The story
Foundation
Comau was established in 1973 as the COnsorzio MAcchine Utensili. It was formed by the same Torino-based engineers and companies that helped build the Soviet landmark VAZ (Lada) Plant in Togliatti, Russia. In 1977 the company was renamed Comau Finanziaria S.p.A.
Growth and expansion
In 1984, Comau Productivity Systems Inc. was formed.
It started the development of commercial and industrial activities in North America. Comau Finanziaria S.p.A. gained a majority interest in Italtech S.p.A.
The following year, it acquired Berto Lamet, a sheet metal die producer, and U.T.S., which specialized in product and process engineering. Berto Lamet then took over TEA, an injection molding manufacturer, and, in 1990, it took over the Spanish company, Mecaner S.A., which specialized in producing sheet metal dies.
In 1995, the company grew throughout South America, Europe, North America, and Asia. Comau do Brasil Ind e Com. Ltda and Comau Argentina S.A. were launched with all Comau Business Units joining the Mercosur market. In Germany, Comau Deutschland GmbH was established.
The following year, a French branch was formed.
That year the company officially changed its name to Comau S.p.A.
In 1997, the company gained a majority interest in Geico S.p.A., a producer of painting systems within the automotive industry. Comau India Pvt. Ltd. in Pune was set up as the company's headquarters in Southeast Asia. Comau Poland Sp.z.o.o., a production plant for sheet metal dies, began operation in Tychy and, later that year, began offering maintenance services as well. In the same year, Comau Service was launched to provide full maintenance services to customers worldwide.
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In 1999, Comau took over the French company Sciaky S.A., a producer of body systems and welding guns, which was renamed Comau Sciaky S.A. Also that year, Comau S.p.A. gained a majority interest in Renault Automation S.A. of France, a company specializing in engineering, metal cutting, mechanical assembly, and body final assembly. In the same year, Fiat S.p.A. acquired Progressive Tool and Industries Co. (PICO), a U.S. company experienced in body systems manufacturing, and it was subsequently renamed Comau PICO. In the UK, the Pico Estil in Luton became Comau Estil; in South Africa, Aims in Uitenhage was renamed Comau South Africa Pty. Ltd.
In 2000, Comau (Shanghai) Automotive Equipment Co. Ltd. was opened in Kangqiao (Pudong) by Michele Straniero supported by the group CEO Dr. Piero Maritano, Comau Belgium N.V. was established to develop maintenance services in Northern Europe and Comau Systems Services S.L. began operations in Madrid.
The next year, Comau S.p.A. acquired two companies in automotive product and process engineering and industrialization, Germann-Intec GmbH and Team Resources Romania, which became Comau România S.A. Comau Australia opens in Adelaide in 2001.
In 2002, Comau Ingest Sverige AB was established in Sweden; in 2003, Comau Russia Srl and Comau (Shanghai) International Trading Co. Ltd. began operations with a focus on import-export activities. Comau Sciaky SA became the full owner of Gerbi & Sciaky, a company in France that produces electrical welding guns, changing its name to Sciaky S.A.S. in 2004.
The next year, Comau Service France and Comau Sciaky and Sciaky S.A.S. were consolidated within Comau France S.A. In 2005, Comau Germann-Intec GmbH merged with Comau Deutschland GmbH.
In 2007, Comau-Germann Intec GmbH was started in Germany with a focus on engineering activities.
In 2013, Comau expanded its presence in China with three new sites. Comau Turkey and Comau Czech were also opened to better serve the Middle and Eastern European markets. Soon after, Comau established a new office in Munich, Germany, which expanded into Mexico.
Comau São Paulo and Comau Thailand were established in 2015, while in 2016, Comau opened its HUMANufacturing Innovation Center in Pontedera (Pisa), Italy. The company also opens a new location in California, United States, in 2016. Comau expands its activities in the United Kingdom in 2017, by opening a new engineering facility in North East England.
In these years the Comau Academy was founded, with which the company began to organize master, technical and managerial training courses, and then with the educational platform e.DO™ Experience, Comau began to offer educational activities for learning STEM subjects, robotics, coding, and soft skills based on the use of educational and open source robots and.DO™.
In 2020 Comau signed the technological collaboration agreement with TIM for the digital transformation of the manufacturing industries and collaborated with FCA and the Fiat brand in the production of the new electrical Fiat 500, supported SME manufacturing companies at the MADE competence center in Milan, cooperated with the Artes 4.0 in Pisa, collaborated with the CIM 4.0 in Turin and joined the Innovation Community EIT Manufacturing.
In 2021 the company joined the European Battery Alliance (EBA) and the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA). There it contributed to the European Technology & Innovation Platform (Etip) for batteries and collaborated with the UK Battery Industrialisation Center along with Rockwell Automation for the creation of unified robot control solutions and additional support of the Fincantieri and llika plc. to develop prototypes of robotized steel welding solutions.
In 2022 Comau assisted to expand the manufacturing lines in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco to produce the new 7-seat Jeep Commander SUV. This helped to increase process optimization and control, and at the same time supported Ilika plc. in a study for an All-Solid-State Battery Technology.
In June 2020 Alessandro Nasi was selected as the chairman of Comau, alongside Paolo Carmassi as CEO.
In April 2022 Comau announced the appointment of Pietro Gorlier as the new CEO.
From Wikipedia’s article on Comau, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5