At wire 2012, held in Düsseldorf, Germany this past March, on the occasion of the company’s 50th anniversary, Giovanni Cecchini-Manara, Commercial Director of OM Lesmo SpA, Lesmo (MI), Italy, made the following speech expressing his heartfelt thanks to the wire and cable industry.

“Fifty years makes a long life, actually longer than mine, and to be here today makes me very proud because we are the result of the efforts of so many good people before us. The good work of the people who came before us inside our company, and especially the very good partnerships and support that you our clients and partners have generously extended to us in so many ways through the years, are the fundamentals that make possible our presence here today.“Let me thank in particular all those clients who have repeatedly put their trust in our equipment, installing in their factories many machines along the years. I am thinking of clients everywhere in the world, on all of the five continents. We have enjoyed successful stories of partnership in South America, where we have so many good friends and we are historically a very well accepted brand; in southeast Asia, where for so many years we have had friends who not only purchased from us, but who also stimulated us to improve; in the Middle East and Africa, where we have been pushed to provide equipment with always higher specifications at a more reasonable price; in Russia and the neighboring countries, where we pride ourselves by blending in the local culture and habits; in North America, where we have established our second home; in Europe, our first home, where we have served the German speaking customers from our base in Stuttgart; and where in the Nordic Countries we have so many friends who have repeatedly given us their trust.

“If we are here today, it is because so many colleagues have made it possible, with hard work and excellent ideas. Our thanks go to all of them.

“In these 50 years, we have continuously developed new technology, pushing innovation everywhere. One example for all is the single bow used in our double twist machines, which now that the patent has expired is being used by many of our competitors. With such an idea, OM Lesmo has pioneered the now popular care for the environment, many years before the rest of the world.

“In recent years, we have gone through many difficulties, but we have overcome them all. We have seen many producers of machinery disappear, others become incorporated by bigger firms. We have decided to remain in Italy to do all of our manufacturing, and avoiding delocalization toward the east. It has been a decision made, based not only on logic, but also with our deep feelings. It has been a decision to continue to sustain our homeland, giving to our Italian subcontractors the chance to support us locally. It has been hard at times, we have felt alone in this at other times. But eventually it has proven a good decision, and we are proud of it.

“It is therefore with a lot of enthusiasm that today we celebrate our golden jubilee. It is not only an anniversary, it is a remarkable achievement that we have the duty to honor.

“Our work, together with all of you our partners, is not finished. It is our declared intention to continue on the same path, by further improving our efforts, modernizing and reorganizing with the most innovative techniques and always listening to our clients. We are well aware that we may know how to design and build our machinery, but it is our clients who use it every day, and we must listen to them to understand what and where to improve. “We are also strengthening more and more our after-sales service, because our business is not just to sell equipment; it is to stay with our clients along the life of the machinery. To do this, we have a plan to increase our local presence with more service centers near our customers, so that we can be more supportive.“After all, we are here to stay.“Again, we thank all of you for making this possible. Thank you!”

Also Celebrating an Industry Veteran

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of OM Lesmo was also the occasion to celebrate one of the longest-standing persons of our family: Silvio Oriani, who has been working for almost 30 years at Lesmo, and who before that worked for and additional 30 years as a Manager in a cable-making factory.

Altogether, Silvio Oriani’s expertise covers almost 60 years in the wire and cable industry. OM Lesmo is very thankful to Silvio, and the company expressed its gratitude with a special moment during the celebration.