CLEMENTINO BONFIGLIOLI

1928 - 2010

Clementino Bonfiglioli was born in Bologna in 1928. Having lost his mother, he was raised from birth by his grandparents, while his father emigrated, only to return 10 years later. Unfortunately he is a victim of war and Clementino is left alone. He committed himself to studying engineering, and graduated at the "Aldini Valeriani" Istituto Tecnico. As designer and tester he began to work in important Bolognese gearing companies where he very soon came to appreciate the importance of the growth that the sector could benefit from thanks to the development of automatic machines in the Bologna area. Having decided to strike out and set up on his own, "COSTRUZIONI MECCANICHE BONFIGLIOLI" is born in 1956. Experience and intuition led Clementino to design and patent new gearboxes, such as the 2-stage planetary type, which were to become key products for the next 15 years establishing and consolidating BONFIGLIOLI RIDUTTORI.

From that point onwards the story of Bonfiglioli is that of a company able to read the signs of the times, through acquisition, research and development of new products, the combination of mechanics with electronics, globalisation – all factors contributing to growth which sprung from the intuition and intelligence that Clementino Bonfiglioli was able to integrate with the administration of the group. Today Bonfiglioli is a market presence with a turnover of approximately 700 million euros, with offices in 16 countries worldwide and exclusive distributors in more than 80 countries. It has two important plants in India and Vietnam, and is world leader in the wind energy market with a share of 30%. This has all been possible thanks to a dream become reality through an iron will, the ability to inspire enthusiasm in his staff as well as pushing them to achieve more and more, from confidence in success, the qualities that make Clementino Bonfiglioli a true point of reference for new generations of entrepreneurs.