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ITALIAN VENDING MACHINES
Rome - (Ign) - The first impression is that you are faced with a paradox: the origin of one of the industrial sectors which sees Italy in a position of the European leader and an international benchmark of quality, that of automatic vending machines for food and beverages, is entirely American, namely Coca-Cola. The story of this industrial sector, which today accounts for over 400 manufacturers of machines and components, for a share of the European market of almost 40%, in fact began straight after the Second World War, when the American colossus landed in Italy and built its first production facilities. The soft drink had an enormous success, and in the early 1950s also became popular at the workplace. In fact, in 1953 the first 10 machines for the automatic distribution of beverages were in fact imported from the United States, and installed in buildings where hundreds of employees worked. But the transport of those clumsy and heavy machines, from one shore of the Atlantic to the other was not cost-effective. A small entrepreneur from Lombardy, Goffredo Tremolada, rose to this opportunity, establishing Saer spa, the first Italian manufacturer of automatic vending machines, and the originator of an entire generation of companies, which, over a decade, first managed to consolidate their position on the domestic market, then in Europe and lastly on a world scale.
But the challenge was to go further, to move on from simple machines, for the distribution of bottled beverages, to those able to offer the Italian national drink: hot steaming coffee. The challenge was taken up by Bianchi, the historic and glorious bicycle manufacturer, who realised the opportunities offered by drastic diversification and launched themselves into the adventure, building the first coffee vending machines in 1962. They were immediately followed by Ernesto Valente, the founder and owner of Faema, the largest manufacturer of espresso coffee machines, who in 1963 launched a whole range of machines for the automatic distribution of hot drinks. After another five years Italians started to affirm their presence on a European scale, with the launch by Faema of increasingly sophisticated models able to ensure increased quality of the drinks and with the foundation in Schio, in Veneto, of Fas, the first European company manufacturing machines for the automatic distribution of snacks.
In the 1970s, Zanussi from Pordenone came onto the market, further extending the national market and expanding onto the international scene, until it became for a long time the leading European producer in the sector. Then, in 1978, there was the first edition of MIDA, the first international fair dedicated entirely to the sector, and Confida (www.confida.com) was set up, the Federation of companies operating in the sector. Lastly, there was the arrival of electronics which, from the mid-1980s onwards made possible an evolution of machinery comparable only to that which during the same period completely transformed the car market: multiple choices, dosage of ingredients, automatic coffee grinding systems, automatic accounting for payments made, and even the drawing up of pro forma tax receipts. The last step was prepaid cards, payment keys, and new machines for small-scale users by Lavazza, the large international coffee brand, and Saeco.
Today, with an overall turnover of over €1 billion, the Italian industry of automatic vending machines for beverages and snacks is a production reality of international significance, with over 70,000 machines made in 2004 and international penetration in continuous development.
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