Innovations in the manufacturing of architectural products in times of digitalization of business models and greener business practices: an interview with Giovanni Terno, CEO of Terno Scorrevoli

By Lorenzo Bona

Terno Scorrevoli (https://www.ternoscorrevoli.com/en ) has been manufacturing sliding systems for interior doors, cabinets, and glass structures since 1950. Headquartered close to Milan, Italy, the company crafts their unique sliding systems in a wide array of finishes and materials, each with innovative features that help create custom interior design solutions. Innovation is a central pillar of Terno Scorrevoli’s business culture, as demonstrated by the many patented products that the company offers.

An elegant and functional design, combined with an unparalleled level of attention to detail and project needs, are the primary traits of the company’s products.

It is my honor and pleasure to assist Terno Scorrevoli with some of its international business development plans, and to share this interview with the CEO and true driving force of this company, Giovanni Terno.

Question: Can you tell us something about the first years of your company’s life?

Answer: Terno Scorrevoli was founded in 1950 by my father, Mr. Agostino Terno, in the historical period following the end of the Second World War. In Italy, this time was characterized by an initial phase of reconstruction, immediately followed by a period identified as "the Italian economic miracle" (also called the economic boom) between the 1950s and 1960s, marked by strong economic growth and technological development.

In this historical period, my father's company, like many other companies in that period, produced various hardware components such as sliding doors, hinges, mechanical joints etc., following the most varied needs of the market, without any specific specialization.

Later, starting in the 1970s, at my direct suggestion, I convinced my father to focus the production exclusively on sliding systems for furniture and architectural doors.

This decision, which was concretely implemented in the eighties, turned out to be an important first step towards the transition from being a small family-run business with a regional market to a medium-sized company (still family-run) with an increasingly strong push towards internationalization.

Today we can say that I’m the owner of a company with a strong propensity to export (over 60% of our turnover is generated by foreign customers) and we have a workforce of almost 100 people, including internal and external employees.

Question: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world economy. What allows your company to be continually adapting to new market conditions and needs?

Answer: First of all, I would like to point out that we at Terno Scorrevoli were severely hit by the pandemic only during the initial period of March-April 2020, due to the complete lockdown decided by Italian government which imposed the forced closure of all non-essential production activities.

With the reopening in May 2020, fortunately we immediately restarted at 100% of our production capacity and still today we have an order backlog that allows us to work at full capacity. This has probably been possible thanks to a good recovery of the market both nationally and internationally on one hand, and on the other hand to the strong flexibility and ability of my company to adapt quickly, efficiently and effectively to sudden changes caused by external and unpredictable events.

We have only noticed a few small market slowdowns in some macro geographical areas in different moments, probably due to the fact that the spread of the COVID was more present in that area at that time.

However, I can safely say that COVID-19 will undoubtedly have caused substantial changes to the world economy, but for our specific industry the changes have been only marginal for us. One of these is certainly related to the growing problems encountered in the procurement of raw materials and semi-finished products by some of our suppliers, which are clearly extending delivery times (a problem that has intensified a lot in the first 3 months of 2021)

Question: Architecture, interior design and builders, as well as the manufacturers of products and materials for these industries, are increasingly focusing on eco-friendly solutions and the digitalization of business models. In relation to these trends, can you tell us what changes have been introduced in your company, and how these changes will benefit the designers, general contractors, interior doors, cabinets and glass structures manufacturers that select your products for their projects?

Answer: In the last years, Terno Scorrevoli has been gearing up to follow the guidelines dictated by Industry 4.0, which lead to ever-greater industrial automation and the integration of some new production technologies to improve working conditions, create new business models and increase productivity of the industrial plants.

We have recently started to buy the latest generation machine tools to aim for the so-called “Smart production”. Our goal, which we hope to achieve in the near future is to obtain a beneficial collaboration between operators, machines and tools through these new production technologies.

We are also making great internal efforts to achieve other important goals related to “Smart energy”. The efforts will keep a careful eye on energy consumption, create more performant systems and reduce energy waste according to current practices of sustainable energy, but also research the use of recyclable materials. Just as an example, many years ago, my company started dividing the iron, aluminum and wood waste into separate containers in order to facilitate the appropriate disposal to recyclers.

In addition, in the last period we have developed our Terno Laboratory (Tlab) that allows us to measure the behavior of a door during the opening and the closing phases by recording the position and speed of the door/leaf during the entire test performed.

In TLab, a testing machine has been developed with the aim of monitoring the performance of our sliding system (and also that of our competitors) over time. This machine can perform tests set at different speeds.

Another secret of my company is the enormous effort made in the last three decades in the development of innovative technological solutions that we have promptly patented almost all over the world (with relevant investments), some of them have now lapsed, but many are still fully in force, allowing us to always stay one step ahead of the competition.

In addition, as CEO, I am calling for a new focus and special attention to the development of systems that respond quickly to the latest trends, especially ones that are particularly appreciated by architects and interior designer. Both from an aesthetic point of view of the finishes used, as well as in the study of modern applications that correspond to the latest market trends.

Responding to this new direction, over the last year, our technical office has devoted itself with considerable commitment to the development of product solutions that, for example, allow the division of spaces and internal environments with movable glass structures that can be changed over time, the development of walk-in closet systems with modular components, etc.