De Lama, the growth continues by 2026 the company will double

Article by Luca Simeone – La Provincia Pavese, April 7th 2023

Among the leaders in the production of sterilizers. In eight years the turnover has increased from 10 to 20 million

De Lama has come a long way since, 74 years ago, when she was born in what was little more than a garage, in San Martino Siccomario. One step at a time, it has carved out an important share, in Italy and in the world, in the market of autoclaves, sterilization machines (particularly for drugs), also due to the high quality – and the advanced technological component of its products.
And now important investments are underway which will lead to doubling the size of the plant in via Piemonte and to continue that growth certified by important numbers: from 10 to 20 million euros in turnover over the last 8 years. «The increase in employment will follow the expansion», adds Marco Bianchi, marketing and sales manager, who together with his father Paolo, president and managing director, and his brother Matteo, engineer , who takes care of the IT part and the general production system, manages the company founded by his uncle Franco De Lama. The goal, from the current ones
82 employees, is to reach 120 in 2026, the year in which the doubling of the plant should be completed.

THE EXPANSION PLAN

The new factory body will be approximately 4,000 square meters, and 2,000 between offices, laboratories and a pilot plant with machines available to customers for testing. «A project that outlines industrial development for the next decades – explains Andrea Muggiasca, director of the plant – the current space has become very limited, we are forced to park the equipment outside or to carry out work outside. Machinery today is increasingly large or integrated with the entire drug production line». Not only that, because the solution chosen – which involved an investment of several million euros – «is not the classic shed but a production area with a single span of 54 meters, an architectural work of the highest level, such as the hangar of an airport, and the possibility of moving the processes inside, with great flexibility».
The new plant will be based on sustainability – with a photovoltaic system of 400 kW of power, more or less that currently absorbed, and the use of eco-compatible materials – and natural light will be exploited as much as possible with skylights. «The high cost of the operation also depends on the fact that we are 1.3 meters above the groundwater, complex works are needed but we have relied on high-level companies – continues Muggiasca – there will also be an underground garage for 47 placed at a depth of 4.5 metres.
The investment is part of a wider urban intervention. «At the beginning there was talk of an agreement for three works that De Lama would carry out – explains the mayor of San Martino, Alessandro Zocca – a roundabout for a safe exit both from De Lama and from the other businesses in via Piemonte, a public parking, a land of 7,000 square meters on which a forest will be born. In addition, with the Region we have put in place an Arest, a territorial relaunch agreement worth around 900 thousand euros. The Region will finance 50% and in June there will be the final approval, among the works there is also a ring for the transfer of heavy traffic and another parking lot».

De Lama CEO Dr. Paolo Bianchi

The plant manager Andrea Muggiasca (left) with Marco Bianchi (marketing)

VOCATION TO EXPORT

About 90% of De Lama’s turnover comes from exports. «Our luck is that we are not tied to a specific market – says Marco Bianchi – Russia was important to us, the war blocked everything but we grew up in other countries. We are leaders in South Korea, which is very technologically advanced, but also in Bangladesh. They know us all over the world and this gives us stability».
De Lama’s other strong point is that the machines are “customized” or made to measure for customers, including leading pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer or Novartis: «Multinationals offer some options, they go on large numbers , we work based on what the customer needs to optimize the loading of the products».
A total of about 120 pieces per year come out of the San Martino company, not only sterilizers but also other things, including industrial washing machines for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and nutraceuticals. Apart from production peaks, the entire cycle from design to production is carried out internally. And always counting – or almost – on his own means of financing: «The philosophy is to never take steps that are too big, but to continue to make them – says Bianchi – and to reinvest in the company to give a future to companies and workers , knowing full well that we are dealing with multinationals that have enormous resources. Without the large investments in research and technology we would have been wiped out». The employment policy is aimed above all at local people: «We have a very low turnover, those who enter here hardly leave and for us it is important: training is long and we want people to grow with us». —

The design offices

History

Seventy-four years of activity In 1952 the first autoclave

It was Franco De Lama in 1949 who founded the homonymous company in San Martino Siccomario where it is still located today.
The first autoclave dates back to 1952, out of what was once a small shed. The space was so small that some machinery was set up in the courtyard.
From the 1950s, De Lama began holding trade fairs to make its products known and had the intuition to build sterilization machines also given the expansion of the pharmaceutical sector and the birth of new hospitals.

De Lama invests in technologically advanced solutions
The flagship is sterilization with hydrogen peroxide

From robotics to “water cutting” and a unique patent in the world

INNOVATIONS

The latest arrivals are a large milling machine, a 20-metre long laser cutting machine, a horizontal welding machine which has been added to the robotic one which has already been in operation for some years. De Lama has never stopped investing in the most innovative technologies, and the flagship is HyPerPure, the patented brand for the cold sterilization process with hydrogen peroxide: «A unique system in the world, an alternative to ethylene which is now obsolete»,

explains Andrea Muggiasca, director of the plant. The advantages of this process are several: it is faster, cheaper and more ecological. «We already use Hyperpure in Europe, now we are applying for validation from the FDA for the US market».

In addition to the robotic welding machine, De Lama was among the first companies to introduce waterjet cutting, a machine capable of sectioning steel up to 20 centimeters thick «with incredible precision and without stressing the material, because it is cold – explains Marco Bianchi, marketing and sales manager
– the laser is much faster but still creates a thermal shock on the material and therefore micro-expansion»

The waterjet cutting machine in the De Lama factory

The company’s attention to detail is one of the reasons that have made it an internationally successful reality: «Let’s think of the value of what is put into our machines – says Bianchi – for example, a load of vaccines, sterilized in 2 hours, can be worth 10-15 million euros, or anticancer drugs, the cost of which can even reach 10-15 thousand euros. If the machine has problems, you create enormous damage: the customer must not have the slightest doubt about the quality of the no If the machine has problems, you create enormous damage: the customer must not have the slightest doubt about the quality of our product»

But quality is also constructive solidity: «A customer sent us a photo of one of our sterilizers from 1971, still in operation». —

Article by Luca Simeone – La Provincia Pavese