by Laura Reggiani |
Italian reference point for the distribution of power supplies, industrial PCs, LEDs, displays and electronic components, Digimax has a widespread presence throughout the country. The distributor in Vicenza is able to offer customers an updated and detailed advice, the result, as explained by the founder Massimo Tirapelle, of almost 25 years of experience in the market.
<<Un imprenditore come me, che lavora con passione e dedizione da anni, mettendoci cuore ed energia positiva, non può non vedere bene il futuro>>.
Massimo Tirapelle, digimax
Next year you will be celebrating 25 years on the market. What have been the most important stages of this journey?
It has been a wonderful journey, starting from zero and arriving at over 4 thousand active customers today. I have seen the company grow steadily, with many joys and some sorrows, and I have the great satisfaction of having created something truly important in the world of electronic distribution in Italy. In this journey I have experienced the transition from the old electronic distribution system to the digital one, which has stimulated us to continuously invent new strategies, to be innovative and stand out from the others. In the path we have taken there is also something of great value to me, which is giving me the stimulus to improve: having created a group of close-knit people, who work as a team in the various departments with shared objectives, who have grown over time, merging skills and experience. The milestones are to be identified in the last ten years, in which we have quintupled the turnover, going from 10 to 50 million euros, a growth that has had a turning point with the move in 2013 to the new headquarters that, thanks to a larger warehouse and a computerized system has allowed us to become a logistics hub for our major brands, such as Meanwell e Advantech, historical partners since the beginning of our adventure.
The Digimax group was born from the union of three historic companies in the sector. How do these companies operate today? Are they totally integrated or do they move independently?
In the last five years we have understood that in order to grow in turnover we also need to implement acquisition policies on a synergistic basis: in 2015 we therefore acquired Velco, a historic distributor from Vicenza just a few kilometres from our headquarters, whose main brand was Citizen Led, a brand in line with our policy of expansion in the lighting world, synergistic with Meanwell, Snappy, Colors. Moreover, we entered the world of lighting control through Dalcnet, a local manufacturer with a strong vocation for the design and production of dimmers for lighting, for the domestic and foreign markets. In both companies Digimax brought its know-how and the necessary organization so that they could be integrated into the group strategy based on the lighting and industrial ecosystem.
What are Digimax's strengths and what differentiates you from your competitors?
Digimax wants to be a real value-added distributor: to be recognized by the customer, value must be created with pre and post-sales consulting services and with an offer of the most innovative products in the world, such as those proposed by our best partners in the Far East: Meanwell, Advantech and Citizen. To this we combine a "Premium" logistic service with high stock levels and fast delivery support for a real "Just in Time" in a product range that includes over 15 thousand different codes. To do this we have always invested in Information Technology, for the management of processes in support of sales, trying to "digitize" more and more to accompany customers in the choice of products and order management towards that inbound marketing that, in my opinion, will be the frontier of the next ten years.
You started your business importing products from suppliers in the Far East. How has your offer evolved over the years?
Product innovations are continuous, the world ofThe world of electronic distribution is increasingly competitive and it is difficult for a simple "box mover" distributor to resist. The role of the distributor is no longer as it was at the beginning, limited to the import of quality and cost-effective products: today it is necessary to accompany the customer in the sale of an industrial or lighting eco-system, combining a competitive and top-level product package, and allow him to be in turn successful and innovative.
At your headquarters in Vicenza there is also a showroom and a laboratory. Who are these facilities aimed at? What advantages do they bring you?
The showroom is a small showcase of the most interesting and up-to-date products with the latest technologies in the two ecosystems: for the lighting world there is the possibility to manage lighting control with Casambi, Dali, Dmx protocols, while for the industrial world are shown solutions in the embedded field with boards or computers with Gateway functionality related to the Internet of Things for remote data collection through I/O devices and solutions for Artificial Intelligence, with specific CPU in the graphic processing, combined with our line of industrial cameras. The laboratory offers an "ad-hoc" assembly service, tailored to each customer, with burn-in, wiring, mechanical customization and software integration activities carried out by our dedicated team.
You have developed the concept of "ecosystem" in industry. Can you explain us better what it means? What are the main issues in the industrial world?
The industrial ecosystem is for us a complete product chain - from the embedded pc board, to visualization with indoor/outdoor touch displays, transmission and connectivity with industrial network switches, joysticks, industrial power supplies and wireless sensors - effectively applied. The complete solutions are studied together with the final customer with our Product Managers and then elaborated in our laboratory. The applications are diverse: automation, medical, vending machine, machine builder, transportation. The same principle is also applied in lighting for lamp manufacturers and retail. The main challenge in this area is the long development times, months or even years, which require a lot of pre- and post-sales support activities, with increasingly compressed margins between our manufacturers and end customers and direct competition from Asia. The goal is to have a "Premium" service but with "Economy" rates.
We can't not talk about Coronavirus. How much is it impacting your business? Can you already predict the effect on Digimax's bottom line?
The effects of the pandemic will not wear off in a few months. Paradoxical as it may seem, this situation is presenting us with important opportunities to seize. It will be crucial to do so before our competitors do in the re-start phase. This is why we are further reviewing our internal organisation, with the aim of accompanying technical and commercial support with an increasingly high-performance digital platform.
How do you see your company projected in the next 5 years? Do you envision new suppliers, new products and new markets to approach? What will be the future challenges for Digimax?
An entrepreneur like me, who has worked with passion and dedication for years, putting his heart and positive energy into it, cannot help but see the future well. Despite the setback brought by the pandemic, which caught everyone unprepared, the fastest will be able to recover and I am convinced that those who have always worked well and continued to do so, will be rewarded. In the next 5 years I see Digimax working and strengthening in the strategies already defined, with the current primary suppliers and, probably, someone new to be included in the two ecosystems, with innovative products and technical-commercial advice, adequate stock levels to consolidate long-term relationships with partners and with an increasing number of customers.long-term relationships with partners and with a growing number of important customers.
thanks Vittorio and Laura of the beautiful article see you soon