History

It all started during the tomato season of 1945… And today we are still here, grown in numbers but with the same passion that gave us birth, a long time ago, in a small garage in the center of Parma.

1945
1957
70's
80's
1990-2000
2005-2006
2007
2011
2014-2016
2017
2018-2019
2020
2021

1945

The story began in 1945 from an idea of Camillo Catelli who started in a small factory producing machines for tomato processing industry.

1957

In 1957 the first evaporator was patented.

70’s

The 70’s were the years of big innovation and new products’ launch.
Vesuvio peeler, Califfo and Venus evaporators, uht Stematic long run and Olimpic sterilizers were only a few of great innovative new products.

80’s

In the 80’s innovation continued.

New ideas were developed and new products created, such as the enzymatic inactivator Eldorado.

1990-2000

The 90’s were the booming years for chinese tomato processing industry.

In the early 2000 the first Apollo evaporator was installed.

2005-2006

In 2005 Manzini and Comaco were acquired by Rossi & Catelli. In 2006, Rossi & Catelli became CFT (Catelli Food Technology).

2007

In 2007 Raytec Vision, company leader in the sorting technologies industry, became part of CFT Group.

2011

In 2011 SBC was acquired by CFT Group together with a significant know-how in the beverage sector.

The international expansion continued: two new commercial branches were established in india and Brazil.

2014-2016

In 2014 all Italian operational and commercial activities are concentrated in a single plant.

In 2015 we expanded our business including the Milk and Dairy, Product Treatment and End of Line sectors.

In 2016, the company Rolec Prozess und Brautechnk became part of CFT Group and we started to work together for the Brewing industry.

2017

The company Levati Food Tech, leader in batch retorts design and production, became part of CFT Group. In this year we also opened our second production plant in Ukraine.

2018-2019

2018 was a crucial year for us. We consolidated our leadership position in the field of End of Line solutions by acquiring the Spanish company PKS, also estabilishing the new subsidiary CFT Iberica.

In the same months, we went public entering the stock market, and acquired two Italian brands: COMAC, leader in kegging and bottling systems for the Brewing Industry and Milk Project, operating in the processed and spreadable cheese sector.

In 2019, we acquired the italian company SIAPI, which operates in the blow-molding market designing high quality technological solutions in PET, PP, PLA and other resins.

2020

The company CFT Robotics was founded to develop state-of-the-art robotics systems mainly for the End of Line sector.

2021

CFT Group became part of ATS – Automation Tooling Systems, an international group that provides industry-leading automation solutions for many of the world’s most successful companies.