Enrico Scalzi, Fortaco Sales Manager in Holíč, Slovakia, sees gelato as a metaphor for flexibility and professionalism.
Gelato, the frozen dessert of Italian origin, is generally made with a base of a few percent milk and sugar, its density setting it apart from other ice creams. But despite gelato’s basic characteristics, it is different wherever you go in the world.
“Gelato is sold everywhere, from Italy to Germany to Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Colombia,” says Enrico Scalzi, Sales Manager at Fortaco in Holíč, Slovakia. “European gelato is different from Russian gelato or Japanese gelato. There are different grades of sweetness. What’s good for one country, isn’t necessarily good for another. Even among single countries gelato can change from north to south.”
Scalzi spent four years traveling the world as a gelato machine salesman. If gelato taught him anything, it’s that you have to listen to the customer and craft a solution to their particular taste.
The highest professional level
Work isn’t so different at Fortaco in Holíč, Slovakia, where the company produces vehicle cabins for the mining, forestry, and container handling industries. Holíč’s production is oriented toward flexibility, the ability to make what each client wants and produce large-scale production runs. “We can change frames, add doors, whatever the customer requires,” says Scalzi, who says a good example is the NCEA Cabin developed for the customer Hyster-Yale. Fortaco Holíč was involved in all project stages, from the initial sketch and design phase to the current series production. The new cabin was presented at the beginning of 2020, receiving very good feedback from end users on the market.
“What I’ve learned is that every situation is part of a continual learning process,” says Scalzi. “Our customers, suppliers, and partners are true professionals who can teach us. Our customers have been in the business thirty years. You can’t approach the business thinking you’ll teach customers something. Instead, you have to support them in what they want to do, and help them make things even better. Our objective is to deliver at the highest professional level.”
Scalzi’s target is for the Holíč facility to broaden its sector scope to serve customers in agriculture and construction. Geographically, he sees opportunities in Italy, Germany and France. “We have cross-sector experience. We’ve developed from scratch a variety of cabins working closely with our customers. We’ve got a highly trained labor force in welding and assembly, plus skilled engineers. And the Fortaco Group behind us gives us the stability to take projects without the risk that they’re too small or too big.”
Straddling two cultures
Scalzi studied economics at university, with a focus on planned economies transitioning to market economies. His course of study seems to reflect his personal history. The son of an Italian father and Slovak mother, he was raised in Italy, but spent summers with his mother’s family in the 1980s in then Czechoslovakia. Raised straddling the two cultures, he eventually entered graduate school to study diplomacy. “I learned conflict resolution and studied the differences in cultures,” he says, “all the things you need in business.”
Before he found his way to Fortaco, the cultural-straddling diplomat gained experience selling gelato machines. “It was a product that made people smile,” he says. “When it was minus 18 degrees outside in Kazakhstan I saw people in malls consuming gelato, which is served at minus 12. We used to joke that gelato is served hot in Kazakhstan.”
