By providing tailor-made motors for a wide range of markets, Electro-Parts is demonstrating the flexibility to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Electro-Parts was born in 1983, founded by its current CEO’s father. He started out in the development of electrical motors, before deciding to take the knowledge and experience he had acquired in that sector to go into business for himself.

“We were producing electrical DC motors for automotive manufacturing in electrical components such as power windows,” explains Marco Falcone, Electro-Parts’ CEO today. “Then step by step we grew, starting as a very small company and growing to achieve a 52-million-euro turnover, producing 9 million motors every year. Today we are producing not only DC motors but also brushless motors and gear motors.”

Electro-Parts is based near the small community of Bossolasco in the Northwest of Italy, but in 2008 the company also expanded to a production facility in Romania.

“Our main office is in Bossolasco where we employ 200 people, and we have research and development, production, plastic injection, and testing. I call that the brain of the company,” Falcone tells us. “In Romania, we have an operation that produces and assembles motors, and we employ around 80 people. We are specialised. We produce a motor for HVAC models for the acclimatisation of cars. We produce models for automatic and manual transition shifts for cars, and we produce a motor for the roof of the car and its power windows. We also have motors for home and office applications, hospital applications and industrial applications such as opening and closing gates.”

Electro-Parts develops its products in-house, producing tailor-made, bespoke motors for a wide range of applications. These motors are developed precisely to the specifications of the customer. This does not just mean Electro-Parts assembles the motor. The company is also responsible for designing and manufacturing many of the individual components of the motor.

“Internally we have our own plastic injection moulding capability because the plastic parts are very important to the functioning of the motor,” Falcone says. “We have invested a lot in the plastic injection machinery, and also have a department for designing mechanical parts where we build the samples and everything mechanical necessary for our applications.”

The Age of Motors

Electro-Parts has always operated in a highly competitive environment, but as demand for its products is exploding, the competition for that new business is only growing as well.

“Historically there has always been competition in this market, and now it’s clear the electric motor is considered an essential commodity and so competition is even higher,” Falcone tells us. “It is not easy to compete with large global producers, but we have invested a lot in our technology. We are a producer that can offer specified models for applications, not standard or catalogue models. We offer tailor-made motors. We want to develop motors to spec for our customers, and that sets us apart from the competition.”

While the competition is fierce, Electro-Parts’ unique talent pool and capabilities mean it can help customers solve specific problems, making them an intriguing prospect for potential customers.

“We offer European quality while remaining as economical as manufacturers from China and Southeast Asia,” Falcone points out.

It is clear from talking with Falcone that he views this as an incredibly exciting time for the industry, both within Electro-Parts’ sector and the automotive industry as a whole.

“It is a sparkling moment for the electric motor,” he says. “With the electric transition in the automotive sector and other applications turning up all over the place there are a lot of opportunities for the electric motor. It is not easy to stay competitive, but there are a lot of opportunities, and so my point of view is that this is a good moment to be in the industry. We are in the right place for the right market, at the right time.”

Matching the Big Players

Electro-Parts was built on the foundation of Falcone’s father’s knowledge and experience, and Falcone has never forgotten the importance of good talent and a strong knowledge base to the future of the company. That is why it has been able to perform so competitively even against much larger companies.

“We invest a lot in human resources because we have a very small team of people here and we want employees who are involved in our business, in our story,” Falcone tells us. “We want people that work here because they believe in that story, and we give them the opportunity to work with a product that is currently undergoing an exciting alignment with the market. Our proposal to our employees is that if you compare Electro-Parts to its biggest competitors, we are small but we can still play at the same table. That makes this an exciting place to work.”

While there are many reasons to be excited about the way the sector is heading, Falcone is the first to acknowledge that the Covid pandemic has changed the way many people are doing business. Global supply chains are increasingly less the norm than well-supported local networks.

“Today it is clear that the world after the Covid pandemic has changed a lot,” Falcone says. “In the past products were produced in the Far East and shipped globally, but now the market wants to have specialists in each region of the world for easy access and reliability. We are not big, but we have an automotive mentality and the capacity and knowledge to invest in a higher standard of technology. There are a lot of opportunities with the return of potential customers to buying in Europe. As long as we continue to be flexible, I believe the future is bright.”