First six months in office – his assessment of the current situation.
Omar Galbusera has now been in office for over six months as the new head of Mahlo Italia. Reason enough to ask how the first six months have gone for him and what has changed for him.
Omar, you didn’t just start at Mahlo, you have been with the company for a long time. What was your previous position at Mahlo?
I worked as a service technician at Mahlo Italia from 2017 to 2022 and during that time I was able to see many installations and get to know our Italian customers.
How was your start as successor to Michel Bruni, a well-known fixture in the industry?
Of course, it was a challenge for me to be the successor to Michel, a man with a lot of experience, great character, and great skills. The new tasks are demanding, there are a lot of new things to learn. But I do my best every day to achieve our goals. I very much appreciate the help of my colleagues in Saal, who give me information and advice whenever I need it. I can also count on the support of the entire Mahlo Italia team, a well-coordinated, experienced, and very willing group.
What is the biggest difference or change for you?
That’s not easy to answer, many things are different. Perhaps the biggest difference is that a service employee thinks and works differently. In the new job, you have to get to know the customers even better to always find the best solution. The people I deal with have also changed somewhat: While I used to work almost exclusively with the technical department, now I mainly have contact with the managing directors or owners of the companies.
Which projects have been the focus in the last six months?
I have restarted some projects and completed ongoing ones from my predecessor Michel Bruni. Thickly marked in the calendar was, of course, the ITMA show in Milan. For several reasons: with Italy as the host country, I had a lot of domestic customer visits, as expected. Moreover, it was my first ITMA ever. I had the opportunity to meet many people. That was very important for me, also to introduce myself to those who did not know that Mr Bruni is retired.
During ITMA I talked to our old, but also new customers about their needs and wishes. That is very important because that is the basis on which future projects have to be built.
What do you see as your biggest challenge in the coming years?
The global economic situation is not exactly friendly to us at the moment, and the general uncertainty in the markets is not helpful for our work. But I am positive and am quite sure that the market will grow again in the future. As a result of these changes, we all have to pay more and more attention to optimizing our production processes to avoid wasting raw materials and optimize energy consumption. These are exactly the advantages of our control and measurement systems, so Mahlo will play a key role here.
What is special about the Italian market?
The Italian market, even though it is small in absolute numbers compared to other markets, is in my opinion very important for Mahlo. In the past, many ideas for new solutions have come from Italy, which were then exported to other markets, for example, the Orthodox RFMB straightener.
This is because Italian customers, especially in the high fashion sector, to stay in the market and be competitive, are looking for ever higher quality standards.
This also spurs Mahlo to continuous development, which is the key to our success. The Italian market also requires a fast and competent technical service. This is one of our pillars and we must always guarantee this to customers who believe in Mahlo quality.
