Energy measurement and monitoring success driven by passion

ALGODUE ELETTRONICA I PROFILE

Algodue Elettronica is a specialist designer and developer of instruments and systems for the measurement and management of power consumption. Founded nearly four decades ago, and a part of the Socomec Group for the past six years, the family-owned business continues to strive passionately to provide the very best in its sector. Romana Moares reports.

Algodue Elettronica was founded in 1986 in the Italian province of Novara, 50km from Milan, from the passion of electrician Pietro Platini. Based on the expertise and determination of the owner and his partners, the company has progressively established a sound position in the market.

In 1999, after completing her degree in computer engineering, the founder’s daughter, Laura Platini, joined the company.

“Research, creativity and design inspired me to transform what was previously a family -run business into a more structured business management. This aimed at continuous expansion in international markets and the improvement of quality processes,” said Ms Platini, now the Managing Director.

This strategy has proved to be the right path. Over the last few years, Algodue has experienced a steady increase in both turnover and staff numbers. This resulted in a major step in 2018 when the company inaugurated a newly built headquarters spanning over 2,800 sqm on two floors. The building houses offices, R&D, technical laboratories, a production area, warehouse, meeting rooms, and showroom as well as an accompanying park.

Unique in its own right

“We are specialists in the design, manufacture and customisation of systems for the measurement and monitoring of electricity,” said Ms Platini, summarising Algodue’s core business. “All products are entirely designed and developed in Italy by our company’s own R&D team.”

The Algodue range is divided into four categories: network analysers for energy quality control, MID-certified energy meters UL-certified Rogowski coils, and certified Class A power quality analysers.

“Algodue is a unique company in its sector because we are one of the few manufacturers in the world which specialises in more than one area of measurement,” stated Ms Platini. “Other manufacturers only make coils, or only make meters, but we have four families of products that cover all needs in the world of electrical energy measurement.

“We are also unique because all our products can be adapted, customised and developed according to specific project or market requirements. We offer all our solutions under brand labelling, customising everything from the logo to the

ALGODUE ELETTRONICA I PROFILE

Algodue Elettronica department managers

shape of the product with personalised moulds or tailor-made firmware and software functions.”

Ms Platini believes that being a smallto-medium sized company makes Algodue very flexible and responsive compared to large companies.

“We combine the experience of an international reference company and the flexibility of a local partner,” she stated.

In 2016, Algodue became part of the industrial group Socomec. Founded in 1922 and now with over 30 subsidiaries on all five continents, Socomec’s core business is the availability, control and safety of low voltage electrical networks with increased focus on its customers’ power performance.

“The partnership has allowed us to combine the skills of a major company with the flexibility only a small company can offer, and this has lead Algodue to grow strong in the French market thanks to Socomec’s support,” said Ms Platini.

This flexibility has proved to be an advantage in recent years. Despite the challenges of the global pandemic and related market changes, Algodue has continued to develop and release innovative products, such as MID-certified energy meters with extended temperature range, new Class C certified energy meters, UL2808-certified Rogowski coils, and a new model of Rogowski coil with built-in integrator, to name just a few.

Meeting the needs of tomorrow

Ms Platini explained that the Algodue team is made up of young, ambitious and passionate people who help to enrich a unique heritage of highly specialised technical knowledge in the energy measurement sector, matured and consolidated over 30 years of work in the field.

“We work hard to be dynamic, enterprising and proactive. We listen to our customers and adapt to the most diverse needs for both small and large volumes.”

The company stays fully tuned to recent trends; a particularly pertinent one is contributing to building sustainable communities with a vision of the future aimed at promoting what Ms Platini described as “virtuous behaviour”.

“That’s why in recent years we have developed a series of meters specially designed for the measurement of energy from renewable sources and electric mobility.”

These products have been well received in the market – Algodue has been chosen by some of the most prestigious manufacturers of EV chargers because of the characteristics of its energy meters: built-in communications, MID certification, extended operating temperature range, direct connection, maximum compactness, and other benefits.

“Innovation is one of our corporate values. For this reason, we constantly invest in new technologies. Our R&D department, made up of qualified engineers and technicians, has a high level of technical and industrial knowhow, thanks to which we can develop projects from the very beginning.

“Working closely with the production area leads these projects to becoming real, placing Algodue at the forefront of the sector. Due to these characteristics, we follow market trends in the electricity sector to understand new opportunities and develop suitable products for future applications. As we are doing with meters for EV chargers, for example,” Ms Platini affirmed.

Modern company

Today, 70% of Algodue’s global turnover is generated in export markets, but sales in Italy are also growing steadily. The company’s documentation is available in five languages to support its customers and business partners in 70 countries. At the moment, key markets for Algodue’s prod-

Laura Platini Managing Director

ucts include France, Germany, United States, Poland and Australia.

“Some of our clients and suppliers have been with us practically since we started this adventure. This can give you an idea about the focus we put on each relationship and how important it is for us to listen and adapt to the needs of our customers,” said Ms Platini.

She affirmed that quality is an absolute prerequisite. With this in mind, the company has achieved not only ISO 9001:2015 certification but nine other product and project certifications, such as UL, MID, GOST-R and others, recognised around the world.

To further improve the relationship with users and customers and to ease services, the company has recently enhanced its online presence. 2021 saw a new company website launched which Ms Platini said has improved the user experience with a more modern design, putting all documentation and products at the customer’s fingertips.

This customer focus and great market visibility have contributed to Algodue’s tremendous growth.

Ms Platini concluded: “Over the last three years, we have been achieving an average growth of 20% per annum, with sales of more than 200,000 units per year. We are set to maintain this trend by continued investment in the development of new projects, in increased production capacity and consistent short time to market as well as in our human resources.” n