing it to be associated today, often and willingly, with the big names in the racing car industry such as Lamborghini, Dallara, Ligier, and many others.
An ambitious journey that saw the year of the turning point in 2014. In April the management of the company changes and this entails growth from all points of view and at the same time the foundations of what in a few years would have been called "the second spring" of the composites district began to be created.
If the racing world does not wait, it does not even wait for HP, which has never decelerated during these years.In 2017 there was talk of the activation of a third production plant of 4500 square meters and the words became facts.The construction work started in August 2017 with the support of the entrepreneur Cav. Maurizio Borgioni and ended last spring when the plant was put into operation. To date, the Mq covered by the company are about 14,000 and are ongoing advanced and rather concrete negotiations for the further acquisition of additional 10,000 square meters divided into three adjacent plants.
The development of the area has a fundamental value and for this reason HP for daily work has decided to make use of the collaboration of third companies based in the Marche and in the province of Ascoli Piceno.Working with local entrepreneurs means offering them a chance for growth while stimulating the local economy. A turnover that has now reached € 4 M, almost doubling the result achieved last year.
The path, all uphill HP, also concerns the turnover that continues to have a positive trend. From 2014 to date, growth has been remarkable. The year 2017 ended by surpassing 27 million euros, with a + 15% compared to the previous year and in the first half of 2018 the numbers confirm the confirmation of the annual growth rate.
But turnover figures go hand in hand with those of production. The pace has grown and the components produced by HP are also increasing: from the beginning of 2018 the weekly production has exceeded 2800 pieces, while for what concerns only the number of frames produced to date we are at 1153.The latter data might seem simplistic but HP is a manufacturing company, which means that every single component is produced "by hand". The success achieved in these years is due not only to a wise management of resources, both in economic and human terms, but above all to the meticulous and highly professional work of the operators.
Achievements achieved precisely through the skills and dedication of its staff on which HP aims for everything and for everything.
Despite the new and more stringent rules on employment relationships, temporary and stable, introduced with the Decree Dignity, which in some way restrain the labor market, HP shrugs and stabilizes indefinitely only in 2018 n.106 resources with further probable recruitment by the end of the year.
At national level since 2017 the workforce has increased by about 160 thousand units, equal to + 0.6% compared to 2016 and in the second quarter of 2018 the overall employment growth continues +387 thousand units equal to 1.7%.
If you look at the Marche Region, and specifically in the province of Ascoli Piceno, over the years the number of employees has increased. The company has always worked to shake the problem of unemployment in the Piceno territory. The numbers of HP speak for themselves: from 2014 up to today, about 270 people have been hired from previous contracts of administration or training internships.
The conclusion is that in HP today the quota of 500 total employees has been exceeded (stable and administered) and it is not excluded that the number can grow again. A fact that is also felt on regional data concerning the workforce, in fact according to estimates in the second quarter of 2018 there has been an increase in the number of employees (+ 6.8% or about 41,200 units) which was followed by consequently a decrease in the unemployment rate rose from 11.1% in the second quarter of 2017 to 7.7%.
It is no coincidence that perhaps the data of HP probably contributed to the deserved ascent of Ascoli Piceno in the ranking of the Sole 24ore (November 2017) as the first for innovation and employment, or at least we like to think so.
But HP is not only interested in giving a job to young people in the region but also aims at training professional skills and increasing internal resources. The attention poured in the Education sector is dictated by the will to stop if not eliminate the so-called "brain drain" from a territory that today offers few opportunities.
The training school, Ecodime Italia and TCA (The Composite Academy), still part of the Everspeed French Group of which HP is part, has created a specialized training offer in both the Automotive and Performance sectors.
The preparation of the courses is entrusted to teachers who are experts in the field who study, according to the needs of the client, the most suitable training offer to best respond to all requests. The plus consists in not having standard modules but each course has unique features and specifications. This has allowed us to provide specific training for large companies operating in the Motorsport sector, from Formula 1 to World Endurance (WEC), Automotive and Aerospace.
