Isotta Fraschini Motori’s Next 120 Years

Isotta Fraschini Motori (IFM) has celebrated today the 120th company anniversary with a live streaming from its Bari headquarters, Italy.

The event was also the occasion for the signature with the local university Politecnico di Bari of an agreement for the constitution of three doctorate research projects: one on methods and strategies for predictive maintenance and remote monitoring for power generation applications; the second on diesel-electric hybrid propulsion systems for marine applications; and the third on smart power management systems.

The agreement was signed live by the Rector of the Politecnico of Bari, Professor Francesco Cupertino; by the Operations Director of IFM, Giovanni Bruno; and the Technical Manager for Isotta’s Innovation & Development Center, Gianluca Piscopo, who is also the company’s referent for the doctorate projects. Sergio Razeto, IFM’s CEO, took part to the live streaming from the company’s operations in Trieste.

Bruno commented on ongoing product developments at IFM, that tie in with the recently approved IFuture plan, which will include the opening of a new innovation center with R&D, a lab for electronic components and a prototype area, located at the Bari headquarters; the project is co-funded by the Apulia region.

Bruno answered a question for more details regarding future product developments, explaining that a new diesel engine will be developed within 2021. The new engine will succeed the current IFM 1700 Series in the range above 2MW. It will be dedicated to marine propulsion and stationary power generation.

Another development project will explore diesel-electric hybrid systems; Bruno and Piscopo commented that at first IFM will look for cooperation with manufacturers of the electric components: electric motors, storage systems, and also fuel cells. In a longer-term perspective IFM does not exclude the possibility of developing some of these components in-house.

Razeto expressed his faith in a bright future for his company and quoted the CEO of IFM’s mother company Fincantieri, Giuseppe Bono, who recently said: “We don’t have to be afraid of the future. Who is afraid of it, might end up not having a future.”

A video of the event – in Italian – is available on IFM’s Facebook page