Sampling and Prototyping at Anodica, an interview with Marco Barbacetto

Marco Barbacetto, Head of Sampling and Prototyping at Anodica, explains the corporate value of prototyping in the process involving the development and knowledge of each product.

rototyping is a fundamental corporate aspect. It allows you to understand the feasibility, the level of project engineering and the critical points of a product before going ahead with its development and releasing it on the market. Making a prototype therefore enables us to develop ideas, validate concepts, gather feedback, explore technologies, make decisions, discover further opportunities for improvement, as well as understand the dynamics and functions of a product.

Depending on its use, a prototype can therefore be functional or conceptual. A functional prototype can be used to explore costs and cycle times, to set up new collections at various trade fairs or to present the physical and aesthetic performance of the item to designers. A conceptual prototype, instead, can be used to present new finishes to customers or simply to investigate and anticipate market trends.

The “journey” that leads from a concept to an initial physical prototype is therefore crucial for storing experiences that can be put into practice during the project engineering phase in order to perfect mass production. As Confucius said: “Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s own ignorance.” In my opinion, this should be the mantra and incentive to comprehensively and efficiently complete the prototyping process.

Needless to say, all this information and experience (both personal and corporate) needs to be carefully stored to avoid losing any accumulated know-how even if the object does not lead to a product roll-out.

I have undertaken the task and the honour of overseeing the prototyping phase of all Anodica products since late 2019, getting back into the swing of things after 15 years at the company. I’m fulfilling this new role by putting responsibility, passion, dynamism and ambition into it. Hence, quality, speed and meeting customer expectations are the focus of my everyday activities which are most varied; whether internal, external, known or unexplored.”

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