“We are among the global leaders for this kind of production,” says Franco Miglioli, managing director of TECNinox Srl and son of one of the founders. “Our customers include some of the top multinational corporations. We offer the latest technology for their production needs.”
TECNinox acts in a highly specific field, and it builds on its large and knowledgeable engineering department to deliver tailor-made production systems. “We have no standard production,” Mr. Miglioli points out. “Everything is customized and developed on request.”
At 65%, pharmaceuticals represent the core of the company’s business, followed by biotechnology with 20% and the remainder divided evenly between the food/beverage sector and electronics.
Within the last eight years, TECNinox has branched out into the production of water treatment systems for pharmaceutical and biotech firms. “We specialize in all industries that deal with formulas, for instance for vaccines, insulin or intravenous medication,” Mr. Miglioli explains. “Our customers came to us with a request for the development of systems that could treat water, which would then be used in the production of their medications.”
TECNinox stepped up to the challenge and with the assistance of its engineers and technicians develops systems for the production of pure water, pure steam to sterilize production equipment and water for injections for pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
“Initially we only sold the water machine generators in Italy,” the managing director recalls. “After completing development about three years ago, we started exporting our machines.” TECNinox even has a dedicated water division to carry on these developments.
TECNinox knows where its strengths lie. The majority of production occurs within the company, which keeps all the know-how internal, as well. “We have no external suppliers because that is coupled with a risk of losing control,” Mr. Miglioli promises.
Maintaining control is essential to the company, and that is the reason for the acquisition of other firms. “We have the entire supply chain under our control, from development and initial production to completion of the project,” the managing director says. “We can accompany customers from the first phase of development through to the end, and we cover absolutely everything that is required.”
Founded by Giovanni Miglioli and Vito Bocchi in 1979, TECNinox has always been destined for work in the pharmaceuticals field. “We invested heavily in R&D and the engineering of production equipment for this industry,” Mr. Miglioli says.
Today the company has 15 engineers in its technical department, which is dedicated to its two core fields of business: pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. TECNinox is an ISO 9001 certified company by DNV. TECNinox headquarters and its group have 160 employees and generate annual turnover between 42 and 45 million EUR.
The TECNinox Group consists of TECNinox Srl as the holding company, Ilinox Srl and Ilinox Hungary Kft, both for production, and ER Sistemi Srl for software development. The headquarters is located in Noceto, Parma. Ilinox and ER Sistemi are also based in Parma, while Ilinox Hungary is in Budapest. Ilinox specializes in the production of tanks and control boxes for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
TECNinox then assembles the products and combines them with the necessary elements to complete the systems. Three years ago, the production site was enlarged to a 6,500 m2 covered workshop with a surrounding area of 25,000 m2. This affords customers the opportunity to come to the site and test the equipment before it is delivered to its final destination.
Because the machines are custom built, testing is of benefit to the customer. Any possible problems can then be dealt with immediately. The company’s export rate stands at 70%, mostly in the EU and Eastern Europe: Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia.
“We also have a major order for the production of insulin from a multinational corporation,” Mr. Miglioli points out. Asia, in particular China, is a growth market for the company. “There is huge interest there regarding technology and engineering because they lack the experience and know-how,” the managing director explains. “Asia is an interesting market for us, and we have already had deliveries to India and Taiwan. We are currently on the lookout for partners in China to gain more presence there.”
In the coming years, TECNinox aims to expand its export activities within Asia and Europe. Beyond that, the company has a goal for the next two years. “We would like to get a foothold in the Middle East,” Mr. Miglioli reveals. “We have already had a few small deliveries there, but we want to build up a stronger presence and offer turnkey production equipment. Until now we have supplied preparation tanks, but we want to expand that to be a turnkey provider for that market.”