The company specializes in the industrialization of mechanical components for the hydraulic valve sector

Three generations have led a business based in the Bologna area that has made its know-how a constant field for improvement: the company is S.T. Soluzioni Tecnologiche, and speaking with us are CEO Graziano Apadula and Sales & Marketing Manager Federico Apadula, father and son.

How was S.T. founded and what does it do?
«S.T. was founded in 1988, in the Bologna area, born from a passion for entrepreneurship and a mix of expertise: industrial automation on one hand and metal forming tooling on the other. Our business, still today, is the design and production of mechanical components through the ability to industrialize processes and products for manufacturing purposes. We design, in co-design with the client, pre-assembled mechanical components especially for the hydraulic valve sector, and thus for automotive, oil & gas, and high-pressure cleaning industries. Co-design allows us to develop products perfectly aligned with the client’s needs, and compared to standard commercial products, we can offer more precise functional performance and greater efficiency».

Who are your clients and what markets are you present in?
«Our market is B2B, ranging from small businesses to multinationals. Among our clients are some of the leading players in the sectors we serve, and we are already present in several international markets: the United States, China, India, Korea, and Taiwan, to name a few. Our production flexibility allows us to meet a wide range of needs, from a few thousand to millions of units per year. Clients who choose S.T. are looking to develop a tailor-made product that meets very high-quality standards. What we offer is a simplification of their operations, both logistically and in production, through the purchase of a pre-assembled kit (our trademark), which replaces the more common purchase of individual components that would then have to be assembled on the production line».

The same skills you started with are still a great strength today…
«Our know-how in industrial automation has always been a founding feature of S.T. We have applied it from the very beginning in designing and building our in-house fleet of production machines: we developed modular systems, with interchangeable machine formats, allowing us to maintain higher productivity than manual assembly, and greater versatility and speed when switching from one production to another – with machine setups ranging from five minutes to two hours. Another differentiating factor is our guided deformation assembly technology, developed by studying geometries, forces, and high-performance materials. It reshapes the parts by applying axial loads to create a predetermined deformation that forms a joint between components. This joint ensures very high sealing performance and produces a non-disassemblable, tamper-proof product that avoids the functional defects typical of more traditional assembly methods».

Innovation is certainly not lacking: the company has filed several patents that improve existing market products, particularly regarding manufacturing and valve calibration methods. S.T. is also heavily involved in Industry 4.0 and 5.0, with the full digitalization of all processes – management, control, production, and logistics.

And what about the future? What are the next steps?
«We are already working on the design and production of increasingly complex solutions: our goal is to further develop product complexity to increase the value of our offering to clients. For several years, we have also been working on positioning our supplies internationally, both by exploring opportunities in new markets and through the ongoing consolidation of our relationships with global clients».

The growth path of S.T. Soluzioni Tecnologiche is far from over: a company already living in the future, with much still to say – or rather, to do.