(6 October 2016, Calderara di Reno, Italy) - The EVO project, which will be the Group's largest industrial site in Italy, has been presented at the Bonfiglioli Riduttori factory in Calderara di Reno.

The EVO plant will be located in the “Clementino Bonfiglioli” area, measuring 148,700 sq.m., in which, by 2018, the foundations of a modern factory will be laid. Including the current Calderara plant, when fully operational, the EVO plant will cover an area of 58,500 sq.m. with 56,000 sq.m. of green areas and forecourts.

The EVO project is part of a series of strategic initiatives aimed at consolidating and improving the market position of the company, already one of the largest manufacturers in the industry worldwide.

The company's growth is already clear to see, following the excellent results of 2015, with a turnover of 730 million euro. The company is aiming to achieve a sales target of 780 million this year, to fully confirm its leading position in a wide range of application fields.

The recent acquisition of the German company O&K Antriebstechnik GmbH and the expansion of the Forlì, Italy production plant have contributed to increasing the competitiveness of the Group as a whole, as part of the ongoing renewal and development of its production processes and product offering.

Once completed, EVO will have absorbed investments for 60 million euro overall, divided into the following areas: 30 million in new production technologies in line with Industry 4.0 best practices, and 30 million in infrastructures. This will make EVO the long term point of focus for Bonfiglioli's competitive growth strategy in the field of industrial processing and handling products.

When fully operational, the production lines will have a capacity of 800,000 units a year, and will employ 600 workers as a result of the integration of all industrial activities that are part of the Industrial Business Unit, currently split among Calderara di Reno, Sala Bolognese and Vignola, Italy plants.

Bonfiglioli Riduttori was established in Bologna sixty years ago, thanks to the extraordinary entrepreneurial capacity of its founder and its location in an area with unique industrial know-how. Its success has known no limits: efficient processes, product quality and human resources are, now as then, the keystones on which EVO will be built.

The project is founded on respect for the quality of life of the workforce, with a Barrierless Factory concept intended to integrate all areas of production and the social life of Calderara di Reno.

EVO is designed to satisfy the most recent energy efficiency standards, offering outstanding performance in terms of environmental impact: the site will be planted with 455 trees and 3000 sq.m. of roof gardens, and the expansion itself is designed to be zero energy. In other words, it will generate more energy than is required by all buildings, produced locally using renewable sources. Indeed, EVO will be powered by a 3 MW peak power photovoltaic plant, mounted not only on the buildings' roofs but also on the awnings of the staff car park.