Franco Stefani named Knight of Labour

Jun 27, 2005

27/06/05 - Franco Stefani was named Knight of Labour on 2 June by the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.
This important honour, the highest awarded by the Italian State for professional merit, is conferred every year on just 25 entrepreneurs who besides having distinguished themselves for their exemplary careers and achievements, must also have conducted an activity with important consequences in the social sphere and in particular for employment.

The in-focus section contains a short biography of Franco Stefani.stefani_2005.jpgFranco StefaniFranco Stefani

Born in Prignano sul Secchia (province of Modena) on 5 February 1945, Franco Stefani is married with two daughters.
He is chairman of System S.p.A, a Fiorano-based group with 17 production and service companies worldwide and more than 600 employees.
The Group is a leader in the industrial automation sector with its three divisions: Ceramics, Logistics ed Electronics.

Franco Stefani began his career in the ceramic industry at an early age, when at Ceramica Marazzi he experimented with the first electronic systems applied to automation.
At the age of just 21 he started up his first company, COEMSS (Costruzioni Elettromeccaniche Stefani Sassuolo). With the profits made by this enterprise, in March 1970 he decided to buy a factory in Fiorano.

This factory was the first facility of the company System, which began operating in 1971. System achieved worldwide success with Rotocolor, the ceramic decoration machine that revolutionised traditional techniques. Sustained by an unshakeable confidence in his ideas and an ability to look to the future, Franco Stefani succeeded in creating a company that is now a point of reference in the field of technology and research.

Over the years, Stefani’s work in assuring his company’s development and market success has been accompanied by growing efforts of an institutional nature. He was formerly on the board of the Unione Industriale di Modena and held the position of chairman of Acimac (Italian ceramic plant and machinery manufacturers’ association) from 2000 to 2004. In 2001 he received the “Innovation Award” from the International Academy of Ceramics and in 2002 an honorary degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in recognition of his contributions to technological innovation. In September 2003 he was appointed chairman of Unicredit Italiano’s local committee for Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Reggio Emilia.

At the age of 60, he launched himself with the same enthusiasm as ever into a new project called Lamina, the production process that aims to establish itself as the ceramic process benchmark for the third millennium.