Fifty years and five lasers: Nuova Sider closes the plasma era with a 20 kW bevel PLUS
Nuova Sider turns fifty and celebrates its own way: five laser systems on the floor, and the latest, a 20 kW PLUS with bevel head, has switched off the plasma for good.
Founded in 1975 in the heart of Emilia by Ferdinando Gabellini, together with his brother and a partner, Nuova Sider has grown for fifty years alongside its local supply chain. Today it is led by his daughter, Sabrina Gabellini, managing director, who joined in 1987: she tells us about a transition she calls epochal, toward the technologies without which you no longer stay competitive.
A family company, since 1975
Fifty years are not a symbolic anniversary: they are the measure of a business that has crossed generations, technologies and market cycles without losing its bond with its territory and its people. And at the center of that story stands one figure:
The mind behind everything has always been my dad. Even when conditions did not favor expansion, Nuova Sider remained a family company, with a very concrete vision of work.
Sabrina joined the company in 1987 and has followed the transformation of the machinery and the way of working from up close. Family continuity here is not rhetoric: it is the thread connecting the founding father to today's five lasers.
An evolution built over time, not on trends
For many years Nuova Sider worked with large-format shears, oxyfuel cutting, plasma, 6-to-8-meter press brakes and coil leveling lines. A machine fleet consistent with its era, which over time showed its limits against ever stricter demands on quality, precision and safety.
The starting point of the change, in Sabrina's words, was not productivity: “we revolutionized the working environment starting from safety. It is fundamental to building a company that lasts, together with its people.”
The other half of the method is people: “I have to thank all my collaborators, at every level. They have always trusted me and always listened. It is thanks to them that we managed to change the way we work and stay competitive.” From a managing director, thanking the shop floor first is not a formula: it is how these investments actually succeed.
What it builds today: from base frames to precision parts
Today Nuova Sider works mainly for earthmoving equipment, structural steelwork, signage, vertical warehouses and construction, across a very wide range of thicknesses.
What sets it apart is delivering complete components: from the largest base frames to precision parts, integrating cutting, bending, robotic welding and machining. A customer buying a finished component, not a cut part, judges the supplier on the whole chain.
When plasma is no longer enough
The turning point came with high-power fiber laser. Nuova Sider now runs five laser systems, and the latest is a Cutlite Penta 20 kW PLUS with bevel head. The choice hit two targets:
- replacing plasma completely
- moving onto the laser jobs previously done with oxyfuel or plasma, drastically improving the end result
With the Cutlite Penta laser we get parts that look better, are cleaner and need fewer steps. With oxyfuel or plasma the part always has to be cleaned up. Here the process is more direct, and today that is what customers want.
For customers the difference is immediate: more precision, better perceived quality, faster deliveries. And bevel cutting proved decisive in widening the range of jobs on offer. For when the comparison with plasma tips one way or the other, the conditions are on our plasma or laser page.
Why Cutlite Penta
Before choosing, Nuova Sider evaluated several builders. An investment like this is not just about the present: it defines the company's production future for at least 10 to 15 years. The criteria were concrete: cutting precision, bevel reliability, real speed in production and consistency between what is promised and what is installed.
Sabrina's judgement on that last point is the one that carries the most weight, because it can be verified: “Cutlite Penta proved up to the task. Every expectation created during negotiations was met.” It is the same criterion by which Elletielle chose its 40 kW: you judge on the result, not the promise.
The relationship: Alessio Venturini
The relationship with Alessio Venturini, Cutlite Penta Area Manager for Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont, weighed on this path: he followed Nuova Sider from the earliest stages, building a direct, ongoing dialogue with Sabrina Gabellini. Not a sale, but constant technical discussion, grounded in a real understanding of production needs and a long-term view.
A production system that looks ahead
The laser is part of a wider ecosystem. In recent years Nuova Sider has completed the department with:
- a 90-drawer automatic storage system
- a welding robot
- a machining center
- a bending robot handling bends up to three meters
The declared goal: keep existing customers, attract new ones and shorten response times. It is the same direction as our automation systems: the machine cuts, but the flow around it decides how much it earns.
Market, infrastructure and the future
Nuova Sider is certified to UNI EN ISO 9001 and EN 1090 for metal structures. Where construction once made up a larger share, today the company leans strongly toward earthmoving equipment, following demand.
On the bigger picture, Sabrina speaks as an entrepreneur rather than an optimist: “market uncertainty does not depend on individual companies, but on a broader industrial vision. Italy needs infrastructure: roads, bridges, renovated schools, modern railways, large buildings. Those are orders that would give continuity to the production system.”
Changing technology without disowning your history
Nuova Sider's story says that replacing plasma with laser is not an ideological choice but an industrial one: the outcome of a path made of experience, people and targeted investments. Fifty years after its founding, the company turned a production need into an opportunity to grow, confirming that innovating does not mean disowning your history: it means giving it continuity.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Nuova Sider?
A family company from Emilia founded in 1975 by Ferdinando Gabellini with his brother and a partner, today led by managing director Sabrina Gabellini. It works mainly for earthmoving equipment, structural steelwork, signage, vertical warehouses and construction, and is certified to UNI EN ISO 9001 and EN 1090.
What laser machines does Nuova Sider use?
Five laser systems: the latest is a 20 kW Cutlite Penta PLUS with bevel head, which completely replaced plasma and also absorbed jobs previously done with oxyfuel cutting.
What changed moving from plasma to laser?
Cleaner parts with fewer steps: with oxyfuel and plasma the part always needed rework, while the laser process is more direct. For customers that means more precision, better perceived quality and faster deliveries; bevel cutting also widened the range of jobs on offer.
How does the laser fit into the rest of the department?
The laser is part of a system completed in recent years with a 90-drawer automatic storage system, a welding robot, a machining center and a bending robot for bends up to three meters: the company delivers complete components, from cutting to robotic welding.
Has your plasma had its day too?
Bring us materials, thicknesses and tolerances: cutting gets tested in our DEMO area in Prato, bevel included. And as Sabrina Gabellini says, expectations created in negotiation are there to be met.
