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 Content from
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Italy
Leading European recovery with quality and innovation
One of the first and hardest-hit by the pandemic in Europe, Italy’s bounce
back has also been one of the strongest on the continent. The European
Commission recently forecast real GDP growth will hit 6.2% this year, up from
5% in earlier projections, and as the biggest single beneficiary of European
Union recovery fund spending, green and digital investment is set to soar.
Already a leader in advanced manufacturing, and a major European exporter,
Italy is fast-emerging to become the EU’s greatest economic success story.

T
he country benefits from its
leadership: Mario Draghi, the former
head of the European Central Bank,
who became prime minister February
2021. Widely viewed as the savior of
the eurozone during the 2011/12 crisis,
Draghi’s steady and competent leadership
came at the exact right moment. Economic
reforms to attract investment are a top
priority according to the prime minister:
“The state’s task is to use the levers
of research and development spending,
education and training, regulation,
incentives and taxation. Some of [the
reforms] concern problems that have
been open for decades but should not
be forgotten. These include the certainty
of regulations and public investment
plans, factors that limit investment
both from Italians and foreigners.”
Italy is the world’s eighth largest Mario Draghi
economy, with GDP standing at $1.85 Prime Minister of Italy
trillion in 2020, and GDP per capita
at $31,360. The country’s economic “Italy is living an exceptional moment “Historically speaking, we’re viewed as
engines include its robust, export- from the point of view of economic growth a great country all over the world. The
driven manufacturing sector, a strong and international trust. And it remains an ‘Made in Italy’ brand, which we export with
and internationalized financial services interesting country for many reasons: there fashion, with gastronomy and other Italian
sector, and perhaps most importantly, an is quality, professionalism, competence; excellencies, is popular all over the world.
expansive economic recovery agenda. it is very entrepreneurial and business As for business, many companies in Italy
Draghi has said he views the pandemic oriented. It’s not just fashion or more well- are key and fundamental to other European
as an opportunity to use the EU’s seven- known industries. There are many that nations, and also in the US, because we
year, €1.1 trillion recovery fund and budget are less well known, but just as strong.” provide the best quality products and raw
to kick-start growth, improve productivity, Even before the pandemic, Italy was materials they need,” said Gianluca Roda,
and build up human capital. This is punching above its weight. It is the president of the RodaSteel Corp Group.
important because Italy is the largest single second-largest manufacturing country The attractiveness of the Made in
beneficiary of EU recovery fund spending, in Europe, with the US International Italy brand is evident in the country’s
with €191.5 billion in grants and low- Trade Administration (ITA) reporting recent export growth. According to the
interest loans allocated until 2026. It’s also Italian producers are particularly strong United Nations Conference on Trade and
welcome news for Antonio Marcegaglia, in sectors including machine tools, Development, merchandise exports rose
chairman and CEO of leading steel fashion, food products, automotive, and jumped by more than 30% between 2005
producer Marcegaglia, who argued that pharmaceuticals. Producers in Italy benefit and 2020, hitting $496.1 billion last year
a wave of new economic growth will help from the country’s strong reputation: despite exporters being hit hard by Covid-19.
the country play to its existing strengths: Made in Italy is synonymous with quality. Recovery has been strong in 2021,

