The transformation of their high vacuum business enabled SAES to enter a new market and grow its customer base. Before 2017, the division had focused on selling non-evaporable getter pumps. Following its transformation, the division now offers a range of products and solutions including advanced vacuum chambers and turn-key systems.
“SAES is a great example of a family business that has consistently transformed itself over time,” says Diego Medicina, EY Parthenon Strategy and Transactions Leader for Advanced Manufacturing and Mobility. “It became a market leader in the production of getters for cathode-ray tubes, but when that market disappeared, it entered the markets for other electronics and materials. And throughout its journey, it has preserved its culture of innovation.”
Following the transformation of the high vacuum division, SAES plans to keep reinventing itself. Further reinvention is being driven by the next generation of family members, who are already actively engaged with the business and bringing fresh insights into potential areas of growth. Della Porta’s daughter, Ginevra, is SAES’ Chief Innovation Officer and spearheading the move into the clean cosmetics industry. His son, Lorenzo, manages the packaging division while his niece and nephew, Livia and Giulio, also work for the company in finance and M&A roles. “The benefit of engaging the new generation with the business is very simple,” says della Porta. “They bring a new philosophy and a new mentality. They bring innovation.”
Certainly, the group’s intrapreneurial culture has underpinned its success to date. "It's not easy to transform a company from being a purely metallurgical company dealing with vacuums to a chemical company developing innovative ingredients for the cosmetics and personal care market," della Porta says. “But it’s made possible because of the people around me. I foster a culture of intrapreneurship within the group.”
His advice to other family businesses is that you should think big and keep finding ways to grow, scale and develop valuable intellectual property through innovation. You should also trust in the next generation “because they are the future of your company.”