Team Italia presented the customizable I-Bridge dashboards

Livorno - Team Italia is one of four global companies—three of which are European—that manufacture integrated helm stations for pleasure boats. Founded in 2000 by current CEO Massimo Minnella and Technical Director Daniele Ceccanti, the company's name perfectly represents its reputation: it manufactures a certified Made in Italy product that currently accounts for 45-46% of global production.

During the press conference organised by the company to present the latest works and future projects, the starting point was the numbers: 500 projects (i.e. "boats delivered" – underlines Minnella) in 20 years of activity, of which more than 300 concerned integrated dashboards on boats from 35 to 100 metres.

Minnella and Ceccanti have known each other for many years and both have a background in commercial shipping. They knew exactly how to approach a vessel project when they founded Team Italia in 2000. Five years later, they expanded their horizons with Onix Marine Automation, a monitoring company, and today their clients include the most prestigious names in the pleasure boating industry. The company supplies them with I-Bridge dashboards: unique, advanced devices that integrate and control the numerous essential onboard systems (which retain their original warranty), improving ease of use and responsiveness to enhance the vessel's safety while underway.

"Our dashboard manages all communications, control, the engine room, the Team Italia automation department, and recently," Minella explains, "even the propulsion system: through a partnership with MTU Rolls Royce, we're developing the engine monitoring and management part, with direct contact between our team and their R&D department to create a dedicated product. We also develop products for them that they install in their new control units."

Everything we integrate comes from a direct interface with the company, and the product is always shared with the manufacturer itself – the company specifies – but what are the fundamental elements of a dashboard? “First and foremost, there's the ergonomics of the top for the best availability of all functions to the operator. Then, the engineering underneath is crucial for the proper functioning of the systems: there's a specific criterion that takes into account interference, space, and temperatures.” There's also a dedicated design division, “but only to establish an effective relationship with the client's appointed designer, who then takes care of the various adjustments and modifications, essentially the right “decor” for the vessel. The strength of our system lies precisely in its being completely customizable and flexible. As a standard, we only include our system architecture: distributed electronics that allow the client to choose the shapes they prefer,” continues the CEO.

Approximately 60-65 different dashboard models have been created to date to provide inspiration to Team Italia customers. The company also offers a remote diagnostic service, specifically requested by the vessel's captain, allowing Team Italia technicians to operate with complete transparency within a security system.

"Team Italia achieves a third level of redundancy in terms of security, and its architecture is designed so that if some interfaces are lost, only one system is lost; however, our structure includes one primary system and two (or three) secondary ones. The redundancy is therefore maximum, and far exceeds that required for automation," confirms Daniele Ceccanti.

Innovation is Team Italia's must-have, and it's supported by engineering and technical support: "For us, the customer is a partner. Thanks to them, we improve the product step by step. The relationship is ongoing and creates an interaction made of contacts, ideas, and proposals that drives the entire system forward and forward," explain the two leaders.

The company's reference list includes names from the large pleasure boating industry, including Benetti, Ferretti, CRN, Sanlorenzo, Tecnomar, and Tecnomar for Lamborghini. In terms of numbers, 18 projects were delivered in 2021, with 26 planned for completion by 2022.

Looking ahead, the company's implementations will include new hardware and software platforms for rapid response, a new HMI to simplify the use of Nav-Com systems, a new development in collaboration with MTU for integration, deep monitoring of propulsion systems, and the implementation of 3D graphics and a HUD. But Team Italia's plans also include more: "We feel ready, both in terms of structure and mentality, to enter the international market," says CEO Minnella, "and for this reason, we are developing a series of strategies to address this initiative and ensure we can offer and deliver the level of services we enjoy in Italy."

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