AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE EUROSTARS

TITLE: General manager 
COMPANY: Idra 
BASED: Brescia, Italy 
AGE: 65
NATIONALITY: Italian

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Riccardo Ferrario, who holds a degree in metallurgical engineering from Polytechnic of Turin, has more than three decades’ experience in the light alloy foundry business. He has held management positions at global companies, including Teksid, Meridian Technologies and EurAlcom Group. Ferrario joined Idra in 2009.

REASON FOR WINNING

Imagine a single piece of cast aluminum that can replace about 60 separate components that are progressively assembled before becoming a complete sub-assembly. Riccardo Ferrario’s idea for a casting tool that could complete such a task was initially met with skepticism when he revealed it in 2019.

Fast-forward three years, and Idra’s Giga Press, as the machinery is known, is now on the cutting edge of aluminum casting technology, used by major automakers to save weight, time and money. Idra estimates the new production technique can deliver three vehicles in the time it takes for one vehicle to be make using today's typical processes, saving money and making the production process more sustainable. Idra has now sold 24 Giga Presses, in use in the U.S., China and Europe by various companies, reportedly also including a famous EV maker that wants to remain unidentified.