Plant Manager Pietro Mezzanotte’s words on the Baglioni plant in the U.S.
Plant Manager Pietro Mezzanotte’s words on the Baglioni plant in the U.S.
Peter Midnight is Baglioni’s U.S. plant manager: he joined the company in December 2021 with the goal of going to the U.S. to enrich his professional resume and get involved in a different reality, for just over 2 years he has been successfully managing the Morganton Pressure Vessels plant in North Carolina.
This is a factory specializing in the production of:
- pressure vessels
- vacuum vessels
- vessels for medical applications
- special pressure vessels – SPE
In this interview with Pietro Mezzanotte we learn more about the Baglioni plant in the U.S. and what distinguishes it from other plants located in Italy instead.
How was the career path realized first outside and then inside the Baglioni company?
“In my professional career I have been involved in a wide range of activities in themetalworking field, including. Six-Sigma and continuous improvement, becoming Black Belt and bringing, in the business environments I have been involved with, strategies that can drive the change needed to achieve business goals in the shortest possible time and with the least possible risk, reducing costs and improving business efficiency.
I have also worked in the field of logistics, earning the APICS certification , which is the universally recognized standard for demonstrating one’s mastery of production management concepts and methods.
During these 15 years I worked in quality, production and plant management, holding the positions of general manager and plant manager, until I joined Baglioni with the goal of having this new experience in the U.S. as plant manager of the MPV LLC plant in Marion, North Carolina. Very challenging and professionally enriching assignment, with which I am to date very satisfied.“
What does the job of plant manager in North Carolina consist of and how does it differ?
“MPV Baglioni USA is a plant where about 130 people. It is a plant with some peculiarities compared to the Italian ones, with most of the support functions partially localized (HR, Procurement, Supply Chain, Quality) and only Finance and Engineering centralized in the Italian facility.
Compared to plants in Italy, where there is a only figure to fill the role of plant manager which handles the operational and strategic aspects and assumes all managerial responsibilities from an operations perspective, at the MPV LLC plant in Marion, North Carolina, my role is different.
In this plant there is a
plant manager
who takes care of the operational aspects and independently manages the day-to-day, while I have
operations responsibility
for strategic decisions with Italy and new developments/strategies, coordination on hr, purchasing and safety management.”
What is the working method used in the Morganton Pressure Vessels USA Plant?
“The Baglioni USA plant has partly different characteristics from the Italian Baglioni plants .
The first major difference is that while in Italy the centrality of the process has people, with often technically independent operators,in North Carolina the high rotation dictates that the focus mainly on processes that have to work, they have to make people comfortable, make them do training, build knowledge.
Also at the level of soft skills the two realities are far apart: in Italy they are enormously valued for the positive influence they have on productivity, while in the U.S. management, control and support are left entirely to the supervisor, with less close professional interaction between colleagues and fewer mutual confrontational situations.
These differences also depend on where the establishment is located: in American culture, more than in Italian culture, great attention is paid to the communicative lines That are used. For example, respect for hierarchies is very strong, and work times and methods need to be taken care of to provide a standard that is usable even for operators with less specific experience.
The MPV LLC plant in Marion, North Carolina works on two lines: simple pressure vessels and special pressure equipment , raw or painted (thanks to an electrostatic powder coating plant).
There are 3 production lines for tanks and they are differentiated by the volume of the tanks produced : from 8 gallons (30 liters) to 400 gallons (1500 liters), with diameters ranging from 6″ to 36″.
The department dedicated to special vessels (separators, filters and dryers), organized by job order or mini-series and based on highly skilled processes and personnel, is instead developed in two areas: assembly and component tacking in one, welding and final testing in the other.
All products developed in the Baglioni USA plant are. ASME (USA), CRN (Canada), NR-13 (Brazil), ABS (Navy) certified, essential for the North and South American markets.”
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