however, with manufacturing revenues
soaring by 105% y-o-y in April 2021,
marking the fifth consecutive month of
growth in industrial production, and a
return to pre-pandemic growth levels. This
is likely owing to the fact that so many
successful Italian manufacturers tend to
be export-driven. It’s certainly the case
at multinational steel producer Intals, as
managing director Marco Vedani recounted:
“Our main business was from the very
beginning European, as the main clients
for our products are located in Europe,
due to logistic costs and efficiency. But
we did not forget about the rest of the
world. We are in a commodity business,
and it is a global business. China was
becoming a leader in this world, so we
built a connection in China, Japan, the US,
and South America to have a daily vision
of what is going to happen in those parts.”
Italian manufacturers also tend to invest
more in advanced manufacturing activities,
putting the country in an ideal position to
capitalize on EU recovery spending, which
prioritizes digital and green spending
above all else. Sustainable investment
forms a core part of the Italian national
recovery plan – some 37% of spending,
nearly €71 billion, will be allocated to
measures that support climate objectives.
Zanetti - Passion, perseverance, and tradition
E
xports are an increasingly important mainstay
of the Italian economy. The United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development
reports that merchandise exports jumped by 33%
between 2005 and 2020 to end the year at $496.1
billion, and they are set to continue rising sharply
as global demand rebounds. Cheese producers
in particular are set to benefit: Italian cheese
exports have doubled over the past decade to
average more than $3 billion annually, leaving
domestic leader Zanetti, the largest exporter
of Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano
cheese, on the cusp of another major growth spurt.
Founded in 1900, Zanetti expanded across Italy
between the 1920s and 1940s under the watchful
leadership of its founder, Guido Zanetti. Over
three generations the Zanetti family’s passion,
perseverance and tradition kept the company
on a growth path during some truly difficult
decades, and with the acquisition of a dairy plant
in Marmirolo in 1946, the family began looking
beyond Italy’s borders. In the decades since,
Zanetti has grown to become a leading Italian
producer, all without losing its family values.
Zanetti produces top-quality, authentic cheeses
including Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano,
in addition to trading and exporting Italian-
made specialties including Buffalo Mozzarella,
Mascarpone, Burrata, Provolone, Pecorino, as well
as several regional specialties. Today the company
operates nine branches and maturation sites across
the Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano
regions. It also matures, packs, and markets, and
Luckily, green and sustainable thinking is
a not a new concept for Italian businesses.
“What many people do not know is that
the number of certified Italian companies
is enormous. Companies are certified in
health and safety, energy consumption,
recycling – Italians recycle 95% of products,”
explained Marco Nocivelli, CEO of EPTA.
Some, including Iris Ceramica
Group, are already well ahead of the
curve in innovative and sustainable
investment. The forward-thinking group is
currently investing in a hydrogen-fueled
manufacturing facility – a landmark moment
for Italian manufacturing, according
to group president Romano Minozzi:
“The cost of hydrogen is dropping
compared to coal, or even to other fuels.
The future is hydrogen. We are investing in
the ceramic sector and we think it will be a
step further in investing in green hydrogen.
The plant will be commissioned by the
end of 2022, and it will be one-of-a-kind.”
Investors were already taking note of
Italy’s strengths before the pandemic:
according to UNCTAD, Italy was among
the world’s top ten investor economies
by foreign direct investment (FDI) stock
in 2019, with FDI stocks surging from $2
billion in 2015 to hit $4 billion in 2019.
For Vittorio Bertazzoni, CEO of high-
Attilio Zanetti
Chairman and CEO - Zanetti SPA
its state-of-the-art packing facilities are one of its
distinctive strengths, giving it the capacity to service
retailers and the food service industry worldwide.
Zanetti was one of the first Italian dairy companies
to internationalize in 1948, when it launched
exports to Europe and the US, and the products
were a hit from the very beginning. A strong focus
on investment in the region, 100% Italian local
Content from
The International Investor
end appliance manufacturer SMEG, this
is attributable to its highly-skilled and
internationalized workforce, which has
helped strengthen its brand and reputation:
“Our schools and education system
encourage and help to produce first-rate
entrepreneurs. The Italian economic
system is one of the best in the world with
valid and dynamic managers in all sectors
all over the globe. If I were an international
businessman investing in Italy, I would buy
into something that is genuinely ‘Made
in Italy,’ as this is our main strength.”
Perhaps most significantly, the Italian
people pulled together during the
pandemic, and a spirit of unity continues to
guide the country today. Economic growth
is surging, FDI is set to rebound as new
recovery fund opportunities arise, and
Europe’s powerhouse exporter is setting
the right example with a detailed and
comprehensive reform and spending plan.
During a speech addressing the fall-out of
the pandemic, Draghi himself prioritized
cohesion and strength in numbers:
“Today, unity is not an option, unity is
a duty. But it is a duty guided by what I
am sure unites us all: the love for Italy.
There has never been, in my long
professional life, a moment of such intense
emotion and such great responsibility.”
milk suppliers, infrastructure and technology, and
respect for both tradition and quality also helped,
as Chairman and CEO Attilio Zanetti highlighted:
“My father and uncle carried on the tradition of our
founder. The family is competent and passionate
about the work, and we’ve taken the initiative to go
around the world to offer our products and build up
credibility, with the help of good distributors. We
put our money back into our profits, we don’t pay
dividends, and we always reinvest in the company.”
The company takes great pride in its care
for the environment and love of its land, and
thus has also been quick to embrace strong
sustainability practices, obtaining a 100%
renewable energy certification, drastically
reducing the amount of water it uses in production,
and re-using biproducts to reduce food waste.
Customers love Zanetti cheese, and its
premium products remain in high demand around
the world. As he looks to the future, Zanetti
hopes to continue building on this success by
expanding further into retail markets in the more
than 90 countries where the company operates.
“We are dedicated to the continuous pursuit
of quality, to strong relationships with our clients,
and to the highest principles of sustainability. All
these factors ensure that our consumers worldwide
can appreciate the real taste and quality of Italian
cheese, and ours even more so,” he concluded.
 Content from
The International Investor

