PREMIER takes particularly care about the human factor of the company: behind every success there is always a close-knit team that works with passion to achieve a common goal, this is the thought that has always guided the choices of Paolo Facci, General Manager of PREMIER that today we host in this space.
This monthly event was created to highlight the protagonists of PREMIER, the people who contribute every day, with their knowledge and their personalities, to the growth of the company.
Tell us about yourself. How was your passion born? What is your role in the Premier and what are your main responsibilities?
I have exceeded 43 years of work but nothing has changed since the first day when a small mechanical subcontractor taught me to tap and then adjust ("file") a component for a textile loom. I was 15 and I was attending the secondary school. In the summer, however, few holidays but a job to help my family. Sense of belonging, obedience, commitment, responsibility: these are the pillars of my education. I grew up in a large family and my parents were very clear about the values that the children had to absorb.
Study, work, marriage with Paola, two children. In 1990, together with a commercial director, I was entrusted with the management of a company that produced diamond tools. I was only 32 but I didn't hesitate. It was my good chance to grow up. Challenges and responsibility have never scared me. But the real opportunity comes 5 years later. In the ceramic market, the use of diamond super-abrasives is introduced to polish porcelain stoneware. There is so much to invent and build. I am prepared for the management of a production company in all aspects, even the taste and the value of risk are not lacking in me: I married a girl, daughter of an entrepreneur, who has always lived and discussed business at home: products, customers, competitors, payments, normal issues for her ... ... but I am neither a technician nor a seller. I need the right people and I find them in Piergiorgio and Ruggero; This is how PREMIER was born in 1995, today a company well known both in Italy and abroad for the quality and innovation of diamond products for end-of-line ceramic processing.
In Premier, as a member of the Board of Directors, I carry out the functions of General Manager. The day starts at 8 and is full of activities: checking with Cristian (factory manager) of the progress of the production lines, checking the incoming sales orders, coordination with Commercial for quotations, reviews of conditions and new commercial strategies. And then the financial management and the control of the industrial cost, the negotiations with the suppliers of raw materials and strategic purchases, the management of the workers and collaborators.
I want to convey seriousness, dedication and safety, not only to the closest collaborators but also to the technical staff and production staff: they must be sure that I know everyone well, that I know their role, the difficulties they have reported to me, but, above all, that I respect them as people and as workers.
What has been the evolution of PREMIER over the years and how has it become the global company we know today and which generates more than 70% of its turnover abroad?
We were immediately aware that the product had to be developed in the great school of Sassuolo, the heart of the ceramic world, but the market had to be reached above all outside Italy: Spain first and then North and South America and the Far East.
We had great help with the close collaboration of a manufacturer of end-of-line plants who helped us introduce our product in many foreign markets.
But it was Piergiorgio who made PREMIER a real exporter.
Over time, we have created a commercial network that covers all areas of the world of greatest interest, but it was Piergiorgio's activity in the first 15 years: incessant and energy wasteful, which allowed us to become a global company.
Are there any particular moments in his life in PREMIER that have left their mark and that you would like to tell us?
There are many situations that I have imprinted in my mind in more than 25 years of activity in the Premier and that have allowed me to be sure that the role of the entrepreneur must also be a social one. I want to remember one episode in particular: a public authority, which helps disabled workers to integrate, offers us a training course for the introduction of a boy with Down syndrome. I am informed that normally he will stay at work about 2/3 years at the most, in consideration of the fact that this person, due to his disability, has to change activities within two to three years. We accept this boy. The new worker is well accepted by everyone, becomes attached to the company, colleagues and performs diligently his assignments. The insertion is so successful that it arouses great interest from the public authority, and they promote a television interview to tell about this positive experience. On the agreed day, the national Rai 3 cameras arrive, they record and interview the worker who perfectly expalins his duties and in telling his life inside the company. The program was broadcasted on RAI 3 in a Saturday afternoon broadcast dedicated to work. It's been 13 years and our dear Diego is accurate every morning at eight at his workplace, with the same passion ever.
Stop talking about work ... Do you have any hobbies and special interests? What do you like to do in your free time?
I was a sportsman and practiced sports at a competitive level, football in the Promotion championships, the student cross races, the 1,500 meters race on the track and tennis, but, the sport that I have never practiced but that has fascinated me for more than twenty years is Rugby. A set of values in the field such as discipline, respect, fairness, solidarity that all together are not present in any other sport.
I like jazz music, it leads me to explore new worlds with my mind, refined rhythms, engaging and pleasant sensations. And then, when possible, I travel to Italy and to European cities to visit art museums and taste local foods and wines.
Rugby, Jazz and cities of art are passions cultivated with Paola, the person with whom I shared all the choices, difficulties and successes of my family and professional life.
