Proud of the result in Serbia based on the constant attention to quality and industrial cost
A few years ago, Annino De Venezia, General Manager AUNDE, came with his family to Serbia for work. We talked with him about his life in Serbia, about what he misses of Italy, as well as his plans for the future.
You arrived in Serbia in 2015 with your wife and one year later your son was born in Belgrade. How different is life in Serbia respect in Italy?
— Italy is a big country and very famous for a wide variety of food. I am from South Italy and can say that food for me represents a “way of life”. I like almost everything. When we arrived in Serbia, we met an interesting culture of food mostly based on meat and vegetables. We adapted ourselves to the Serbian food, although we keep both our Italian and Russian traditions. My wife says to me we miss the southern typical cakes: cannoli, baba’, delicious, zeppole di San Giuseppe, struffoli, etc. I add that I miss also the “mozzarella di buffalo”, so-called “White Gold of South Italy”. But in Serbia, we found a wide spread of good food. We visited a lot of Monasteries of Orthodox tradition that opened our eyes to a very lovely place where we like to bring also some members of our families. Should I summarize I would say that Italy offers you in a few hours of “distance”: sea beach, mountains and lakes or wood places with a lot of things you cannot find in other Countries in Europe. Italy is a special Country and this is not because I am Italian. It is the nicest place in Europe. My Serbian friends who visited Italy are now in love with my country.
Why did the Aunde Group decide to invest in Serbia?
— The first reason was the big project we shared with FIAT: the 500L. We started by producing the covers of this car model in 2015. I was assisted by some Italian managers and technicians and after a very hard period of six months, I had the only chance to create a good team that now, after some changes, is the one that works day by day with me.
Are you satisfied with the results in Serbia so far?
— Firstly I am proud of the result based on the constant attention to the quality and industrial cost. Basically, any General Manager knows very well that is mandatory to have a good team of managers and technicians working with him. But is not enough. Any managers, included the General Manager, must remind all the time that the treasury of a Company is the Human Resources of white and blue collars. I repeat this concept to my staff to encourage them to work all together like a strong team because all of us have a common interest: the Company’s life. In less than three years we doubled the size of the facility in Jagodina and we hired about 750 employees. AUNDE SRB turnover jumped from about 6 million to 24 million euros last year. This is what AUNDE SRB represents: a strong manufacturing Plant in Central Serbia.
A new facility of the Italian factory Aunde, in which 370 people are employed, opened in May 2017. Are you planning new investments or hiring more workers?
— AUNDE is Worldwide Group, with more than 100 facilities around the World. AUNDE Group is one of the leaders in the Textile manufacturing field. We are ambitious and expect to have more projects in the future due to the very strong Italian R&D Department at our Italian Head Quarter. Italian team invents and proposes new textiles and new products to our Customers. The Serbian Plant is a manufacturing actor of the main scene. Any new automotive projects mean about 150 new people.