February 6, 2026 was not just a corporate event.
It was a day charged with energy, with real questions, with eyes searching for direction.
The third edition of Building the Future marked an important turning point: what a year ago might have looked like a format is now a method.
Processes improve when improved together. And the future is not something to wait for — it is something to build, through shared responsibility.
From the Heart of the Company: When Questions Truly Matter
This year, the Executive Management — led by the fourth generation — made a clear choice: change the rules of the game. No traditional roundtable. No sequence of standard speeches.
The questions came directly from the people. Questions about business performance. Curiosity about markets. Broader concerns. Reflections on Lean. Discussions about the industrial model. Doubts and insights on strategic priorities.
An authentic exchange, facilitated by DOF Consulting, which has supported this journey since its beginning in 2024 and, once again, created a space for genuine listening.
Today, Maddalena is a community of nearly 200 people. And when an organization grows, alignment is not an operational detail — it is a strategic choice.
It means openly addressing the cyclical nature of our market. It means acknowledging the growth path achieved in recent years, the result of consistent industrial decisions and a long-term vision.
And it means reaffirming that contextual complexity is not a constraint, but a driver for continuous evolution — and that the answer lies in diversification, in stronger collaboration between Sales and Operations, and in accelerating digitalization.
Today, more than 50% of revenue comes from smart meters. That is not a side note. It is the new direction.
The morning was exactly this: Clarity. Transparency. Vision.
When the Community Takes the Stage
If the morning was about strategy, the afternoon was about courage — and a good dose of fun.
In 2025, around 30 process improvement projects were presented spontaneously — and they represent only a portion of the real work carried out across the company.
These were not top-down initiatives. They were ideas born within departments, offices, and production lines — emerging from everyday problem solving. Small, concrete projects. Cross-functional projects. Ambitious projects.
Executive Management selected six projects based on three criteria: innovation, impact, and cross-functionality.
But the final verdict was not predetermined. The vote was entrusted to the company community.
A QR code. A smartphone. And a question that seemed simple — only at first glance: “What truly improves the way we work together?”
The evaluation was not an automatic gesture. It was a statement of intent. The criteria were clear: innovation, measurable impact, and quality of presentation.
Not the project led by a colleague you work closely with. Not the one closest to your own role. But the one capable of generating value for the entire organization.
And there was one additional element — unwritten, yet unmistakable: courage.
The courage to step out of the comfort zone. To experiment with new languages. To tell the story of a process with lightness and intelligence.
The six teams embraced the challenge. They used irony. They surprised the audience. Because yes, it is possible to talk about processes with a smile.
And it is possible to improve by working seriously — without always taking ourselves too seriously.
The energy in the room was concrete, tangible: genuine participation.
Making it even more vibrant was the collective work of DMAV Social Art Ensemble, which accompanied the day with a creative and engaging language.
The theremin performance by Walter Sguazzin added an unexpected, almost hypnotic dimension. And the shots by Bartolomeo Rossi did what good photography always does: transform a moment into memory — and a memory into a story.
Awarded Projects: Symbols That Speak of Culture
🥉 Nurturing Growth – Third Place:
Laboratory on the Right Path
L05 Supermarket
The prize was the book Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman. A book that reminds us of something essential: technical skills may open doors, but it is emotional competencies that allow us to stay — and to grow.
🥈 Giving Voice to Ideas – Second Place:
ERP Improvement
ALFA Line Revamping
A branded Bluetooth speaker. A simple object, carrying a direct message: ideas must be heard. They must circulate. They must spark dialogue.
🥇 Building Value, Together – First Place:
Agile Management of Software Development Activities
EU Invoicing and INTRASTAT Management
The prize is not an object. It is a shared experience: a visit to the Specogna vineyard and winery, with a guided tasting. A vineyard is a complex system. It requires patience, vision, and constant care. Just like business processes. Building value over time means exactly this: working today with full awareness of what will mature tomorrow.
A stage full. Not only of winners.
The most powerful moment was not the announcement of first place. It was when all the Maddalena Innovators stepped onto the stage.
Those who presented a project. Those who contributed behind the scenes — including to this very event. Those who chose to step forward and take part. For each of them, a symbolic pin — a sign of belonging to Maddalena. Because in this journey, there are no extras. There are people who choose to contribute to the future of the Company.
Why Building the Future?
Not an event. A method.
Building the Future is not a parenthesis in the corporate calendar. It is a way of working.
Building the Future means turning listening into alignment.
It means ensuring that strategy does not remain a slide, but becomes a daily process.
It means moving from improvement as an initiative to improvement as a shared competence.
It is the ability to work better, together.
The challenge lies in processes. Because it is processes that make growth sustainable, complexity manageable, and excellence replicable. But the real strength — the authentic one — lies in the people who design those processes, question them, improve them, and bring them to life every single day.
Building the Future is exactly this: a community that chooses not to undergo change, but to lead it.
Previous Editions
2024 Obiettivi a canestro: the metaphor of basketball in the corporate context – Maddalena S.p.A.
2025 Costruire Futuro: The Lines of Change – Maddalena S.p.A.
