Towards a broader and better qualified offer

Alessandro Fossati MZ Electronics
Alessandro Fossati, sales director and majority partner in MZ Electronics.
Alessandro Fossati MZ Electronic
Alessandro Fossati, sales director and majority partner in MZ Electronic.

From electronics to mechanics for yachting, the offer of MZ Electronic benefits from the recent acquisition of Officina Navale Nanni.

Confirmation of the company strategy of supplying complete and customised yachting solutions for anchoring, through design that is particularly attentive to the specific requirements of users.

Growth strategy

In line with the strategy consolidated over the years that aims at greater market penetration through technological innovation in products and collaboration with other companies in the yachting sector, MZ Electronic has recently acquired Viareggio-based Officina Navale Nanni which has long experience in the yachting sector.
This confirms the strategy laid down by MZ Electronic some years ago with the acquisition of Orvea and the later creation of the Italwinch by Orvea brand, which gives its name to the current offer of a large range of winches.
With almost 30 years of operation in the manufacture and marketing of yachting accessories and solutions, MZ Electronic has seen its presence grow on the world market, which recognises the company’s ability to interpret correctly the specific problems of customers and translate them into high-quality and, if necessary, custom solutions.
Technical competence and the company’s market have grown together over the years, starting from initial activity for third parties, initially concentrating above all on electronic accessories for yachting. The subsequent development of MZ Electronic led the company to broaden its offer, with particular attention to the production and marketing of anchoring systems.
Electronics and mechanics combined in the various systems perfected by the company, which in its Monza headquarters uses technological tools that can aid efficient design, taking account not only of geometric, functional and stylistic aspects of the products in the catalogue but also of the optimal choice of manufacturing materials and any customisation.
In this sense the Italwinch by Orvea brand, which includes a wide range of winches for yachts of up to 60 m, interprets the innovative spirit of a company management that can bring a high quality standard to the products of the company it acquired, combining Orvea know-how with the competences and production potential of internal resources.

High-quality and custom design

Design that is particularly attentive to customer specifications and close collaboration with boatyard customers, including many operating in the medium and large yacht sector, make it possible to perfect highly customised solutions and so meet the particular needs of the most demanding yards.
“The competence of our staff, together with the leanness and flexibility of the company structure,” says Alessandro Fossati, who today runs the company founded by his father Luigi in the 1990s, “has allowed us, in just a few years, to increase and qualitatively improve our offering in a market where we are strongly present at international level.”
In fact, thanks to the increased quality of company products, MZ Electronic today supplies winches and electronics solutions the yachting beyond the confines of Europe, as far as the United States and Southeast Asia.
The attention paid not just to observing and correctly interpreting market needs, but also to analysing the boatyards that operate there has once again led MZ Electronic to consolidate its strategy of technological partnerships by purchasing Officina Navale Nanni, which from its headquarters in Viareggio has been operating for more than half a century in the yachting sector.

Officina Navale Nanni, aiming for continuity

Founded in 1950 in Viareggio, where it still has its operational headquarters, Officina Navale Nanni specialises in vertical and horizontal windlasses, chain block guides, warping winches and deck equipment for vessels of up to 90 m with stud link chain diameter of 32 mm.
All these products may be electrically, hydraulically or pneumatically powered and can be certified by the main international naval registers, including RINA, BV, LR, RMRS and ABS.
Officina Navale Nanni also has significant experience in manufacturing customised products and systems to meet any specific design need of boatyard customers.
Supporting the experience of the craftsmen of Officina Navale Nanni are the 3-D technologies of the design office of MZ Electronic, which dimensions, chooses and positions deck machinery.
The ability to customise the solutions offered and the particular features of the production process allow the company to count among its customers important names of Italian yachting, including Codecasa, Azimut Benetti, CBI Navi, Viareggio SuperYacht, Rossi Navi and Perini Navi.
The acquisition of Officina Navale Nanni is for MZ Electronic a big chance to enrich its marketing offer, broadening the range of Italwinch by Orvea winches to meet the requirements of vessels of up to 90 m, with quality and functions in line with the standards already typical of the Italwinch by Orvea brand.
“The quality and reliability of Officina Navale Nanni products,” says Alessandro Fossati, “is recognised by leading Italian boatyards who can also benefit from the high level of customisation that this company can offer. Its acquisition allows us to extend our offer of winches to vessels of up to 90 m and at the same time favours the export of excellent Italian production, that of Officina Navale Nanni, to markets where the Italwinch by Orvea brand is already recognised as a symbol of quality. So it is a fundamental acquisition from the technical and marketing point of view, because it permits the synergic integration of complementary potential.”
If on the one hand the competence of the craftsmen operating in the Viareggio production establishment is a guarantee of quality for the end product, the ability to customise products is in perfect harmony with the philosophy of MZ Electronic which, thanks to this acquisition, can offer the international market a catalogue enriched by new solutions from a brand, that of Officina Navale Nanni, which is already well-established in Italy.
Naturally the design phase too will benefit from this acquisition, thanks to the activity of a single internal design office, the production of uniform manuals and, finally, technical and commercial service that MZ Electronic is able to offer thanks to its network that is already operational internationally.

MZ Group MZ Electronic ONN Italwinch Orvea
MZ Group

Interview by Giovanni Albertario