But not only that, the TCA training courses are preparatory to the insertion in the company; there are several employees who have joined the staff of HP starting from one of these courses. We need a period of didactic training and then practice to really understand what are the composite materials and the consequent processing techniques. From 2014 to date, TCA has activated 21 coaching plans, to date 317 people; only in 2018 were 7 courses involving about 107 people. Much of these resources still work at HP (204 resources from 2014 to date with direct or delivery contracts.)
A company that has always been attentive to the needs of its employees and among the new projects concerning the company welfare, there will be an area dedicated to families and specifically to primary school children. In the next few months, a new day after-school activities will be activated in a new area: "The relationship with the employees is the primary aspect for the good management and development of the activities", says DG Abramo Levato. " service that can give serenity and help to our workers, especially in the daily management of children ".
HP strongly believes in the new generation and in the value of training and for this reason has promoted two important projects: a Postgraduate Course for the training of Technicians with highly specialized knowledge and skills in the supply chain of innovative materials, in particular composite materials, and of the INDUSTRY 4.0 which will take place at the IIS "Fermi - Sacconi-Ceci" of Ascoli Piceno and a Specialization Course, for students with a three-year degree in science, on the Engineering of Composite Materials organized in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Marche and the Composite Materials Pole that will be held at the headquarters of San Bendetto del Tronto of the Faculty of Economics G.Fuà of the UNIVPM.
The field of action of HP sometimes makes a detour and goes into the field of care and well-being combined with innovation. The company took part in the T.R.E.E project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The latter aims to create a model of social and health service to be applied in the field of rehabilitation, monitoring and assistance that can best respond to changes in care needs that can be detected both by patients and by the System. National healthcare through the use of innovative technologies.
The idea is to create personalized rehabilitative pathways, which through the use of innovative technologies, can lead to the involvement and responsibility of all people with chronic motor and / or cognitive disabilities who need specific care and qualified assistance.With the use of new technologies it will be possible to acquire the patient's physiological parameters and the performance results obtained during the exercise, constantly monitoring the improvements that occur during the course. To do this, touch systems, smart walls and smart floors will be used during the sessions.HP Composites will take part in the project providing, for patients with severe disabilities, a carbon fiber wheelchair that will allow the use of home rehabilitation systems.
For HP research and experimentation are essential and last year we talked about the birth of an innovative Start up dedicated to the research of new technologies on advanced composite materials, Carbon Mind directed by Ing. Alessia Nardinocchi, created to meet the demands of the advanced composite materials market through innovation, industrialization and new technologies. The soul of Carbon Mind feeds on the needs of those who want to produce something new in carbon and those who want to produce it better. Starting from the needs of those who work in the field of composite materials, or that, not yet operating on this market, wants to assess the feasibility, the Start-up offers replicable production methodologies, designs dedicated production lines, all based on continuous research , on the consolidated know-how and on the technical results obtained in its own internal laboratory.
Carbon Mind has started to move small steps independently, through the acquisition of important customers and expanding the sectors of operation, as well as in the Automotive sector CM is also operating in the metalworking, I-tech and design industries. A completely new reality in the territory, which has a great capacity for growth, in an area that strongly needs a revival. A start-up that has all the credentials to become in the future a real research center on composite materials and on the development of industrial technologies connected to it.
HP looks beyond the walls of the company: the development of the territory is one of the key points for a reality so linked to its land as paradoxically to French capital. In 2017 it was only a project, which HP had promoted, the formation of a composite materials hub. 13 companies, which are located between Abruzzo and the Marche region, joined together and created this network. The realities operate in different sectors (mechanical, engineering, training and composite materials) and travel together towards a common goal.
The intent of the network is to merge the financial component with that of industrial growth. Through this structure, it will be possible to activate a process for the economic, commercial, technological and organizational development of all the companies involved, as well as making access to tenders, economic incentives and financing facilities easier.
The Polo today has a total turnover of over € 106 million and involves 695 employees. An important part will be carried out by the Research and Development division, which has always been at the forefront for the development of new innovative concepts and techniques, involving a total of 8% of staff.