Iris Ceramica Group

Sustainable high-tech advances changing the face of the ceramics industry
Italy is known for its food and tourism, but the country’s manufacturing sector is also a key area
of economic activity, and there is increasingly good news from the sector. In the first six months
of 2021, manufacturing turnover in Italy grew by 27.4% compared to the same period of last year,
according to the Italian national statistics bureau, albeit with 2020 figures strongly impacted by
the global pandemic. Italian exports are forecasted to grow by 9.6% in 2021, and 7.9% in 2022.

M
eanwhile, the global ceramic
materials market is booming. The
sector was worth an estimated $210
billion in 2020, and is expected to grow
to around $295 billion by 2027, driven by
the global construction industry, as well
as advanced, high-tech ceramic offerings.
A world leader when it comes to the
production of ceramic surfaces for wall, floor
coverings and design application (for example
furniture), the entrepreneurial activity carried
out by Iris Ceramica Group has been operating
out of Italy since 1961. Group founder and
president Romano Minozzi started his
career in banking, before transitioning into
the ceramic sector. “Ceramics make people
feel comfortable, there is also a strong bond
between nature, man and ceramics, tracing
back to prehistoric times,” he says. “Ceramics
are connected to the earth and fire; they
are noble-earth elements forged by fire.”
The Group has grown significantly over Romano Minozzi
the last few decades with consolidated net President and Founder - Iris Ceramica Group
revenue of around €500 million, a presence
in more than 100 countries worldwide, and patents, yields outstanding photocatalytic At the same time, ceramics production
more than 1500 direct employees. The ceramics with cutting-edge characteristics is an energy-intensive industry and Iris
Group’s ceramic materials are used for that work with any kind of lighting, natural Ceramica Group has been looking at ways
residential, retail, industrial and architectural or artificial, as well as LED lamps. They to be more sustainable paving the way for a
projects all around the world, with a also work in the dark. “We have developed new era for the ceramic manufacturing. In
meaningful turnover coming also from the a state-of-the-art industrial process which September, the Group signed a memorandum
USA, where it has a production facility. combines titanium dioxide with silver,” says of understanding (MoU) with Snam, an energy
From early on, Iris Ceramica Group Minozzi. “This comes from old Japanese infrastructure company and one of Italy’s
introduced a series of innovative processes procedures that make ceramics antiviral and largest listed companies, for the development
and products, while also acquiring antibacterial. We have also tested it against of the first ceramic factory in the world to be
technological patents that have become a key SARS-CoV-2 with meaningful results,” he says. powered by green hydrogen, produced with
point of reference for the ceramics industry. Active Surfaces® have been tested a blend of green hydrogen and natural gas.
The Group has invested heavily into R&D according to ISO standards. “We are just at the The facility, being developed in the
over the years, as part of effort to create and beginning, and the strength of ceramics will Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, is set
manufacture cutting-edge ceramic surfaces improve in the following years,” Minozzi adds. to be completed by the end of 2022 and
that, among other things, combine antibacterial In recent years Iris Ceramica Group has will include a 2.5 MW photovoltaic plant
and antiviral properties with anti-pollution, anti- been expanding its operations and sales on the roof of the factory, combined with
odour and self-cleaning efficacies. Recent networks, at worldwide level, with particular an electrolyser and a storage system for
efforts have focused on areas like antibacterial attention to the US, Europe and Germany, renewable hydrogen produced on site. “It’s
and antiviral properties, timely given the especially, where the Group has an other the future. The cost of hydrogen is dropping
global pandemic. “People have discovered manufacturing plant. Minozzi says that compared to coal, and even to other fuels.
the importance of hygiene and ceramics are developers and architects around the entire The future is green hydrogen,” says Minozzi.
hygienic, characterized by superior quality. world are increasingly interested in using When it comes to his home country, Minozzi is
Ceramics can be considered as one of the most large-scale ceramic slabs in building interiors. complimentary, but says that Italy must improve
performing and noblest material,” says Minozzi. “We have the United Arab Emirates, we have on its international marketing when it comes
In 2009, the Company developed a high- China, which is buying our ceramic slabs, to its forward-looking industries. “We must
end ceramic surface, called Active Surfaces®, we cover the whole world,” he says. Minozzi improve our marketing activities, like Germany
which has a strong effectiveness against also points to the fact that ceramics are does with their strategic sectors,” he says.
bacteria and viruses, according to recent also strongly connected to fashion, trends
studies conducted by the University of Milan. and design. Authentic beauty and high-end
The technology, which has two European technical features are summed up in ceramics.
 Content from
The International Investor

