The name “Acciaierie Ferriere Vicentine” encloses the entire history of a company built in 1896 by its founder, Antonio Beltrame, who arrived in Vicenza and chose to devote himself to the processing of barrel hoops, horseshoes, and carriage wheel rims, before moving on to mechanical repairs, small carpentry with forge and manufacture of wire rod nails.

With the early development of his enterprise, the founder immediately proved to be a careful innovator. He realised the advantages of electrical energy over thermal energy and invested, year after year, in the growth of the workshop, adding foundry, wire drawing and punching shop departments, right up to the hardware shop. Within a few years, the “Premiato Stabilimento Meccanico a forza elettrica con Fonderia Antonio Beltrame” established itself quickly in terms of competence and quality. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Beltrame factory produced steam engines, compressors, pumps, bridges, canopies, transmissions, and equipment for mills and industrial plants.

However it soon opened to an increasingly broader market, with a focus on the organisational model, innovations and technical progress, work ethics and a primitive but effective form of corporate welfare. All these characteristics have been maintained as the company has grown and internationalised to this day.

The correspondence between the family name and the company – which at the time also represented a physical contiguity between factory and home – as well as the participation and contribution of all the family members, allowed the culture of productivity, quality and change to be merged with a deep-rooted spirit of belonging.

This last aspect has led to a harmonious synthesis between the culture of the family business and the characteristics of the managerial company, which feeds the spirit with which today Beltrame management interprets business and its growth, combining tradition, progress, modernity, and improvement.

Acciaierie Ferriere Vicentine Beltrame has gone through three industrial revolutions, and today has become a leading international steel company: AFV Beltrame Group.

Three plants are situated in Italy: Vicenza, San Giovanni Valdarno (AR) and San Didero (TO).

The Beltrame Group considers the respect and protection of the health and safety of workers and of the environment in which its plants are located, fundamental principles to be followed in carrying out its activities. This vision is implemented by favouring dialogue with employees, providing them with adequate training and continuous awareness and involvement.

The Vicenza headquarters has the task of coordinating activities concerning the management of Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) issues, defining lines of action, monitoring their application, and coordinating the activities carried out in the individual Italian and foreign plants. In each plant, resources specifically trained and dedicated to the management of activities on the subject are allocated.

It is the Group’s intention to follow the principles below:
• integrate the concepts of environment, health, and safety at work into company management;
• preventively assess the risks of each work activity performed within the Group’s sites, to be able to implement appropriate actions to prevent accidents or occupational diseases and in any case to minimise, as far as technically possible, the severity and probability of such events;

• comply with the laws and other prescriptions voluntarily subscribed to, concerning the environment, health, and safety of workers, by means of continuous updating activities and timely verification of compliance with the prescriptions;
• promote continuous and effective communication activities with all interested parties (employees, customers, contractors, suppliers, institutions, citizens) and information/training, where required, in relation to health and safety and environmental issues, to ensure an adequate level of awareness;
• constantly monitor, for continuous improvement, environmental aspects and residual health and safety risks, using appropriate control tools and monitoring systems.

Based on these principles, the Group develops programs aimed at continuously improving the efficiency and effectiveness of its processes and systems, setting objectives and targets to

• promote the reduction of risks of injury, occupational diseases, health, and safety at work for all employees;
• pursue the reduction of its significant environmental impacts (atmospheric emissions, waste production, energy consumption and water consumption).

In this context, the Group has made significant investments in plants and human resources development in recent years.