RI: Could you explain when/who Hitema International was created?
Maurizio Burba: Hitema International has been created over 32 years ago from my father, Mr. Ives Burba, a person with great knowledge and experience of the HVAC and Refrigeration products and market.
A person committed to work with method and with a mental attitude capable of "create", build and always innovate, with over 50 years of experience in the Industrial Refrigeration Application.
During the year 2020 we have celebrated an important milestone for Hitema: the 30th years anniversary and we are so grateful for the current market response to our products and our Brand.
RI: Please share the general data of Hitema: 2021 Turnover, employees, countries (or continents) involved in production and sales.
Maurizio Burba: We are glad to say that Hitema International is still growing – both in facilities and in people (despite the current pandemic situation).
We have just completed the construction of the last manufacturing plant, the 7th for us, with a total of more than 19.000 sqm of indoor space. We are now hiring new staff - we strongly believe in the importance of investing in young people, young minds capable of creating and thinking “out of the box”.
We are grateful for the result achieved in 2021, which are the result of a great collaboration of our Team and our Partners.
It is very important for us to point out that during the years 2021 and 2022 Hitema International has invested over 30% of the turnover to improve its products and services. We sell our products on all continents, all over the world. We have recently expanded into Australia and New Zealand as well, and we are very proud of this important new achievement.
RI: Sounds great :) . Please explain, why you should choose Hitema International?
Maurizio Burba: In my opinion there are three keywords/concept able to describe Hitema International.
The first keyword able to describe Hitema International is without any doubt the word CUSTOMIZATION.
We are able to offer to our customers a complete range of possibilities of customization, starting from the mainframe of the machines, to the color, the refrigerant, as well as all the special requirements upon customers/projects demands.
We are a complete industrial reality, with a new renewed carpentry and laser machine department, made up of people and machines with very different skills and knowledge, but always interconnected, able to quickly change the production and to increase the customization of semi-finished products using onboard the Hitema® machines.
The second keyword able to describe Hitema International is TRUST.
Hitema International is really a trusted Partner for its customers. We have started our business as a small familiar reality more than 32 years ago, we have maintained a working approach based on trust and solid relationship with our Partners and on the reliability and high quality of our products. Our new Spare Parts and After Sales department offer a continuous support to the customers representing a real point of reference.
This department manages the after-sales & spare parts service for all the units: every single request received by the Hitema International Team is recorded in a "Diary". It is associated with all the data of the machine but also the specific codes of the spare parts requested.
The function of the "Service Recovery" is that to record and catalog all the reports of problems and malfunctions received from our customers. The reports are managed through a procedure interconnected with the company management system: In this way our company has a real "thermometer" that constantly measures customer satisfaction.
The third concept able to describe Hitema International is CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.
This is really the key concept of Hitema International work philosophy. Continuous improvement allows us to always have a future-oriented approach, and to always give a better service to our customers.
RI: How important is innovation technology in your company?
Maurizio Burba: Innovation is essential for us. It is the key that allow us to play an important role in the market and that differentiates our Company from other market proposals. As I told you before, during the years 2021 and 2022, Hitema has invested over 30% of the turnover to improve its products and services for customers more and more.
RI: How sustainable are the solutions you propose and how much attention you pay to the environmental sustainability of your industrial proposal?
Maurizio Burba: This is another fundamental point for us: the sustainability and eco-friendly design of our products. I’m a father before I’m a business man. I feel the responsibility of my behavior towards future generations. I strongly believe that the vision of a sustainable development is the right choice, respecting future generations.
It is with this approach, and also considering the market demand and the new standards in force, that Hitema has expanded its Chiller portfolio with new Series, not only using eco-friendly refrigerants like HFO R1234ze, HFC with low GWP like R513A, R32, R454B, R449A and the natural fluid PROPANE (R290), but also developing the new TURBOCOR Series.
Environmental sustainability and high energy efficiency, are the main goals achieved by our technical department during the development of our products, in compliance with new regulations and with ethics towards the environment and the next generations.
RI: In your opinion, what are the most interesting trends for the next two years?
Maurizio Burba: Considering the pandemic, which has had during last year and is having now a strong impact globally, I believe there will be an even stronger advance towards low environmental impact and eco-sustainable solutions. Our new DTS Series look at this, green refrigerant (R1234ze) low GWP refrigerant (R513A), optimized freecooling, compact units and EC fans with high efficiency are the key to follow this trend.
Focused on Datacenter application, this series not only look at the customer’s needs, but also give importance to reduce manufacturer costs of production and give the opportunity to provide reliable solutions on this big and growing market!
We have all understood the importance of a sustainable development and we are ready to support our customers with this new challenge as well. We are already able to provide these solutions, with dedicated customized production, for our projects.
In addition, we are now developing new standard Series of Chillers with configuration and refrigerant specifically designed for low environmental impact solutions.
RI: What are the most important events of the year in which normally you need to participate? (fair, openhouse, meeting, conference, other)
Maurizio Burba: Like everyone else, due to the last years of global pandemic, we have had to cancel the participation in the exhibitions last year. We are really glad to finally attend this year to Chillventa exhibition in Nuremberg - Germany. We cannot wait to meet once again our Partners, Dealers and customers face to face again.
However, also during the hardest pandemic time, we have continued to have an ongoing relationship - face to face - with our customers and partners thanks to the communication tools now available.
We organize weekly video meetings with our Dealers – using this tools we maintain an active relationship, we introduce the news of our products, we provide support when needed and we train new staff on our products.
It is very important for us to be constantly present to support our Partners. It is essential to achieve the goals together!
Ri: Thank you so much for your time and interesting interview!