Dear all,
now that this year is drawing to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts with you.
The term that best sums up these last two years is definitely “change”. Everything we were used to prior to 2020 has changed profoundly, some of our certainties have suddenly crumbled, and all of us have been forced to come to terms on a daily basis with a new, different situation that we haven’t been used to, a new normal with which we’ve been living for nearly two years with ever-changing fortunes. In this context, we’ve been able to adapt, we’ve been able to find solutions to challenges and daily difficulties, and we’ve been able to carry on the business successfully while always remaining at our customers’ side, and for all this, I thank you.
As mentioned, the changes have not only been external but most of all internal. Since CFT became part of the ATS group, we have begun a gradual process of integration that has involved each of you in your daily lives, a process that is certainly partly dictated by the need for harmonization with the group’s standards and procedures, but above all aimed at a cultural alignment that needs to take time but is fundamental to starting CFT’s new development within the ATS family.
In recent months, as you’ve been able to see, there have been several organizational changes, changes that we considered essential to reduce the distance with our customers, in order to provide more immediate and more qualified answers, and to try to solve problems more easily. Change means reflecting on the fact that there may be a better way of doing things, and we have to figure out every day how to improve so that we can maintain our competitive edge that has always been the hallmark of CFT! But changing the organization is not enough to find improvement, we need to ensure that every cog in the machine works properly in overall harmony, and I am convinced on this, that the application of ABM can make a fundamental contribution; beyond the specific tools, it is really a matter of applying common sense according to strict criteria, to identify problems or inefficiencies and then define short- and medium-term solutions. As with everything, it is a process of continuous improvement that will in turn bring about progress as experimentation proceeds, but of course success will depend on us alone!
From a business perspective, we are optimistically looking ahead: on the one hand, our Food & Beverage customers have planned different investments or are planning to increase production lines according to the logic of flexibility and energy efficiency; on the other hand, as you know, in recent years we’ve put an enormous effort into innovation on both Process and Packaging technologies, which is why we believe we’re in a privileged position to seize the opportunity, at a historic moment of general recovery of which the Food & Beverage sector is undoubtedly one of the protagonists.
With this, I truly believe that we’re on the “sunny side of the mountain”, so all that remains is to pool everyone’s energies into continuing to make the CFT project strong.
Best wishes for a Merry Christmas to all of you and your families!
Alessandro Merusi