Tubettificio Favia: Production of Aluminium Tubes since 1934

In Bari, Michele Favia’s job included also buying tubes to contain creams and toothpaste. That is how he gained experience in this field and once the company had closed its business activity, he decided to move to Milan with his family and set up his own company.

His name and signature represented the first logo of the tube company, a symbol which deepened its roots in 1934 and which, today, still represents a philosophy that has managed to unite three generations of entrepreneurs.

In June, the company settled into a rented warehouse in Milan, in via Pisacane, a street that already existed on the outskirts in the second half of the eighteenth century. Just in one of these warehouses the story of Tubettificio M. Favia began.

At the outbreak of the war the company was associated with progress and expansion in production. There were now two warehouses and the generated profits were used to improve the technology the quality. The daily production reached 80.000 units.

Despite this scenario, the war cast its desolate shadow: the growing number of allies’ bombings made everyday life very difficult, and lead and tinned lead are precious materials, both for the wartime industry and for the production of tubes.

1943 was the darkest and most tragic year for the company. Both company warehouses were destroyed from air raids of the 8th and 15th August which only left debris and memories behind them.

In the post-war, whole Italy was willingly to re-construct the country after the damage left by the war.

Also the company was influenced by the general climate of trust and hope for the future. Despite the obvious difficulties and the tension of the post-war, the company went back to buying the machinery necessary for production.

In June 1957, the company moved to Cernusco sul Naviglio. After the move, a new innovation was introduced: the company turned to working with aluminium instead of lead or tinned lead because of economic reasons and also because this new metal material allowed an increase in production from 2000 to 7000 pcs/hour.

The production phases gradually became automated, the grim period came to an end, the reconstruction of the company had been completed, and the company was able to go ahead with normal activity.

Michele Favia, who founded the company, died in May 1964. His son, Giuseppe Favia, took over the responsibility of managing the company.

The new role arrived together with first trade union movement at the beginning of the “famous 1968” with its protest marches and strikes that made the regular development of production more difficult.

Notwithstanding the typical tensions of that period and the oil crisis, the company did not interrupt its development and consolidation.
In 1975, Renato Favia, who was fresh from his degree in engineering, entered to take part in the company, and he brought the third generation of the Favia family with him. His work, in particular, consisted of keeping the processes of production up to standard and to the increasingly necessary computerization of the services to the customers.

It was precisely in those years that they took the decision to put their experience of production and organization gained from particularly demanding customers, into the pharmaceutical market which came to represent more than 90% of production of aluminium tubes.

To keep growing, the company opened a new establishment in the industrial zone in Cernusco sul Naviglio which provides the most suitable working conditions and space for development. After 50 years of activity, it is the turning point in the company, a new beginning and another challenge.

The company decided to adapt to the times and to accept the challenges proposed by the market in an atmosphere of raging competition and epochal changes. Accordingly, in 2001, the company decided to extend the establishment.

The extension work finished after 3 years without slowing the production and without creating any inconvenience to customers.

Besides providing more space for a tidier and more controlled production and more rational warehouses, the new establishment has also created the possibility of having three shifts.

Today, the company produces more than 500,000 tubes a day, also thanks to the human resources who accompany and support the company every day. Together with customers and suppliers, they are the real creators of the company success.

Thanks to Internet and an increasingly globalized world, we continue our expansion with an efficient structure that is already oriented towards international segments.

The aluminium tube with soft nozzle is the ideal application in the pharmaceutical sector, especially in Ophthalmology, Pediatrics and Veterinary, but it is also suitable for a wide array of applications in Cosmetics. The soft plastic tip added makes dispensing and application of the product on the most sensitive parts of the body more easy.

Below are the reasons why the jury decided to award it: “The safety in the product preservation and in application modes are the strengths of the tube, particularly evident if used for drugs as ophthalmic ointments. Particular care has been taken in the realization of small details of the packaging, resulting in an original innovation.”

The Digital Printing ToBeUnique wins the Italian Packaging Oscar again! An important aknowledgement who rewards the unicity of Favia's method of digital printing, involving the aluminium body and the plastic end cap in one printing process.

... better said, two ackowledgemets! Favia as been awarded in two categories: Medical ad Pharmaceutical, with the soft nozzle, and Health and Beauty, with ToBeUnique. The World Packaging Organization is the most important international association of packaging industry.