Vamag turns 40. The Italian company, specialised in the production of workshop equipment and for some years in the design and construction of multi-service centres, continues its expansion phase focusing on new technologies and professional skills. We talked about this to Gianfranco Crosta, Pgm of Vamag

President Crosta, 40 years is an important milestone. Are you satisfied with the work done so far?
“We are very proud, if I think about where we started 40 years ago, I can only be happy. From small distributors, we have moved on to manufacturers, contractors for important international groups, finally arriving today with our brand that works all over the world. Behind all this is a large family made up of people who put passion into what they do every day. Our goal is to create products that fully meet the needs of our customers. And to do that, we rely on what I call the "philosophy of why”.

Can you explain better what you mean by "philosophy of why”?
“Every time we think about a product to be made, the first question we ask ourselves is: why do we do it? To answer you with an example, it comes to my mind when in the 90s after producing the first CCD wheel aligners, technology allowed us to innovate production with 3D wheel aligners. Players stronger than us on the market, rode the wave and began the era of trimming with the front “cross”, the grips with the targets and no longer with the sensors. Vamag had all the technology available to ride that wave, but our “why” made us make different choices. We preferred to go out a few years later than the competition, to study a product that would help our customers use that technology in a different way, offering them equipment that was more efficient, faster, more precise and with less bulk".

This is what happened in the past. With the changes under way from a technological point of view, what future awaits Vamag?
“Multichannel or multiservice has now taken over and it is clear that our sector must also be organised differently. The need to increase the services to be offered in order to remain competitive is now known to all, but the difficulty of our customers in coping with this change is also known. I am convinced that the purchase of the equipment is the last of the problems and the costs that a self-repairer has to face and evaluate. By adding a bridge or tyre changer there will be no growth, but a more likely increase in fixed costs. Workshops must accelerate on aspects such as the ability to carry out commercial and marketing activities, a fundamental weapon to generate income, margins and strategies, and at the same time become multiservice centres where customers find all the assistance services they need”.

Can dynamic acceptance be a solution?
Dynamic Acceptance is a service that always arises from the usual question: why?
Workshops, as we said, need to expand the areas of intervention, but to do so they need to understand how they want to evolve and in how long. In order to do this, however, it is necessary to have a clear project that allows it to plan investments and build a growth path. Dynamic acceptance contributes to all this, as it allows you to change your working method, improving customer service. In fact, thanks to dynamic acceptance, self-repairers will be able to know better their customers, their numbers and their potential. This triggers a virtuous process that leads to investment in technological innovations, to improve one's image and professionalism".

One of your last activities is precisely to assist workshops to make them more competitive. What is it?
“Our work historically ended at the time of sale, beyond ensuring simple assistance on the trucks. Today, however, we can say that our work begins at the time of sale, because the self-repairer no longer buys from us an equipment or a product, but a project. In fact, we have been collaborating with workshops for some time not only in assistance and innovation but also in training. At the end of last year, we launched the “Vamag Academy” project which, in addition to being a technical training centre, provides self-repair entrepreneurs with digital tools and skills to improve organisational, managerial and commercial aspects".