Moretto grows in the US

Jackson Center, Pa. — After just a few years of direct sales efforts, the United States has become the largest export market for Italian auxiliary equipment maker Moretto SpA.

"We've grown tremendously," Gene Flockerzi said, general manager of North America, in an Aug. 30 interview at Moretto USA LLC's new facility in Jackson Center in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Following years of machinery sector speculation whether Moretto, a major auxiliary player based in Massanzago, Italy, would make a move into the U.S. market, Moretto signed a deal in 2013 with Advanced Blending Solutions LLC, a Michigan auxiliary equipment company. ABS became the exclusive distributor of Moretto products for the United States and Canada.

Then, in late 2014, Moretto opened its first U.S. operation, a 15,000-square-foot facility in Columbus, Ohio, to handle direct sales and service. It had a small staff, mainly Italians traveling to Ohio.

Two years ago, Moretto hired Flockerzi, an auxiliary equipment veteran, as well as another U.S. employee, and changed its approach.

"At that point, it was difficult because it was hard to come to the U.S. market not understanding the requirements of the U.S. market. And every global market has its differences. We started hiring Americans," he said.

By late 2016, Moretto USA had six direct employees and about 14 sales representatives.

Then in early 2017, facing growing sales and distribution, company officials began searching for a larger building. They looked at Columbus and Pittsburgh. They eventually found a 30,000-square-foot building on 17 acres in Jackson Center, a small town just off Interstate 79 and a few miles from I-80.

"That's because of our growth. Our other facility couldn't handle it, so we had to get a bigger facility," Flockerzi said.

The Jackson Center facility — including a separate paint booth next door — had been home to Imperial Systems, a fabricator of industrial dust collection equipment. Imperial was moving, and Moretto stuck a deal to buy it for $2.1 million before the plant was put on the market, Flockerzi said. Moretto moved from Columbus into Jackson Center in March of this year.

As of late August, Moretto USA has 13 full-time employees, four of which are service people, as well as 24 sales representatives. Some of the rep agencies also have direct service employees, and Moretto USA has hosted them for training at Jackson Center.

"They have been in the industry for 10 to 15 years, each of these first contractors. So they need to be brought up to speed with regards to our equipment," he said. "I've got talented people that understand the industry. Now they understand Moretto equipment."

Sales have grown to more $10 million. Flockerzi said Moretto USA sales should grow by about 20 percent this year.

Moretto SpA manufactures a broad product line of auxiliary equipment, including conveying systems, temperature controllers, dosing systems, dryers, blenders grinders and chillers. The company does machining and assembly in-house in Italy. Drying systems account for about 45 percent of sales.

Corporate sales this year should be about 70 million euros ($81 million) said Michela Carrer, chief marketing officer for Moretto SpA. The company employs 400 globally.

Flockerzi said Moretto USA is being methodical in what products it is bringing over and in building the operation with service support and sales. So far, the firm is focused on drying, gravimetric blending and conveying equipment, followed by heat transfer equipment of mold temperature controllers and chillers, he said. A new showroom in Jackson Center displays the equipment for customers and can also be used for training.

"We're trying to grow responsibly. We're trying not to let our customers down," Flockerzi said. "We make sure we tool up with, first of all, the service aspect of it."

Moretto's gravimetric blender has been "extremely well-accepted here in the states," he said. Moretto USA also has sold more than 20 of its Moisture Meters, which measures the moisture of pellets in real time as they come out of the drying hopper. Moretto introduced Moisture Meter at the 2015 Fakuma trade fair.

"The market acceptance has been great," Flockerzi said. "We've had tremendous success within the PET preform market segment. Also, the medical market. And it's been very well-received in some automotive as well. But the medical and packaging would be the two biggest market segments of purchasing that technology."

Medical molders can certify moisture content at the exact time parts were molded.

Moretto USA has signed up reps covering the Midwest and West Coast. Flockerzi said the company is still filling in the East Coast.

"It's coming together nicely. Now that the service side is on, I have qualified people that can help me out. Now the focus is on the front side of the business, getting more resources to help the generate quotations and things along those lines, so we can get the quotes responsibly and quickly. Being the new vendor, you don't want to be slow on the turnaround. You want to exceed the customer's expectations on quotes and things along those lines," he said.

In Columbus and for the last couple of years, Moretto did most of its business through complete systems, which were engineered in Italy. But now that U.S. distribution has grown solidly and Moretto is becoming more well-known here among processors, unit sales have doubled over last year, according to Flockerzi. System sales are solid, about the same as last year.

The Jackson Center facility has about $9 million in parts and equipment inventory, up from around $800,000 in Columbus. "We need to be able to satisfy customer needs quickly," Flockerzi said.

Moretto SpA and its president and owner, Renato Moretto, are devoting significant resources to the U.S. market, where Moretto is a new player.

"We have an inventory," he said. "So, our goal is a customer gives us an order, we can ship it out in one day or two days to the customer and have it in their hands. U.S. customers aren't going to wait 16 weeks for delivery of equipment. We've got to be able to support them with equipment that's at our fingertips to get out to our customers."

Flockerzi said Moretto USA continues to work with Italy on systems, but the Jackson Center facility has space to set up a small line, if needed.

For now, Moretto USA is concentrating on selling individual pieces of auxiliary equipment, shipped from Italy. But in early August, the parent company bought another 4 acres of wooded land in front of the Jackson Center building. "It gives us a great place if we want to grow and set up a first-class showroom and office complex; we can add it up there," he said.

Pennsylvania site also has land behind the building for future expansion. And the paint booth is ready to go to support any manufacturing down the road.

"Long term, the Morettos feel it's very important to grow here domestically. They made a huge investment with this building. A nice investment with the property. And then as far as a nice investment in the local economy bringing jobs to this area," Flockerzi said. "We'll continue to grow, and we'll see what the next step is."