A Generalist with an Eye for the Big Picture.
April 4, 2014 was a day to be remembered in the Dürr corporate history of the Italian subsidiary Olpidürr, when Roberto Pizzamiglio handed over his mandate as Chairman of the Board of Directors to his son Marco and was appointed Honorary Chairman.
It certainly is justifiable to say that this marked the end of an era. Roberto Pizzamiglio – who will celebrate his 80th birthday this year - began his career in 1953 at the age of 19 in his father's business. He soon developed into a generalist with an eye for the big picture. He worked in all divisions, from planning and assembly all the way through to sales.
Olpi and the Dürr Group were cooperating in the field of surface technology as early as the mid-1960s, starting from electronic dip coating technology. In 1977, the two companies embarked on their first major project with the construction of a complete paint shop at Fiat in Cassino. This was when Roberto Pizzamiglio took over as head of the family-owned business. And Dürr acquired shares in its Italian partner company, which was now trading as Olpidürr.
Accordingly, Olpidürr was one of the first enterprises with which Heinz Dürr began the European expansion of the Group. The Italians were soon also engaged outside Italy in such remote countries at the time as Venezuela, Argentina, Russia, Poland and Turkey.
In 1996, Roberto Pizzamiglio withdrew from day-today operations and transferred the functions of General Manager to his son Marco, who had already been working at Olpidürr for eight years at the time.
With the current assignment of the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board, Roberto Pizzamiglio took a step further.
In recognition of his services on behalf of the company, in April he was made honorary chairman of Olpidürr and assists the company with advice whenever needed.
For further information: www.olpidurr.it, www.durr.com
Photo 1: The Board of Olpidürr: New board member and CFO Michele Bombarda, PFS Head Manfred Weil, honorary chairman Roberto Pizzamiglio, chairman Marco Pizzamiglio, and PFS CFO Jaroslaw Baginski (from left to right).
Photo 2: The first major shared project of Olpi and Dürr at Fiat in Cassino was a milestone in the corporate history. In this historical photograph dating back to November 1974 you can see (from left to right) Heinz Dürr, Rolf Haueise, who later became Chief Technology Officer, and Roberto Pizzamiglio as well as other colleagues and representatives of Fiat.