CASE STORY 01 — EMMETEC

2020–2025

 

 

ENGAGEMENT PROFILE

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CLIENT
Emmetec

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COMPANY PROFILE
Italian family-owned automotive engineering company · Approx. 80 employees · 70+ years of industrial history · International operations

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MARKET
China

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DSI ROLE
China Market Development & Operating Partner

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MANDATE
Develop, structure and support the long-term growth of Emmetec's business in China, combining market development with local execution.

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PERIOD
2020–2025 · 5 years

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SCOPE OF ENGAGEMENT

Market Development · Business Development · Customer Development · Supplier Development · Local Operations · Technical Support & Customer Training · Brand Development · Industry & Institutional Relations

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ENGAGEMENT MODEL
Long-term operational mandate

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CLIENT INTERFACE
Ownership & Senior Management

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DSI RESPONSIBILITY
Translate the client's strategic objectives into market development and coordinated local execution, while strategic and investment decisions remained with Emmetec.

 

 

Building a market. Not simply entering one.

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THE COMPANY

Emmetec is an Italian family-owned automotive engineering company with around 80 employees and more than 70 years of industrial history.

Specialised in the automotive mechanical sector and already active across several international markets, Emmetec represents a distinctive type of Italian industrial company: medium-sized, technically specialised, family-owned and built around decades of accumulated know-how.

In 2020, the company had strong products, technology and international experience. What it did not yet have was a structured business in China.

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THE CHALLENGE

China offered significant potential, but it was never simply another export market.

The automotive industry is intensely competitive, with a large and increasingly sophisticated domestic manufacturing base capable of supplying good-quality products at highly competitive prices. European products also face structural disadvantages related to importing, logistics, lead times and costs.

And the timing could hardly have been more challenging.

The project began in 2020. For much of the following three years, Covid restrictions severely limited international travel, face-to-face relationships and normal cross-border business development.

Building the market therefore required much more than finding customers and shipping products from Europe. Emmetec needed a local ecosystem.

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WHAT WE BUILT

Through DSI Technology, we worked alongside Emmetec to progressively structure its Chinese business from the ground up.

We developed a professional and reliable network of customers and suppliers, building relationships across the automotive sector with both OEM-related companies and professional repair businesses.

As the market developed, the local presence developed with it.

A dedicated office was established in China, together with a technical and research centre designed to bring Emmetec's know-how closer to the market and provide technical training and support to Chinese customers.

At the same time, we worked on the company's visibility and positioning. Emmetec's presence on Chinese social media was developed to strengthen brand recognition and establish the company as a technical reference within its specialised field.

Commercial development was complemented by industry and institutional relations. We represented Emmetec in its engagement with Chinese institutions and industry organisations, progressively establishing the company as a recognised reference within China's remanufacturing ecosystem and its relevant industry association.

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ADAPTING TO THE MARKET

The business did not develop according to a perfect plan.

Covid, logistics, import constraints, changing market conditions and increasingly capable Chinese competitors repeatedly challenged the original assumptions.

Each of those challenges required adaptation.

Suppliers had to be developed. Customer relationships had to be built locally. Technical knowledge had to become accessible to the Chinese market. Communication had to become local. The company's position within the industry had to be earned over time.

The objective was never to reproduce the European business model in China unchanged.

It was to determine what had to remain Emmetec and what had to become Chinese in order for Emmetec to succeed in China.

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THE RESULT

From virtually zero business to several million euros in sales.

Between 2020 and 2026, China developed into a significant market for Emmetec.

But revenue tells only part of the story.

Today the company has a professional network of customers and suppliers, relationships with OEM-related and professional repair businesses, a local office, technical and research capabilities, customer training activities, stronger brand recognition and an established position within the Chinese remanufacturing industry.

The difficulties encountered during those six years did not simply have to be overcome. They forced the business to learn, adapt and become more resilient.

The Chinese operation is stronger today because of that process — and so is the company behind it.

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THE REAL LESSON

The business was not simply exported to China. It was built there.

Market by market. Relationship by relationship. Problem by problem.