Good things always come to an end. Today we are pleased to interview our most loyal colleague, who has been working at our side for 36 years. On April 30th he will retire and with him goes a piece of RIBO’s history: for this reason, we wanted to look back at the highlights of his working life here at RIBO.
Hello Amedeo! When did you start working for RIBO?
It was June 10, 1986. I still remember that day: I was 24 years old, freshly married and had just moved to a new city. I had worked for 7 years for a blacksmith in my hometown, Modena, who had taught me the trade of the welder. Then, after moving to Bologna, a friend of my wife’s introduced me to RIBO, which was then located just 100 meters from my house. I was hired as an assembly worker: that’s how my career here began.
What was RIBO like in its early days?
RIBO was founded in 1968: when I joined, the company had about 20 employees, since the beginning. It was a small, family-run company, which built industrial vacuum cleaners on an artisan level, rather than industrial. The owner, Leonardo Rizzi, was always there and got his hands dirty with us in the workshop: after all, he was the one who built the first vacuum cleaners in his garage in Villanova. At the time I was hired, RIBO was already well known in the industry: in the 1970s there weren’t many industrial vacuum cleaner companies, or perhaps they didn’t exist at all. In just a few years, RIBO filled the large gap in the market and soon became the leading company in the “Industrial Cleaning Equipment” sector (this was the company’s first name). In fact, RIBO produced not only industrial vacuum cleaners, but also floor washers, which soon became popular in hospitals, municipal offices, cafés and restaurants throughout Italy. RIBO vacuum cleaners were also well known in the field of oil boiler cleaning and in many other sectors.
How did you know it was the right place for you?
Well, does walking to work every day count? (laughs, ed.) Joking aside, I really liked the job and over the years I went from being a simple worker to Workshop Manager and then to Production Manager: I’ve come a long way! RIBO gave me confidence and I tried to repay it by always giving my best. Then, when RIBO was acquired by iVision Vacuum and moved to Cattolica, the new owner, Andrea Alessandrini, wanted me so badly that he helped me to move here temporarily for my last 3 years of work. This allowed me to keep all that I had built up during the years of my career in RIBO, giving me the possibility to face new challenges in a workplace where I could feel important and useful, teaching my job also to the new recruits. These new incentives have been a counterbalance to the distance from my family, who always sustained my choices and offered me support even from a distance.
How much has RIBO changed in over 50 years of history?
A lot and not at all, actually: I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true! Let me try to explain: over the years, RIBO has changed locations, employees, owners and so on. But the vacuum cleaners are more or less the same as they were 50 years ago. Meaning that they were designed in a truly innovative way: if even today, after so many years, someone is still looking for our products, it means that we have made a breach in people’s hearts. Every now and then, machines that were sold 35, 40 years ago are returned to the workshop and only need a little maintenance to get back to working perfectly: this means that RIBO vacuum cleaners have really guessed the recipe for success. Nowadays there is a lot of competition, but anyone looking for robustness and durability looks for RIBO products.
Can you tell us an anecdote that is particularly fixed in your mind?
There would be so many anecdotes to tell! (laughs, ed.) Once, the son of the then owner and I were at a cleaning trade show in Amsterdam, the Interclean. It was 2008, the year of RIBO’s 40th anniversary, and on the last day the trade show management brought us champagne to celebrate this great achievement. We didn’t expect it: we were really happy with this little celebration! After the celebrations, we buckled down and dismantled the stand to go home: strangely enough, we managed to do it in record time, so much that we were pleasantly surprised and congratulated each other! So we left and went back home. On Monday morning, I unloaded the truck from the exhibition and in the meantime a client ordered a vacuum cleaner that we had brought to the exhibition. I thought, happily “I already have this machine, the order has practically already been fulfilled”: I went to get it and pack it, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. In our haste, we had forgotten it in Holland! Moral: as the wise owner Leonardo Rizzi told us, “Hast makes waste“!
What about one of your own personal successes within the company?
I consider my own career within RIBO to be my greatest personal achievement. Having reached the position of Production Manager is a great personal and professional achievement for me! Also, the fact that the new management of RIBO wanted me to join them, valuing my years of experience within the company, made me feel important. Even the contact with some suppliers and customers is a source of great gratification for me: being identified as “the RIBO man” is incomparable!
What do you think RIBO vacuum cleaners have more than others?
Borrowing a well-known slogan from the jewelry industry, a RIBO is forever: as I was saying, the robustness and durability of RIBO vacuum cleaners is unmatched by any other product on the market. I have been to several exhibitions, even abroad, and I have never found products that could compete with RIBO vacuum cleaners in terms of quality. Just think that when we go to some companies for maintenance, the operators refer to our vacuum cleaners by calling them “the RIBOs“, not just “industrial vacuum cleaners”: this is an indication of how well known and appreciated the brand is among our customers.
How does it feel to work for the biggest industry-leading brands?
Visiting large and well-known industrial companies for maintenance is very gratifying. In 36 years of work at RIBO, I’ve had the opportunity to visit companies in every sector: from manufacturing to food, from automotive to pharmaceuticals, RIBO encompasses all of these categories and more. If I hadn’t done this job, I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to interface with the largest market-leading brands, even at an international level.
What is your best friend among RIBO vacuum cleaners?
Good question! I like all RIBO vacuum cleaners: from the smallest, the MICROSOF model, which I helped to design and build not without difficulty since its launch in 2000, to the largest model in configuration /CR with tipping body, which gives great satisfaction to assemble, given its majesty.
What will you bring along from these long years?
Definitely a lot of great memories that will come back to me when I’ll watch construction sites like all retirees do! I am really satisfied to have built a long career here at RIBO in a world where changing jobs every couple of years is the order of the day. Being with the same company for so long has been a plus for me – I probably wouldn’t have achieved these goals if I had changed company.
