We had the pleasure of interviewing Carlo Ferrero , Country Operations Manager and Operations Director in Europe for the Sofidel Group, a company born in Italy and world leader in tissue.
This interview is part of our series of interviews with members of Confindustria Ungheria, edited by Economia.hu. We invite you to read the previous interviews with the president of Confindustria Hungary Roberto Massucco (Massucco Industrie SpA) and vice presidents Giordano Riello, Alessandro Farina (ITL Group), and Omar Balducci (Lucart).
Could you briefly introduce yourself, mentioning your academic background?
My name is Carlo Ferrero, I am Country Operations Manager and Operations Director in Europe for Sofidel. I have been here in Hungary since 2016 when Sofidel came in after a take over of an existing company. In addition to Hungary, I am also in charge of Romania.
I come from a background that tends to be more technical. I graduated as a chemical expert and then over time earned a master’s degree in tissue and nonwoven manufacturing and converting. I later went on to graduate with a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in business administration.
Could you introduce us to the company you work for and your work as operations director?
Sofidel is a company that is over 50 years old. It began in 1966, founded by two families in Tuscany, the Stefani and Lazzareschi. Today we are present in eleven European countries and more or less spanning the entire area from north to south, east to west, and in seven different states in the United States. We are based in Porcari, in the province of Lucca.
Essentially we are manufacturers and converters of tissue paper and have a presence with our products in more than 59 countries around the world. Overall, the company had a turnover of 2,800 million euros last year and with, let’s say, a workforce of almost 6900. Over the past 13 years, the group has doubled its production capacity, both through greenfield investments and through acquisitions.
My role as Operations Director in Europe focuses on Hungary and Romania. In the past, when Sofidel had a presence in Turkey, this region was also among my areas of responsibility.
I have to facilitate the communication between Corporate and the Region, to harmonize the activity among departments and to guarantee the achievement of the common goals of the Group.
Can you tell us about your professional and personal relationships with Italy and Hungary?
Having to deal specifically with Hungary, specifically in Komárom-Esztergom County (on the border with Slovakia) and other countries, I have not had much time in recent years to develop personal and private relationships in the country.
At the same time, the network initially carried out with the Italian Chamber of Commerce, then with the Embassy, and lately also with Confindustria Ungheria has allowed me to establish relationships that go beyond just business. This kind of support (which in itself any entrepreneur could have by coming to Hungary) makes it easier to do business in managing different personal and work roles.
So mainly my relationships developed from a base of business, industrial, technical activity, but then, inevitably, aspects that went beyond purely professional activity also came into play.
What were the main challenges you faced in your career path and how did you overcome them?
Clearly life presents challenges every day so I will try to remember the main ones; all of them effective for my professional development, despite of the difficulties they presented.
The first was the privatization of Athens Paper Mill for which I was called as a consultant in a three-year project. In fact, Athens Paper Mill was born as a state-owned group: according to the old principles, with the concept of being totally independent.
To explain further, they were not only paper producers but they followed the whole fiber chain, so from forest growth to pulp production and processing first into semi-finished and then into finished product. In addition, they also produced the packaging materials. Globally, the company had more than 1,800 employees, and after restructuring moved down to 320 employees, only dedicated to tissue business.
The most important challenge was to limit social impact as much as possible. We managed, working with several local organizations, to sell some of the business to other sectors such as cardboard rather than polyethylene. Also through important training courses, we succeeded in recovering the workforce by preparing them for what in the meantime had become the new technologies of both manufacturing and converting of paper for domestic use.
The second was in Leuna, Germany at a plant then owned by Kartogroup (today Wepa Italia) where, between 2005 and 2007, I was called to recover production efficiency either in paper machine as well as in converting. In this project, majority of the changes affected the company management.
The last challenge I remember in terms of size and, again, difficulty, was the one in Romania. As soon as I joined that company, looking at the income statement, I recommended getting out of the offset paper business, when both the board and the banks believed it was the driving sector. It took some time to convince them but eventually with data in hand it went through, optimizing the company’s workforce and without losing employees by migrating them to another cooperative.
Would you have any advice for young people and those planning to invest in Hungary?
As far as advice to young people is concerned, I would like to emphasize that those entering the sector today are definitely an advantage, as everyone is now able to have a picture of the country even before moving in, thanks to an Italian System composed of the Embassy, Chamber of Commerce, Confindustria Hungary, ICE, SACE, and the Institute of Culture.
