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Bianchi has presented its plan to build a new, high-tech headquarters and production facility in Italy.
Chief executive officer Fabrizio Scalzotto presented the news alongside Juri Fabio Imeri, Mayor of Treviglio, yesterday, 9th December, at the company’s current headquarters in Via delle Battaglie.
The redevelopment project will lead to the creation of a new Bianchi main site and plant but will stay within the municipality of Treviglio. Rather than a mere change of address, Bianchi’s new headquarters will be instrumental to a strategic plan that will have a profound impact on the next phase of the company.
There is also an element of continuity, as Bianchi renews and strengthens its bond with the municipality. Bianchi opted to redevelop a historical industrial area, bringing with it a future promise of ‘activity, dynamism, and innovation’.
“Growing and developing companies is the challenge that fascinates me more than any other, and today we are embracing a new one: creating at Bianchi one of the most advanced bicycle manufacturing plants in the world,” said Salvatore Grimaldi, president and owner of Bianchi.
“We feel proud to have chosen Treviglio for this renewal and for our future. Treviglio will be home not only of a technological and designer factory, but of a leading, ambitious company with a global vision.”
Scalzotto added: “The new headquarters will be situated in the same area that currently hosts Bianchi in Treviglio, as part of a larger project of renewal that seeks to reaffirm the value of Made in Italy and the proud history associated with that phrase.
“The new Bianchi will extend over an area of 30,000 sqm, of which more than 17,000 will be dedicated to production. Key to Bianchi’s vision and strategy is the beginning of a re-shoring process, bringing back to Italy the technical and production capacities that had been outsourced outside of Europe in the previous decades.”
The plan marks a new phase for the company, aiming to acquire greater control over the production process to support the constant growth in demand on the bicycle and e-bike market in recent years, and particularly impressive during 2020, in spite of the well-documented struggles in the raw materials supply caused by the current global situation.
The production has a goal of 1,000 pieces per shift at full capacity. The production of carbon fibre frames in the new plant will begin in 2023.
The new headquarters and the increase in production capacity will also bring a significant upside to the territory, starting with valuable benefits to employment. At full capacity, the new site will employ more than 250 people among clerks, technical resources and production personnel.
For the first time, the new Bianchi venue will host a Bianchi Museum, which the company says is certain to attract significant interest from tourists, bike enthusiasts and followers of the cycling brand par excellence. An important opportunity for Treviglio and its territory, as stressed by Mayor Juri Fabio Imeri.
“Bianchi’s choice to remain and invest in Treviglio is a great opportunity for the area, because it strengthens the local turnover and level of employment, and further binds the name of a world-leading company to our city,” said Imeri. “We also like the idea of establishing an even stronger collaboration with the Bianchi Museum, which has the potential to attract thousands of people to our territory.”
“The added value of this operation, however, is certainly related to the choice of the urban regeneration path. With this investment, the headquarters will be completely regenerated, without soil consumption and reducing the environmental impact nearly to zero. That’s a meritorious and far-sighted choice, consistent with Bianchi’s glorious history.”
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The overall investment for the urban redevelopment project and creation of the new production plant is over €40 million. The work in the new area was started in November.
