Happy birthday, Cefla.
On 4th May you’ve got another birthday coming up. This time you’re turning 93.
And yet you still seem so young, intuitive and inspired by the future. It’s as if your age were not so much an addition of numbers as a series of chapters: chapters of a long story in which we’ve all played a leading role.
What matters most, in fact, is not the time that has passed, but what you’ve built along the way. What you’ve become, day by day, without losing sight of your origins.
None of us saw you born in Imola, way back in 1932. But we do know that it was a difficult time, in which the keenest minds, imagining a better tomorrow, joined forces to produce astounding results. This was the work of the founding partners, who had clear ideas of what a business should aspire to: recognition of everyone’s shared commitment to the greater good, an understanding of markets, endless innovation. From those early years we retain, beyond the faded documents and black and white photos, a still-vivid legacy of values.
You, Cefla, grew on these solid foundations. And we with you.
You took your first steps in plant engineering, then headed for new horizons, crossing borders, exploring sectors in which you now lead the way, all thanks to an ability to keep pace with change and reinvent yourself.
But it’s not just what you do that makes you special. It’s how you do it. You’ve always been attentive to what surrounds you, from your local community to the world as a whole. You’ve adapted to circumstance, anticipated developments and embraced change. You’ve maintained your identity, even as you became an international player. Your roots were strengthened, your vision broadened.
Over these 93 years you’ve seen the world around you change: you’ve been through economic and social crises, welcomed technological revolutions, faced global transformations. You’ve done so by always looking ahead and adopting fresh perspectives, but without forgetting that most precious of resources, your people: members, suppliers, partners, customers. Each has left a mark, made a contribution, injected passion and created opportunities to ensure your continued progress. Because the future isn’t something you wait for: it’s something you plan together.
For all these reasons – and many more – each new anniversary is a time to say ‘thank you’. Thank you for the opportunities you’ve seized, for the challenges you’ve overcome, the dreams you’ve had the courage to pursue, for having given us multiple viewpoints from which to observe the world. And a ‘thank you’ goes to all those who have, over time, written the chapters of your story and entrusted us with the task of writing the next ones.
Happy 93rd birthday, Cefla.
We hope you’ll always be yourself, always ready to face change.