Our history
40 years of history for a group that has achieved success all over the world thanks to its quality, expertise, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.
THIS IS AETNA GROUP, A LEADING INTERNATIONAL PLAYER
IN THE PACKAGING SECTOR, SPECIALISED IN END-OF-LINE SOLUTIONS AND SUCCESSFULLY LED BY THE AURELI FAMILY.
From semi-automatic wrapping machines with smart technology to the latest generation of automatic machines, from industrial shrinkwrappers to case packers and shrinkwrapping machines, Aetna Group manufactures and markets a wide range of machines and lines capable of responding to equally vast production needs, offering tailor-made packaging solutions.
A synergy of technology, innovation, sustainability, which allows us to be on the international markets in a capillary way, offering in every corner of the world high-performance solutions but tailor-made on the needs of the market and the customer, with extreme attention to the issues of circular economy.
The history of the group begins with the strong entrepreneurial imprinting of Lanfranco Aureli, father of the current President of Aetna Group Alfredo Aureli.
During these years, in Villa Verrucchio, Lanfranco Aureli, together with three other partners, former workers and almost all foundrymen who had lost their jobs, founded SCM-Società Costruzioni Macchine.
The small Rimini-based company dedicated to the production of ploughs and rolling shutters is actually the first example of a great business vision, from which Alfredo will learn and build Aetna Group.
In 1954, along the historic Via Emilia in the renowned Packaging Valley of Emilia-Romagna, OCME was founded during a period of great entrepreneurial effervescence. The name OCME stands for "Officina Costruzioni Meccaniche Emiliana," meaning the Emilian Workshop for Metal Constructions. Italy, emerging from the devastation of World War II, was filled with hope and a strong determination to rebuild, which provided fertile ground for OCME's inception.
Initially, OCME manufactured systems and equipment for the tomato processing industry. By 1958, the company had introduced its first fillers, highlighting its growing focus on packing and filling machines—areas that have since become the cornerstone of OCME’s manufacturing program.
Since its founding, OCME has consistently valued its people as a fundamental resource for success, a principle that continues to drive its growth and innovation.
Alfredo Aureli joins SCM, implementing winning development strategies for the company by working on internationalization and strategic acquisitions, principles that will then be the basis for the realization of the new challenge of Aetna Group.
During these years, Alfredo Aureli decided to diversify and widen the SCM Group's business sphere and, starting from an innovative idea but, above all, from the new market needs, he founded a new company, ROBOPAC, that operates in the packaging industry.
ROBOPAC SISTEMI was born, starting the production of systems and automatic machines for the stabilization of palletized loads with stretch film. The company is characterized by its great ability to design tailor-made solutions with high technological content. The union of Robopac and Robopac Sistemi gave rise to Aetna Group.
The Aetna Group's proposals have been expanded with the entry into the group of DIMAC, the company based in Bologna specialized in the production of shrink wrapping machines. DIMAC has succeeded in imposing itself worldwide through its technological leadership and carries out its activities in various product industries: bottling, canning, food, pet food.
The study of the needs of the markets of reference, conducted through the analysis of the demands and observations of customers has been crucial. In this context, the political and marketing choices have directed the company on very different paths from those of large-scale mass production. DIMAC in fact builds and implements "tailored" projects , able to respond to the most diverse packaging problems.
In this year, the need to be closer and closer to customers and to serve them leads to the establishment of the first foreign branches of Aetna Group: Aetna U.K. and Aetna France. The chosen approach is to create a real staff, the Aetna Group branches can, in fact, count on all the fundamental roles to best serve consolidated customers and help those who appear for the first time in the portfolio of the Group in the choice of a product.
The Internationalization and the creation of a capillary network of service points and branches continues: Aetna Deutschland and Aetna USA are born in these years, officially marking the presence of the group overseas.
Valentina and Enrico Aureli, Alfredo Aureli's children, join the management of the company. After an international experience, in 2005 they will become CEOs.
The strengthening of the Group's branches continues with the inauguration of the Moscow branch. The Russian market is also served by Aetna Russia.
This is the year that marks the entry of Prasmatic into Aetna Group: overlap shrink wrapping machines, wrap around case packers, tray packers and combined lines, mainly dedicated to the food industry. A further step towards the consolidation of a product portfolio that is increasingly incisive in terms of the offer breadth, technological quality and tailor-made solutions.
The Group becomes global with bases all over the world, in fact in this year Aetna China was founded to serve Asia and to propose solutions developed specifically for production in China.
Internationalization and control of the main world markets, production local for local and completion of the product range, a technical assistance service ever closer to the customer. Aetna Group continues its growth by adding another important piece, which allows to increase its presence in the Brazilian market: the acquisition of the Brazilian companies IMSB and Rotac, based in Bento Gonçalves, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
IMSB and Rotac - very well known brands in Brazil - are specialized in the design, production and assembly of machines and low speed solutions for packaging dedicated to some areas of the Brazilian market. They have more than 120 employees and develop a turnover of 25 million reals.
2015 sees also the birth of Aetna Iberica, a strategic operation for improving synergies and internationalization, aimed at improving the speed of information exchange between customers and the company and strengthening the Group's competitive capacity.
In the same year TopTier joined the Group. It is a company based in Portland (Oregon - USA), at the forefront of palletizing and simultaneous wrapping technology with stretch film.
In order to be more and more competitive and efficient on markets all over the world, Aetna Group signs an agreement with OCME, which effectively becomes part of the group, bringing important know-how in terms of design and production of automatic filling, secondary packaging, palletizing and complete systems machines.
OCME marks an important step in the evolution of Aetna Group, marking the development of a business characterized by a strong internationalization, but which looks to the territory as a resource to draw from for a continuously growing business. In 2019 OCME will become fully part of Aetna Group with its 100% acquisition.
The following year, 2018, it was the turn of Sotemapack, a company from Anzola dell'Emilia whose share capital was acquired by Aetna Group to further strengthen its position as a player in the Bologna packaging valley worldwide.
In 2022, Aetna Group reached a significant milestone by acquiring Meypack, a renowned technology leader celebrated for its high-quality and innovative end-of-line products in the food, spirits, and home & personal care sectors, both in Germany and internationally. This acquisition is a strategic move aligned with Aetna Group's plan to expand externally, establish production in key manufacturing regions, and broaden its product range in the food and personal care markets.
One Global Company: 40 years of history, Aetna Group confirms itself as a successful reality, present all over the world in a capillary way with 13 branches and 9 production plants that guarantee the quality and the values of the parent company, allowing a 24/7 assistance service and a tailor-made design on the needs of the customer and of the reference market.
The history of Aetna Group is therefore a constantly evolving path, which looks to the future with renewed prospects for growth and innovation, projecting itself more and more into the world of Industry and Enterprise 4.0, sustainability and Green Economy with enabling technologies related to the collection and efficient processing of big data, from cloud/industrial edge to artificial intelligence applied to predictive diagnostics and machine learning.
