Founded in 2000 in Castel Maggiore (Bologna), E.C.O. (acronym for Ecologically Considerate Oils) Italia is a company highly specialised in the commercialisation of the latest generation of industrial lubricants that are technologically high-performance, have a low environmental impact, are cost-effective and perfectly consistent with companies’ decarbonisation strategies. Maria Lidia Mazzoni, President of E.C.O. Italia, and Enrico Coltelli, Sales Director, in this long interview talk about the future challenges that the company is called upon to face in an increasingly competitive market.
by Roberta Imbimbo
Dr Mazzoni, with what mission was E.C.O. Italia born?
Initially established under the name of AM2 OMNIA SERVIZI S.r.l. and with the aim of carrying out promotional activities for third parties in the industrial and automotive sectors, with a strong strategic vision, over time the company decided to penetrate new market segments, changing its corporate purpose and focusing its core business on the marketing of the latest generation of conventional lubricants and greases. The valuable partnership with the Swiss PANOLIN AG Group – a historic company that has been on the market since 1949 and boasts consolidated experience in the production of high-performance ecological lubricants (ECLs), today exported to more than 56 countries around the world – has proved to be truly strategic: for about 20 years, E.C.O. Italia has in fact been the exclusive importer and distributor in Italy and Malta of technologically high-performance, low environmental impact and cost-effective products that have allowed it to impose its leadership in the B2B market and to thicken its customer base year after year, mostly well-structured and environmentally-oriented companies in the offshore&marine, public transport, hydroelectric, renewable energy, multi-utility and OEM OEM sectors, which represent its main target market. E.C.O. Italia, which has always made corporate social and environmental responsibility its main ethical value, immediately began the process of implementing its quality system, managing to obtain the important ISO 9001:2000 quality certification in 2004 (testifying to the fact that it is a company capable of responding coherently and comprehensively to customer expectations), which was followed in 2017 by the equally valuable ISO 14001:2015 environmental certification. These are two very important certifications that have increased its brand reputation in its target market.
Dr. Coltelli, how important is the topic of environmental sustainability to you?
Very much! The change of name to E.C.O. Italia S.r.l., implemented as early as January 2008, unequivocally testifies to our corporate identity modelled on sustainable development and environmental protection. Thanks to the decision to harmonise economic growth objectives with green policies – thus combining innovation, productivity, competitiveness and respect for the environment – over the years we have succeeded in becoming an important reference point for the entire ecological industrial sector, an ever-expanding market to which an ever-increasing number of companies and institutions are turning, also and above all in light of the new environmental challenges that our society is facing. Thanks to extensive and continuous R&D investments and a highly qualified team, PANOLIN has succeeded in placing on the market environmentally friendly industrial lubricants (ECLs) – rigorously certified by third-party bodies to be biodegradable, non-toxic, non-bioaccumulative and made from renewable raw materials – which have a number of advantages: they lead to a real reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere; compared to traditional products, they are more efficient and durable; they do not change the operational approach of the company that chooses to incorporate these products into its industrial processes. E.C.O. Italia, as an exclusive commercial partner, is very committed to identifying strategic areas in which to market these ecological and biodegradable products, within a very dynamic market that has enormous untapped potential, especially now that PANOLIN has been incorporated into the British multinational Shell International, which operates in the petrochemical and energy sectors, and has around 94,000 employees in more than 70 countries.
In 2022 you founded another company: E.C.O Quality Project. Can you tell us about it?
Last year, together with a number of partners (Maria Lidia Mazzoni, Umberto Lodola, Aldo Meola and Mir-ko Fanelli), we started another important business project. E.C.O. Quality Project is a spin-off of the parent company that deals exclusively with environmental consulting and planning. Given the ever-increasing attention to the topic of environmental sustainability and the great propensity of companies to adopt sustainable development models according to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria, we thought it appropriate to found a charitable star-up that would support clients in the delicate phase of the ecological transition, guiding them in a precise and timely manner towards an increasingly green future.
EQP’s competencies also include offering inspection and certification services for products and services that meet the minimum environmental criteria (CAM) and the possibility of assessing the environmental impact of the production processes of companies that use our environmentally friendly lubricants, thanks to the latest generation of software developed in collaboration with the Engineering Group of the University of Bologna. This highly advanced technology aims to improve the work cycle in terms of sustainability, through the evaluation of a parameter, the car-bon footprint, which, better than any other variable, makes it possible to determine the environmental impact (in terms of CO2) that industrial processes have on climate change.
So many goals have been achieved in so many years of activity. Future goals?
To continue to grow by penetrating more and more significant market shares over the next 10 years (to date, we have recorded constant growth of 25% every year, even during periods of crisis and recession), always with the maximisation of customer satisfaction and environmental protection at heart!
