Innovation is not just a word, it is an everyday philosophy for each components of this Group with a firmly established reputation in this area. “Of course it requires being wisely undertaken,” agrees Ferrari. “Innovation is first the concrete result of a good anticipation of consumer demand. And that’s precisely where the difficulty lies. How to nose out and properly conceptualize the underlying trends in the four corners of the world where tastes and colours are different? We must go beyond the simple material innovation. For a large part, psychology and culture come into play. We’re working on it.”
For the head of Intercos, “aside from market vision, what matters the most is the ability to anticipate and innovate but also increased responsibilities within the company as well as the industrial response.”
Constantly adapt to market changes!
An industrial response concretely translated today in the field, with among others, the actual commissioning of the Brazilian plant with a production surface of 10,000 sqm, dedicated to the manufacture of the whole product range (powders, lipsticks, emulsions etc.), but also with the doubling of the production area of the Group’s Chinese factory (+ 12 000 sqm).
“Industrial choices that also often mean making difficult decisions,” explains Ferrari, “but which are mostly driven by changes in demand. The latest example is the transfer of our pencil activity from Europe to Asia. Industrial strategies are not an exact and set science. Because the greatest asset of an industrialist remains his ability to quickly adapt to market changes. What was true yesterday may be less true today and totally different tomorrow. Today the market trend is prompting us to invest globally, including, for example, in the development and production of packagings, particularly in Asia.”
To be continued...
