Company history and values • Marchi Industriale S.p.A.

1873
1899
1910
1923
1970
1984
2004
2010
2013
2017

The story began in 1873

from an idea by Cavalier Ferruccio Marchi, fond of chemistry, who was able to see the possibility to use animal bones, at that time used by carpenters to obtain glue, to extrapolate a chemical product.He discovered that by treating animal bones with oil of vitriol, namely sulphuric acid, they could become monocalcium phosphates or superphosphates, excellent fertilizers.This is the history of a man who very bravely decided to challenge the perplexities of his townsmen of Pescia, and that alone, by investing his few belongings (the legend has it that he even sold his wife’s gold chain) started this enterprise.

The Marchi company was then officially born in 1873 in Pescia and for a long time, indeed starting from its origins, was nicknamed “La fabbrica dell’ossi” (The bone factory).Within a few years the business grew considerably and improved with the production of superphosphate, mineral, obtained through the treatment of phosphorites with sulphuric acid.
Given this strong growth, the factory of Pescia appears inadequate because of its geographical location, away from Livorno, where the materials needed to manage the entire production are landed, but it is important to keep in mind that this was the pilot plant that served as a model and guide for the future factories.

The Marano Veneziano Plant

In 1899 the factory of Marano Veneziano for the production of chemical fertilizers opened.
The choice of the geographical location is determined both by the ease of obtaining raw materials by rail and waterways, and by the proximity of large agricultural consumption areas. This factory has been an excellent example of industrial architecture since the end of the Nineteenth century. The plant and the geometry of the structure, tailored to the needs of a certain type of production, have undergone restructuring and significant adjustments, anyway respectful and in harmony with the original base plant.

In the factory in Marano the best technological knowledge of the time, enriched by the experience gained in the factory of Pescia, were used; thus, a plant for the production of sulphuric acid with the "lead chambers" system and a system for the production of superphosphate mineral was created.

The Ravi Cave

The real change came in 1910, when the family acquired the mine of Ravi, rich in deposits of pyrite, which, at that time was the essential raw material for the production of sulphuric acid. This choice, which allows obtaining sulphuric acid directly, would prove to be very successful and allowed the company to grow more and more.

The Livorno plant

In 1923 the factory of Livorno for the production of sulphuric acid and mineral superphosphate opened.
During the war the factories were destroyed, but the Marchi family rebuild them quickly.
Meanwhile Ferruccio’s children, Carlo and Giulio, join their father in the management of the company, giving it a more and more modern connotation, open to the specific requirements of the fertilizer market.

A new generation

In 1970 the factory of Pescia was closed and after two years, in 1972, the factory of Livorno was closed, too. Since that time, the Marchi’s chemical activity was concentrated in the factory of Marano.
From the late Seventies Carlo Marchi and Silvano Scarpelli have been managing the company, therefore taking up the challenge started by their great-great grandfather Ferruccio Marchi, and again put innovation research at the core of their projects of to create quality value.

Time for innovation

In 1984 Marchi, under the name of Marchi Industriale S.p.A., takes the configuration of holding and (initially) incorporates a number of companies in central and southern Italy, specialized in the transformation of chemicals according to their marketing.
Currently, the chemical activity of the Marchi Group is concentrated in the factory of Marano Veneziano, where two systems for the production of potassium sulphate and hydrochloric acid, a system for the production of sulphuric acid from elemental sulphur, obtained through catalytic process, a system for the production of LAS (sulphonic acid) and a bagging line of water soluble fertilizers have been built.

Only case in Italy, a system for the production of high-purity sulphuric acid: the reagent grade or analytical purity, is designed and implemented.
Four production lines of FLOMAR^®, the product used directly in the production process of the paper industry and as flocculant for water treatment and clarification are added to these systems.

2004: Essemar S.p.A.

In 2004, with the birth of Essemar S.p.A., the result of a joint venture with Esseco Group Srl, and aimed at the construction of a factory for the manufacturing and sale of sulphuric acid and oleum with a capacity of 150,000 t/year at the production site of San Martino di Trecate (Novara), Marchi Industriale takes a leading role in the domestic market of sulphuric acid.
A further diversification and important step in the Marchi Groups activity regards the development of a specific know-how for the manufacture of potassium sulphate.

Drawing on the experience gained over the years and in the perspective of creating innovation and better opportunities, Marchi Industriale has developed a technologically advanced industrial process for the manufacture of potassium sulphate. This know-how is used by both Marchi in its production site of Marano and by the engineering company Desmet Ballestra for the construction and sale of systems for third parties.
Today Marchi Industriale is a leader in Italy in the production of potassium sulphate.

2010: Marchi Energia S.r.l.

