"Grano, farina, e..." (Wheat, Flour And...) 2019

Cremona, Italy – More than two hundred guests arrived at Ocrim historical headquarters in Massarotti street for attending to conference days characterized by very topical issues through contributions of expert researchers and managers from the milling world, moderated by the former professor of the Istituto Arte Bianca in Turin, Marino Scarlino.
The event started on Saturday morning, September 14, with the emotional welcome speech of Ocrim President, Sergio Antolini, who has paid tribute to the industriousness and ingenuity of the Ocrim men. An excursus, that was also told through the video screened behind him, of the Ocrim company that experienced great changes from 1945 until today.

Sergio Antolini, President of Ocrim, welcomes the audience

Following there were speeches of Gianluca Lelli (Chief of Staff Economic Area at the Coldiretti National Headquarters), Federico Vecchioni (CEO of Bonifiche Ferraresi), and the mayor of Cremona, Gianluca Galimberti, bringing respectively testimonies of the main national industry association, of the Italy’s largest farm and the testimony of local institution.

Gianluca Lelli, Federico Vecchioni and Gianluca Galimberti

Following the welcome of the owners and institutions, Marino Scarlino presented the day and its topics on corn, wheat and leguminous. The macro topic of corn was discussed in the first part of the conference day. Massimo Blandino, Researcher at the University of Turin, presented his paper on “The supply chain of food-grade corn: innovations and changes in the last 20 years”, while Marco Galli, head of the technologies department at Ocrim, spoke about “Corn processing methods”. Lastly, Massimo Arduini and Rodrigo Ariceaga, respectively CEO and US Sales Manager for the Bologna-based company Molitecnica S.r.l., discussed “Nixtamalized flour and its uses”.

Massimo Blandino, Marco Galli, Massimo Arduini and Rodrigo Ariceaga

The second part of the technical day covered the topic of grains and leguminous. Matteo Piombino, marketing manager of Pioneer Hi-Bred Italia presented his paper on “Corn and opportunities in the supply chain - giving value to productions while fulfilling market demands”. Next, Stefano Ravaglia, Manager of the Research and Experimentation department of SIS (Società Italiana Sementi - Italian Seed Society) gave a speech on “The food supply chain, the contribution of varietal innovation”.

Matteo Piombino, Stefano Ravaglia and Marino Scarlino

After a quick light lunch, the conference continued with the speech of Fabio Talamo, Sales Manager at Vomm Impianti e Processi S.p.A., who gave a speech on “Flour heat treatments”, a lengthy presentation that sparked great interest and questions from the audience. Then Fabrizio Baccinelli took the podium, Sales Manager at Ocrim who gave a complete and concrete view of “The production of special flours and trends in the world market.” The last speech of the technical day was given by Simona Digiuni, biotechnologist at the Ocrim laboratory, with her presentation on “Varieties of flours and their nutritional properties”.

Fabio Talamo, Fabrizio Baccinelli and Simona Digiuni

At the end of the technical day, guests returned to the hotel to rest before the gala dinner. At 20 o'clock a single table, over 70 meters long, was set up to welcome and accommodate the more than 200 guests who were able to taste a menu characterized by the products which have been protagonists of the technical days. A table set up in the historical assembly department of Ocrim, a place where we breathe the work spirit every day. A place where everything is a reminder of the human, intellectual and physical commitment of the workers. There were pleasant convivial and entertainment moments: the tribute to Italianity with the Italian national anthem, the showing of the backstage of the corporate video 2019 and the Skype video call with Ocrim technicians who, in those days, were in the USA for the testing of the last line of three with a capacity of 600 tons per day at ADM Mendota (Illinois), aroused emotions among the diners.

The event resumed on Sunday morning with the conference “Around Ocrim’s world”: 90 minutes of direct experiences told by customers and employees. From the experiences of Girolomoni Cooperativa Agricola and Molinos de Costa Rica, continuing with the interventions related to Milling Hub – the grinding hub of the agri-food supply chain under construction in Cremona -, to the Milling Technology School and to the historical excursus and future vision of Ocrim.

Stefano Mazzini and Maurizio Galbignani

Alberto Antolini, CEO of Ocrim, has closed the conference, greeting the audience and thanking them for their presence, with a speech that reveals a company increasingly focused on customer needs. Before leaving the stage, Alberto Antolini finally presented the recent corporate video. Protagonists of the video, Ocrim and the city of Cremona: a young singer with a band of musicians singing and playing a song in front of Cremona’s cathedral, while all the corporate videos made to date are projected onto the facade. The intention of the video is to show the strong bond between Cremona and Ocrim, represented and guided by the Antolini family since 2009, but also to show, by projecting the corporate videos of the last 10 years, the family’s journey and what they have done for the company.

Alberto Antolini, CEO of Ocrim

After the showing, all the guests went to the other facility to see with their own eyes the tangible results and what has been achieved by targeted investments.

According to tradition, the "Wheat, flour, and ..." 2019 edition ended with a reserved event, dedicated to employees and their families, characterized by a buffet and a fun prize game under the spirit of fun and sociability.

The videos of the two days and the corporate video are available in the multimedia section.