Zampieri (Maritan Glass): "The challenge is managing complex orders."

Maritan Glass has been active in glass processing since 1975 and today, alongside its traditional sectors, it has a consolidated presence in yachts and superyachts, which account for approximately 50% of its turnover. In recent years, the company has worked to increase the sizes it can process and, above all, strengthen its technical service: managing complex orders, preventing critical issues on site, reducing thicknesses, and focusing on energy performance are the main areas of development. SUPER YACHT 24 interviewed Massimo Zampieri, sales manager at Maritan Glass, to explore strategies and prospects in the segment.

What are the main developments of Maritan today?
The challenge is to enter new markets. Maritan already operates in the luxury furniture, shop fitting, and industrial sectors, and now we're shifting part of our production to the automotive and special road sectors. We're expanding our staff and production space with the construction of a new 4.000-square-meter warehouse. We're also integrating an IRP order management system connected to an ESM, which will help us track orders more precisely and timely. This is a large-scale enterprise's commitment to providing better customer service.

Can you give some numbers about the company?
"We're 40 people, with a turnover of €6 million, and it's constantly growing because in recent years the company has tripled both its turnover and its workforce. Over the last five or six years, we've seen significant and exponential growth."

How much is boating worth in your business today?
"Currently, the nautical sector accounts for about 50% of our turnover, and last year it peaked due to several factors, including the fact that we started working with superyachts. With a turnover of €6 million, when you take on three or four large yachts, it's normal for the turnover to shift toward the nautical sector. But we want to keep all sectors clearly separate for market reasons, because the nautical sector has a volatile trend, with major peaks and troughs. This choice protects the company and, above all, our customers."

When did you decide to enter the superyacht segment?
"We decided to make the leap when data for the under-24-meter sector indicated a potential downturn. The company was structured to also make large boats because the systems are the same; the real difference is the service, and we're focusing heavily on that."

What does focusing on service mean?
"We've implemented the technical office and the tools we provide to manage orders and perform onboard surveys. We've set up a supply chain that starts with consulting the shipyard on how to make certain glass to achieve certain performance levels, continues through production, and ends with assembly. This is a process we've built quickly, but it's not something we can take for granted."

How do you distinguish yourself in the superyacht segment?
“Quality has now reached very high levels and is fairly similar for everyone. What makes the difference is service, responsiveness, and above all, the prevention of potential problems in the development of an order.”

You worked on the M/Y Tankoa Diamond Binta, what can you tell us about it?
"It was a success, a project that demonstrated our reliability as a supplier, and as I mentioned before, our ability to prevent problems and respond quickly in times of difficulty, which can always arise. The construction site is a complex environment, managed by many people, and getting them to 'talk' to try to avoid problems was appreciated. It's a demanding site with a maniacal focus on quality and deadlines, and the fact that we met them without difficulty was a very positive test for Maritan."

What were the most relevant technical aspects?
"The yacht has very large windows and a fully glazed swimming pool with very thick and resistant panes, making for complex glass. Over the last three or four years, we've expanded our facilities to supply increasingly larger glass sizes, and today we have bending furnaces that measure up to six meters by three meters."

How are customer demands changing?
"Glass plays an increasingly important role in large vessels. Size matters, but so does performance, such as infrared filtering to prevent cabin overheating and reduce the energy needed to cool them. We're also working on defogging glass in the wheelhouse using automotive technology, on thermal performance through double glazing and special coatings, and on weight reduction through the use of structural interlayers and treatments such as chemical and thermal tempering."

Are you also working on reducing the thickness?
"We use chemical tempering to reduce thickness, but we also work extensively with thermal tempering to improve strength and use thinner glass. Thermal tempering also allows us to treat glass with coatings that cannot be chemically tempered."

What challenges does the marine environment add?
"It's very aggressive; glass is subjected to salinity, torsion, mechanical stress, and high temperatures under the sun. We work on plastics to make them less hydroscopic, on paints to make them more durable, and on sealants best suited to different applications. We have an in-house laboratory where we perform humidity, salinity, adhesion, and other tests necessary to obtain reliable, repeatable, and verifiable data."

Do you also work in refit?
"Yes, it's an important sector that provides continuity and that we believe will never die. We try not to simply replace existing glass but to provide added value in terms of performance thanks to laminates with infrared filters, double glazing with better coatings, and noise-absorbing solutions to make the environment more comfortable."

What are your main markets today?
“I would say Europe, with a strong presence in Italy and growth in Germany, Spain, and France.”

How does Italian industry position itself in relation to international competition?
“We are still at the top in terms of quality, technology, and service, with a very marked attention to detail and technology.”

Does the market reward technical quality or price?
“In the long run, quality always pays, especially the quality of service, because evaluating a job solely on price means ignoring the problems that may arise during and after the work.”

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