Italy based equipment and consumables supplier VM Rubber is five years old in June. Most industry observers will agree that the company has made significant progress since it was founded in the midst of the Covid pandemic in 2020. We managed to catch up with Pablo Versini and Camilla Raffaelli at the TIA OTR Tire Conference in Puerto Rico recently, where we were able to look back at the company’s progress and it’s plans for the future.
Initial Development Goals Reached
When Pablo Versini established VM Rubber in 2020 the plan was to move forward step-by-step with a balanced growth plan that included a commitment to develop brand awareness at the same time. According to Versini, VM Rubber has now completed the establishment of a company structure that allows Versini and Raffaelli to manage all aspects of the business in a stable way. The company now have five employees, Verisin and Raffaelli, who are the faces of the company, present at trade events around the world, plus a warehouse person, and admin person and an additional sales person to cover French-speaking markets.
Says Versini: “There are some areas where we don’t yet have a presence, but we are now in a position where we can move to the next level and continue growing.
Camilla Raffaelli has worked alongside Versini since the start, and she outlined VM Rubber’s strategy for the coming year. “Our key aim for this year is to get increased presence at events,” she explained. “This year we have sponsored the TIA OTR Conference for the first time, which will help us increase our profile. We will also be attending Bauma in Munich as well as Autopromotec. We can therefore say that this year we are truly announcing our presence in the market.”
“People are now coming to us rather than us having to go to them,” added Versini. “It shows that we are doing a good job and that all the effort has been worth it.”
In terms of current developments, the company says it is looking to expand its range of tyre service equipment including bead breakers and is looking for new channel. At the same time a new OTR electrical extruder gun has been introduced. “We were looking for a new power drill that is powerful enough to work on OTR tyres,” explained Raffaelli. “The new extruder offers balanced weight and is also affordable price wise. Affordable. It closes the circle of our extruder gun line.”
On the subject of future expansion Pablo Versini was somewhat circumspect. “The next two years will be a period of consolidation for us,” he said. “Growth has been fast, but we need to go a s smoothly as possible. Right now, we happy where we are. We are satisfied with the work that we’ve been doing, and this year is the closing of the first cycle. However, if all goes well, we will be looking to expand our team further in the future.”
