Mapei

MAPEI is an Italian company founded in 1937 by Rodolfo Squinzi in Milan, Italy. It evolved from a small wall paint producer into a worldwide producer of adhesives, thinsets and sealants for buildings (building materials).

MAPEI stands for "Materiali Ausiliari Per l'Edilizia e l'Industria", Italian for "Auxiliary Materials for Construction and Industry".

History

In the 1930s Rodolfo Squinzi founded MAPEI as a small family business in Milan, Italy, with the intent to fill a void in the local construction industry by manufacturing interior and exterior paints and masonry repair products for commercial buildings, hospitals and airports. MAPEI commenced business on February 12, 1937, with a three-person workforce.

Under Squinzi's guidance, MAPEI expanded its manufacturing to adhesives for laying floors and floor coverings. The company's first adhesives were for linoleum, later followed by ceramic tile, stone, carpet, PVC and wood. As the flooring industry grew, especially the Italian ceramic tile market, MAPEI recognized a need for setting materials that would make tile installation faster and more secure, and developed products accordingly.

Rodolfo's son, Dr. Giorgio Squinzi, an industrial chemistry graduate, now heads MAPEI, which has become a leading manufacturer of mortars, adhesives, grouts, sealants, waterproofing agents, additives for concrete and other specialty products for the building industry. MAPEI remains a family-owned and -operated business and is a privately held entity generating annual revenues of more than one billion euros.

MAPEI Americas

In the 1970s, MAPEI began expanding across Europe and, in 1978, into Canada, where MAPEI Inc. housed the first manufacturing plant outside of Italy. In 1983, Nicholas Di Tempora, a businessperson from Canada, partnered with Dr. Squinzi to create MAPEI Corporation in the United States. In the following years, Di Tempora increased MAPEI Corporation's locations throughout the United States.

Operations in the Western Hemisphere are united under the banner of MAPEI Americas, consisting of affiliates and subsidiaries in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. In 2000, headquarters were moved to Deerfield Beach, Florida, to centralize management of the various operations.

Today, Di Tempora has retired from his position, and Luigi Di Geso serves as President and CEO of MAPEI Americas. Di Geso was formerly the General Manager of Mapei, Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of MAPEI Group.

MAPEI reinvests 5% of its annual sales revenue into research and development of new products. The company's worldwide laboratories work on more than 150 new projects each year.

MAPEI Vietnam

Mapei Vietnam commenced production in 2006 in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, Quang Nam Province. Thanks to the manufacturing facility in Chu Lai, in synergy with the 3 commercial branches in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City, Mapei is set to develop strongly in Vietnam in step with the continuous growth of the country.

Specialty products

One technological improvement recently undertaken by MAPEI is its Fast-Track Ready technology. Identifying a need for completing speedy installations without compromising quality, MAPEI has developed products for the market that reduce the required steps of an installation and/or perform more quickly than current technology.

Fifteen locations in Canada, the United States, the Caribbean and South America employ more than 1,150 people who develop, produce, sell and support MAPEI products in the western hemisphere.

Sports sponsorships

Giorgio Squinzi, the CEO of Mapei Group, which oversees worldwide operations, is a fan of road bicycle racing and under his leadership the company sponsored the team of the same name team Mapei in the 1990s, which included stars such as Johan Museeuw, Andrea Tafi, Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini. The company also sponsored a development team which nurtured the younger generation of riders such as 3-time world time trial champion Michael Rogers, Filippo Pozzato, and many others.

To support its involvement in sports, the company founded the Mapei Sport Center, a training center for endurance sports. Mapei also is a primary sponsor of NASCAR driver/owner Robby Gordon for several races for the 2007 NASCAR schedule. During the 2008 Sprint cup season Mapei sponsored the #7 of Robby Gordon at Kansas Motor Speedway. In 2009, Mapei will be the sponsor of the #7 Toyota driven by Robby Gordon in Phoenix, Daytona, Kansas, and Texas.

External links

• Official worldwide website
• Mapei Sport Center website