History
Danieli’s origins date to 1914 when two brothers Mario and Timo Danieli acquired the Angelini Steelworks in Brescia, Italy, one of the first companies to use the electric arc furnace for steel making.[2] In 1929, Mario Danieli transferred part of the steelworks to Buttrio to manufacture tools for forging plants and auxiliary machines for rolling mills. After World War II, led by Luigi Danieli, the company changed its name to Danieli & C and started designing and manufacturing equipment for the steel industry, a turning point that contributed to strengthening the Italian steel industry’s competitiveness in Europe in the Sixties and Seventies.
In the second half of the Seventies, a crisis affected the entire steel industry due to an excess production capacity. Luigi Danieli (1915-1993), who held a degree in Engineering from the University of Padua (Italy), adopted a different strategy and led the company to gradually pass from the production of machines for the steel-making industry to the production of turnkey plants. In 1976 the company won the design and production of a 500,000-ton steel plant in Brandenburg, in the former East Germany, beating the competition of the Krupp company with a 3% lower bid. The total value of the order was approximately 200 billion Italian lire.[2] Since 1977 Luigi Danieli has been working together with Cecilia and Anna Chiara, two of his four daughters. In 1979, Danieli’s turnover was over 130 billion Italian lire (80% of which was made abroad) and the company employed 1,600 people.[6]
Specialized in the production of mini-mills according to the needs of final consumers, in 1983 its production reached one million tons per year. In the same period, it won contracts in the USSR and North Africa.
In 1984, the company was listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 1985 Danieli completed the first direct rolling plant for quality steel in the USA.[6] In the mid-eighties, the steel industry again encountered difficulties. A different strategy emerged within the Danieli family in order to remain competitive: Cecilia, who held a degree in Economics and Business from the University of Trieste (Italy), and Gianpietro Benedetti were in favor of a major restructuring, in line with a strategy of internationalization and expansion of products. The rest of the family had a different point of view. Eventually, 58% of the ordinary shares were sold to SIND (Società Impianti Industriali), held 50% by Cecilia Danieli and 50% by Gianpietro Benedetti.
Following the new corporate structure, the expansion around the world continued. In 1987 Danieli acquired Morgårdshammar, a Swedish group specializing in rolling plants for special steels, and later Wean United (USA), Rotelec (France) and Sund (Sweden).
The results seemed to justify that generational change wanted by Cecilia: Danieli’s turnover was indeed constantly growing – reaching 1.9 billion Italian Lire in 2000 – with 3,200 people employed.
In June 1999 Cecilia Danieli died in Aviano at the age of 56.[7]
Gianpietro Benedetti was appointed President and CEO of the company.[8] At the end of the 1990s the internationalization process was completed: in addition to that of Buttrio, Danieli opened production plants in Pittsburgh, Paris, Sweden and Germany, two offices in China (Beijing and Shanghai), other production plants in Thailand (Danieli Far East) and Russia (Danieli Volga), as well as service centers in Austria and Brazil.[9] This also led to an expansion of the company’s product range.
In 2009, ten years after the death of Cecilia Danieli, the 29-year-old Giacomo Mareschi Danieli joined the company’s Board of Directors.[10] Graduated in Electronic Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan, since 2006 he has been working in the Danieli Group. Anna, who is Giacomo’s twin and a graduate in Economics and Business from Bocconi University, also joined the company,[11] as well as Camilla Benedetti,[12] a graduate in Economics and Business from Catholic University of Milan and with previous professional experience at Ernst & Young. In 2009, the turnover reached 3.2 billion euros and the profit was 135 million euros, with approximately 9,400 people employed.[13]
In 2018 the company founded the Danieli Academy, with the aim of managing the skills development of human resources through partnerships with hundreds of universities around the world.[14]
