FUTURE ORIENTATION. HOW WILL DELFIN’S PRODUCT INNOVATIONS HELP CUSTOMERS IN THE FUTURE

Delfin is a family owned company that was started in 1991 by its current CEO, Antonino Siclari. It specializes in the manufacturing of industrial vacuum equipment, ranging from portable vacuums for industrial cleaning, to central vacuum systems and engineered solutions, to pneumatic conveying systems. 

Interview with Dimitri Di Salvo, Sales Director at Delfin.

Easy Engineering: A brief description of the company and activities.

Dimitri Di Salvo: Delfin is a family owned company started in 1991 by its current CEO, Antonino Siclari. Today Delfin is a global leader in the manufacturing of industrial vacuum equipment, ranging from portable vacuums for industrial cleaning, to central vacuum systems and engineered solutions, to pneumatic conveying systems. Our mission is to create value by designing innovative solutions that improve efficiency, safety, and productivity. Our aim is to use our expertise to help our customers to achieve their goals. 

E.E: Which are the most futuristic products / solutions from your portfolio?

D.D.S: One is the range of dust collection and containment extraction units for the pharmaceutical industry , that enable to safely collect and dispose of the highly dangerous powders used in the production of antitumoral pharmaceuticals. 

Another one is the range of machines for application in the 3D Printing industry, with special regard to the control of the risk of explosion with reactive powders such as aluminum and  titanium. 

E.E: What are the characteristics of these products / solutions?

D.D.S: They relate to the specific industry: the pharmaceutical requires high end finishing of the stainless steel (GMP), highly efficient filtration (H14 / HEPA / ULPA), a design that matches compact dimensions with easy disassemble for cleaning purpose, and high end safety features such as safe change of filter and bagging / disposal of the collected material, preventing even the slightest contact of the operator with the product. 

E.E: Tell us about the company’s long-term goals / prospects.

D.D.S: Our goal is to become the top global specialist for industrial vacuum solutions, with specific regard to high end market segments such as food, pharmaceutical, 3D print, heavy industries such as steel, cement.

E.E: Tell us about product innovation and how does it impact the future?

D.D.S: Product innovation is an ever-ongoing process that stems from close contact with the users of our products and solutions. Such requirements are constantly monitored at the highest level of management, and through the interaction of sales, marketing and R&D translates into a priority list of development projects for new products. Such process can range from a few months to a couple of years, depending on the size and complexity of the project.

E.E: How will product innovation help the customers?

D.D.S: Our products and solutions provide customers with increased safety for the operators and the environment, and increased production efficiency, resulting from reduced labor cost, higher quality of end products and acceleration of the production processes. 

E.E: How do employees shape your company’s future orientation?

D.D.S: Taking responsibility for what they do and providing suggestions for continuous improvement (Kaizen approach). Delfin is built on a friendly and family-like working culture: we are a global team. To live up to our ambitious customer promise, we built an innovative and inspiring company culture, in which everyone can bring his whole person to work.  

E.E: How does the digital transformation affect your products / business?

D.D.S: Since several years the integration of our equipment into increasingly digitalized production processes, has brought us to integrate in our systems more of digital features, through devices such as PLCs, remote controls, digital touchscreens etc. 

E.E: Tell us about research and development in your company

D.D.S: Delfin has a dedicated R&D department that follow projects depending on the type of industry (some of our R&D focus on developing solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, others for the cement / steel plants, etc.). Moreover, Delfin works closely with the famous University of Engineering in Turin (Politecnico), to source new talents that are highly qualified in engineering. 

E.E: How do you overcome the new challenges and this more competitive environment?

D.D.S: Stay ahead of the game, keep listening to customers, do better what you do well (Kaizen) , improve and innovate. Look for the blue ocean, go for new or uncrowded markets where added value can generate higher profit, rather than try to follow in where strong competitors are already established. 

E.E: Tell us about the company’s future strategies and how will you adapt to the future.

D.D.S: Stay global, spread the Delfin culture to our teams and partners globally. Invest on training of the sales organization. Keep improving and innovating. Dig for data and use them. 

DELFIN

Strada della Merla, 49/a

10036 Settimo T.se (TO) Italy

T.: + 39 011 800 55 00

Web: www.delfinvacuums.com

Email: delfin@delfinvacuums.it