In addition to this I would say that by turning precisely to Confindustria Hungary, entrepreneurs can be addressed to reliable and professional consultants. In the past, one of the problems was precisely not knowing to whom refer, with the risk of wasting time and money. Today this is definitely a more contained, if not outdated, problem.
The other indication is to experience the local reality. When deciding to begin a career abroad, living life in the country must be a priority. Managing remotely does not at all give one the opportunity to have, especially at a startup, the necessary information. Above all, it does not allow for the responsiveness needed to be able to move the business forward and to be able to carry on the business effectively.
The third suggestion I would make, also taking into account the difficulty of finding specific profiles and especially the correct professional qualifications, is to begin to have relationships with schools. More precisely, have relationships with universities in order to carry on collaborations aimed both at making one’s company known, but at the same time also to invest in the future in order to be able to hire the employees of tomorrow.
And finally to be demanding of oneself. I always tell my Collaborators:
“When you think you have done a good job, never be too proud of it, think how you can do it better tomorrow.
Surely all jobs, all activities, can be done at least two different ways, and not always the one you choose is the best.
Could you tell us about Confindustria Ungheria?
We have just been born, so we definitely are still in the set up phase. But certainly, the people who are involved in this organization, which was formed just a year ago, are people who sacrifice their time, who know the country—most of them even better than I do. Keeping in mind that we are not Confindustria masters, we are totally open to receiving guidance, suggestions and whatever else.
How do you see the evolution of your work and the industry in which you work for the future as far as sustainability is concerned?
Certainly here there is a significant difference between Europe and the United States. Let’s focus on the old continent, Europe, because since last year the challenge arising from critical energy has been in the public eye.
Fortunately, Sofidel, as you can also appreciate from the group’s website, already in the late 2000s began to pay attention to all-round sustainability.
We invested a lot in terms of process improvement and types of energy used in technological innovation and use of electricity from renewable: to give you an idea, I remember that in Romania, initially, we had a water consumption that was on 15/16 versus the current 8 cubic meters per ton.
As a Group, we have collaborated with renewable energy producers aimed at allowing us a process of reducing emissions for example:
- In Italy we signed a 10-year agreement with RWE Renewables to supply wind power.
- In Sweden, with Meva Energy, we signed an agreement for the production of renewable gas from local woody biomass.
- In Spain, another 10-year agreement for renewable electricity supply with Acciona Energia.
- In Greece, we are talking about renewable energy in this case generated by photovoltaics and again through a 10-year agreement with RWE Renewables.
As for ONGs, the first agreement was with WWF and gradually over time, we constantly set new targets to reduce our emissions. Our 2030 CO2 reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as consistent with the reductions needed to limit global warming to well below 2 °C under the Paris agreements and call for a 40% reduction in scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 CO2 emissions – relating to its suppliers’ pulp production operations – compared to the base year 2018.
Another example is responsible pulp supply: we are now using certified cellulose fiber guaranteed by independent third parties (FSC®, FSC Controlled Wood, PEFC,) meaning that our sources of supply ensure the continuity of the natural cycle by respecting the development cycles of the various fibrous types, from broadleaf to coniferous. All of this is controlled by third-party certifiers and recognized worldwide.
Sustainability in recent years has become almost redundant, from newspapers to advertising— everyone is talking about it. Nonetheless, it is one thing to talk about it and it is another matter to carry it out over time. It represents a major commitment that inevitably has to be supported every day both inside the company and outside. This is the reason why we want to rely on sophisticated reporting methodologies and we are increasingly investing in ESG rating (such as CDP, Morning Sustainalytics, EcoVadis) that allow us to measure both the risks linked to the environmental, social and governance, and the impacts that the company generates on them, demonstrating in an objective, comparable and transparent manner the long-term benefits that we can offer to people and the planet.
How do you balance your professional success with your personal life and well-being?
I consider myself fortunate to have married my wife. She understood me even before saying the infamous “yes”.. We were not yet married and, right from the start, it was a matter of starting a venture in Abruzzo where a greenfield mill of Scott’s (later acquired by Kimberly Clark and today belonging to ICO) was to be established. Distance and the availability of remaining time to see each other were certainly constrained. Nevertheless, there was understanding, which still goes on today. Family and the foundational values of life must be put first. Next, knowing how to carve out personal spaces is important. I am a firm believer in healthy, physical activity because it allows one to start the day with a fresh mind. All this combined with a healthy diet.