In 2010, the Group undertook a new initiative in the field of renewable energy with the incorporation of Marchi Energia Srl, appealing to the possibility to:

Transfer the technical and system know-how deriving from the main business in the renewable energies sector.
Invest in an opportunistic and fast way in the countries, where there are the most interesting rate conditions, owing to know-how, decision-making speed and availability of capitals to invest full equity, without getting into debts.

Marchi Energia S.r.l. operates as sub-holding company of renewable energy business.

2013: GM Green Methane

In 2013, within the objective of diversification and development of activities, GM Green Methane (GM) was born from the meeting between the Marchi Group and the Giammarco Vetrocoke Group. The company has developed its own technology for the purification of biogas to biomethane, process in which the removal of the carbon dioxide contained in the biogas is the main operation.

In the same year Marchi Finanziaria S.r.l. was born from the merging of Carlo Marchi e Gioia Falcks assets and it is the holding company of the Marchi family and the controlling shareholder of Marchi Industriale, with a 63.9398% participation.

The Elite Certification

On the 4th of May 2017 Marchi Industriale has achieved the Elite Certificate of Borsa Italiana.
Besides managing both the core business and the two related plants, one located in Marano Veneziano, the other in Trecate, the Group singled out a further important means of diversification and growth of activities in special fertilizers sector, where th newly-created Marchi Agro S,p,A, takes over the role of sub-holding of the agricolture division.

Today, Ferruccio Marchi is leading the group, joined by Filippo Marchi and Federico Marchi.
The operational centre of the Group is located in Florence, in one of the most charming areas of the city.

We want to leave to the next generations more than what we have received

Core values

Marchi family’s legacy is built and defined on the basis of two complementary precepts: managing assets to create value, leave to the next generation more than what you received.
And the same, two are key and essential points from which the Marchis start developing and building entrepreneurial projects: highest quality products, and utmost attention to workers’ health and safety and environmental protection.

These are the principles, never betrayed, which describe the operating ways of the Marchi family.
This approach tells the story of a Florentine family considering economy and austerity basic rules to be transmitted in education, the flaunting of wealth a weakness do not give in to.
All that is appearance lacking of content, all that is form without substance, does not concern them.
Honesty without shadows, Respect and Courage of their actions are the basis of a code of conduct that inspires the act of the Marchi family in both their personal life and in the guidance of the Family Businesses.

These are the Values that underpin the relationship of great openness and sensitivity that the Marchi family has always shared with its employees; in the past as in the present, solutions that meet employees’ needs have been activated, in order to create a relationship in which everyone, within the definition and the respect of their individual roles and individual positions, can feel that they belong to a major project under construction that could not exist without everybody’s work. This is why the company strongly believes in teamwork and consequently stimulates it. Decisions are never taken individually, but discussed and shared. Employees are involved in taking responsibility, as well as in the distribution of the results. Within this very lucid and clear vision of the Values to be respected, there is space for a mind open-mindednness that does not stop at conventions or more obvious decisions.

This nonconformist spirit has featured prominently Carlo Marchi’s personality, Chairman of Marchi since 1979, and has driven him to lead the company with great attention to flexibility and decision-making speed, in order to give concrete and timely responses to threats, seizing the opportunities as soon as they arose.

Carlo has been an entrepreneur who has “used” his solid roots to continue to build and innovate. He was an impatient man, Carlo Marchi, who believed in action and concreteness, in the rapid transition from theory to practice, in the measurement of entrepreneurial activity on the basis of concrete results. From the beginning he was supported in the leadership of the company by Silvano Scarpelli, whose contribution has been critical to the growth of the Marchi Group. Even with different characters and personalities, both recognized themselves in the same code of conduct: they believed in Honesty, in the broadest sense of the term, in Respect for the other people, in the value of Courage and in the importance of taking your own responsibilities. The same absolutely “concrete” point of view on the fundamental aspects of life led them to run the business for three decades in the name of these values and to determine its uninterrupted growth: net income for over 30 million EUR with a 18% average annual return with reference to employed means.

Carlo Marchi and his company’s strength is expressed in the awareness of being the core of a history that is knowledge handed down from generation to generation. It’s indeed the ability to use all the lessons offered by experience that allows you to look ahead to the future. Indeed in this perspective, in the Nineties Ferruccio Marchi and Massimo Scarpelli join the company to support their parents. They represent the new generation, the ideal custodians of traditional values and of knowledge and experience accumulated through five generations, a precious and rare “knowledge” that through their work continues to exist and to grow more and more.
And so the company has continued its path of growth and self-financing, that has brought it today to have an Consolidated Equity of over 37 million and a total independence from the banking system.

Products & SDS

Sulfuric Acid and Hydrochloric Acid for all the most important industrial uses, Potassium Sulphate for a more modern and efficient agriculture, Aluminum Polychloride for the most sophisticated purification and clarification operations.

Industry

Water treatment

Agriculture

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