Professional arm of component giant establishes independent division following a rigorous period of brand-building, writes Dave Robinson
AFTER SIX years of brand development in order to seek wider approval in the pro-audio industry, Faital Pro’s Flavio Naggi reports that the loudspeaker component manufacturer has become a fully independent division within the larger Faital framework. “We officially established the
Faital Pro division in 2012, and it’s now going head-to-head with the other divisions within the company. Before it was the stepchild no one really wanted to handle full-time, you know?” he jokes.
The tipping point came at the
end of 2011, says Naggi, after another successful year in terms of growth. “It was a pivotal time for the management to say, ‘Right, it’s time for you to prove to us that you can actually carry your own weight’. That was very empowering. When you’re accountable for your own results, usually you do better.” While Pro, under Naggi’s leadership, shares resources such
as quality testing with its massive parent, there’s a dedicated team for the start-up unit within the Faital HQ in Milan. “We have a full-blown graphics
and marketing department now which is handling the relationship with the media and suppliers, as well as the website, etc. We have several collaborators outside, specifically in the main regions: a sales manager for the European area, one for China, one in North America, but they are all part of Pro. “Tremendous effort was made
by the [parent] company specifically in the R&D for Pro,” he continues. “We have invested in Klippel measurement systems, and into the production process, manufacturing ability and capacity: an entirely new production line has been set up for the Pro division. We were making only neodymium drivers until 2011, and then we introduced somewhere around 25-30 new ferrite products made
Faital Pro’s Flavio Naggi at NAMM
to counteract the ongoing neodymium price situation.” Though component makers
are predictably guarded about naming their clients, Naggi reveals that they have nurtured successful relationships with US-based PA/installation equipment makers Bag End, ISP Technologies and Danley Sound Labs. He’s reluctant to talk about
European brands, though: “I believe the market knows where we’re being implemented and where we’re not... Our largest customers in Europe are so satisfied with the service that we’re supplying that they’re the first advocates we have in the market, so it’s kind of word-of- mouth from there.”
Naggi says, when Faital Pro started out around 2005-06, the brand had to learn “what the market was like, what it wanted that was different from the other markets Faital addresses like automotive and hi-fi”. “The road to this point was quite long and hard because we really had to teach management that pro audio is very different to mass-production,” he adds. Faital, having established multiple factories in several territories over its 50-year history, is used to making thousands of loudspeaker units a day, after all. Following this rubber stamp
from the parent, what does Faital Pro do next? “Our objectives in terms of
strategic growth are a little more
defined depending on the territories: where we have very good distribution we’re going after the OEMs, like for example in North America. “We are growing very fast with
distribution in South America… we have found some key partners that are helping us to grow very fast, as well as China and South- East Asia. The best growth results in 2012 came from those two areas and they are still very strong. Where we see ourselves in the long term? Our objective is to become one of the top three high-end loudspeaker manufacturers in the world. That is a very ambitious objective, yes: I have to say we are about halfway there.”n www.faitalpro.com