The Milan-based company Resitape is a leader in producing high-quality PTFE tapes and monofilaments, used to insulate electrical cables in airplanes, submarines, and cars.

Take two carbon atoms and four fluorine atoms, combine them and subject the compound to a series of secret industrial processes that shape and modify its characteristics. This is how the magic potion that creates PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) is born, a product that in the form of tapes and monofilaments is used for many applications, from insulating electrical cables in airplanes, submarines, cars and many other applications, to dental floss, and for which the Milan-based company Resitape is among the world leaders.

Thanks to unique characteristics, such as resistance to high temperatures, most chemical agents, and water, PTFE has established itself as an essential and irreplaceable material in many fields, finding applications in industrial, healthcare, aerospace, construction, household appliances, and much more. Contributing to its widespread use has been Resitape, a fast-growing historic Italian company that has established itself in international markets, whose PTFE tapes and filaments have such advanced technical properties that competitors – even the most aggressive ones – often cannot reproduce them.

The Magic Formula of PTFE

“The company was founded in 1962 as a business that produced PTFE machinery, so we have internally developed machinery and unique know-how that is based on our history,” explains Matteo Panizza, CEO of Resitape. “I was actually called to lead what was until a few years ago a family business at a time when, thanks to the acquisition of the majority stake by Ethica Global Investments, a fund that invests in market niches with high growth potential, it was decided to make the leap to a professionally managed company.”

The operation was completed between the end of 2019 and early 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic began spreading from China to the rest of the planet.

“The common denominator of our activity is the raw material, PTFE, which through very complex industrial processes, all internalized to ensure complete control, allows us to create heterogeneous products like the tapes that cover electrical cables in airplanes, which contain about 200 kilometers of electrical cables each and need resistant coating, or like the dental floss sold in pharmacies and supermarkets,” continues Panizza. “Each product, clearly, has its own production line.”

Over 80% of Production Goes Abroad

As for the characteristics that make the Milanese company, whose headquarters and production recently moved to Gessate, a town east of Milan, to a much larger facility than the previous one to meet the needs dictated by the constant growth of activities, there are essentially two.

On one hand, “being so diversified within a single denominator allows us to be resilient during market swings, which is why even during Covid we continued working without a single day of temporary layoff,” emphasizes the CEO.

On the other hand, “we have product and process know-how linked to the human factor, which in the evolution from a family/entrepreneurial company to a professionally managed company has been enhanced thanks to the positive aspects that derive from these two dimensions.”

Moreover, confirming the success of this recipe, which Panizza himself doesn’t hesitate to define as “a magic potion that allows us to compete in an international market where we are a reference point for certified tapes and those with the most complex technical characteristics,” are also the numbers.

In addition to the number of employees, which increased by about 30% in the last four years to reach about sixty, and revenue, which grew from about 7 million euros in 2019 to about 10 million in 2022, there is an export share exceeding 80%.

The products of the Milanese company, which is associated with A.P.I., the Association of Small and Medium Industries, are strictly developed and manufactured at the Gessate facility and are in demand in every corner of the planet. From North America to Australia, from the Middle East to China.

“Ours is a Made in Italy that meets very restrictive technical specifications, which make the production process very challenging and lead us to be sought after for niche applications worldwide,” concludes Panizza.