1970 - 1990
The great expansion
The great expansion
For the town of Codogno, Antonio Falchetti did not only represent Meccanotecnica
Codognese. In 1958, he founded the Autonomous Association of Craftsmen of the
Codogno area: he would go on to serve as the association’s president for a full
nineteen years, until he resigned for health reasons in 1977.
After having been awarded the honor of Knight of the Order of Merit of the
Italian Republic on June 2, 1972, Antonio retired to his wife's Tuscan farm
estate in 1977, where he passed away in 1981.
Meanwhile, Meccanotecnica continued its pathway of growth. It wasn’t long before Umberto
and Giuseppe Falchetti started thinking about building a new headquarters, and,
in 1978, they began its construction in the Codogno industrial area. Shortly thereafter,
in 1979, Meccanotecnica became a joint stock company.
The companies Stabak and Cablat were also established during that
period, both of which would later be incorporated into the company.
The move to the new headquarters, a building of about 11,000 m2
on a lot approximately 100,000 m2 in size, took place in 1983. With
the move to the new facility, the company made a further qualitative leap, expanding
its business to include other components as well.
In 1989, still fresh from his degree in mechanical engineering, Antonio
Falchetti, born in 1963, began his professional journey with the family
business by immediately tackling an ambitious task entrusted to him by his
father, Umberto. The company needed a component design department: the mold and
component design activities were therefore separated, and a modern CAD/CAM
software, necessary for computer-aided production (using machine tools), was
adopted. This strategy proved to be successful, as it put Meccanotecnica in a position
to offer its customers a “complete
cycle,” including design, industrialization,
testing, and production of the components, or rather what is referred to today
as a “one-stop shop.”
