PreGel’s Arceto Agribusiness Hub
PreGel’s newest plant is located at the Agribusiness Hub in Arceto of Scandiano. It houses a highly automated logistics centre built by E80 Group, a Viano-based company among the leaders in the mechatronics sector. In fact, the most modern technologies are used here, enabling PreGel to reduce energy consumption, optimize transport flow and increase the quality of delivery service globally. This is crucial for a company that exports semi-finished products for gelato, pastry and beverages worldwide.
“Our group collaborated with PreGel to build a 4.0 factory that is innovative, fully integrated and unique. For us, it is a very important facility where customers from all over the world – current and potential – are able to learn and see up-close the cutting-edge technologies that PreGel has chosen to invest in. The goal is to offer the market an increasingly efficient, safe and reliable service. This allows us to attract talent that can contribute to the growth of our companies, while also enhancing the territory and the community.” – Enrico Grassi, President of E80 Group.
It is precisely in Arceto that numerous decision makers from large international companies are brought to visit. By visiting PreGel’s Agribusiness Pole, they have the opportunity to see for themselves the high degree of technology employed in all stages of order preparation.
In addition to representatives of large food companies, this environment is often a destination for educational outings for several classes from high schools of the Reggio Emilia province. It has also been visited by a group of students from the industrial engineering course at the University of Bologna. There, students can see first-hand what it means to work in a high-tech warehouse and learn about the various necessary flows that enable a large company to function efficiently.
As reported by founder and president Luciano Rabboni, “This is not only an industrial project for us, in fact, we have chosen to plant more than 5,000 trees on an area of 47,000 square meters of woodland, rows and hedges to ensure better landscaping of the building and to ensure a sustainable business development model that aims to enhance the territory.”
There is an enhancement process that also takes place through synergy within the Emilia Wine winery in Arceto – PreGel’s neighbour – with which innovative methods are being studied to obtain a food colouring from Ancellotta grapes. They are grown by members of the wine cooperative which is how Chicco was born; a very versatile product derived from grapes that are harvested and processed by the very winery based in Arceto. This grape juice – with a genuine and natural flavour – is obtained from the grapes of the area, where it is then made and preserved through synergy between Emilia Wine and PreGel. There is an in-depth study that has made it possible to preserve the juice in a way that keeps its taste intact. Many of these applications are now being used around the world. This product is already a success in the Eastern market where it is used to make the fresh, natural and non-alcoholic drink called “Red Ice”. This drink is already included in the menus of the most important fashionable establishments in Kuwait, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
These are ambitious projects that focus on enhancing the value of local products and are developed by bringing together diverse businesses, while investing together in the area.