Smeg - Style and substance

The monuments of ancient Rome, Michelangelo, Vivaldi, Federico Fellini, Armani – Italy
is world-renowned for its creative brilliance and style. For millennia, the country has been
one of the globe’s greatest cultural exporters. This artistic genius is paired with enviable
industrial strength. Italy is one of the world’s top-ten manufacturing countries, ranking
second in the European Union, according to the UN. European Commission statistics show
that Italy produces nearly a fifth of the EU’s manufacturing output. Industrial activity has
been accelerating rapidly in 2021 as Italy’s economy has bounced back from the covid-19
crisis, and the sector looks set to be an engine of growth again in the coming years.
Few companies demonstrate the Italian combination of creative artistry and
high-tech manufacturing vigour than home appliance manufacturer Smeg.

F
ounded in 1948 as Smalterie Metallurgiche
Emiliane Guastalla, the family company’s
eye-catching designs have become
recognised globally. Matching Italian design
with the latest technology, Smeg’s products
reflect the company’s commitment to improving
home life through both beauty and functionality.
“We come from a country in which beauty,
aesthetics, and history are very important –
this is one of Italy’s strengths,” says Smeg
chairman Roberto Bertazzoni. “We have started
to think that style is a technology, and a very
complicated one: good taste, respect of the final
consumer, quality of life in the home, and trying
to understand what will happen in the future.”
Bertazzoni says that the company’s strategy
and philosophy was shaped around fifthy years
ago, with cooperation between entrepreneurs and
architects. Smeg works with leading Italian and
international architects, including Renzo Piano,
the leading Italian architect of his generation Vittorio Bertazzoni Roberto Bertazzoni
with buildings including Paris’s Pompidou CEO - Smeg Chairman - Smeg
Centre and The Shard in London to his name.
Smeg also boasts a line of cooktops and ovens a half. People across the globe have spent more predominantly parkland, and has a first-class
designed by Australian industrial designer Marc time in their kitchens, and desired to beautify them restaurant for workers, as befits an Emilia-
Newson, famed for his use of smooth geometric while improving the quality of their appliances. Romagna company. This commitment embraces
lines. Smeg’s 50s style refrigerators may be The company has taken on nearly 300 young the environment as well: Smeg has invested nearly
one of its best-known products; the company new staff to meet rising international sales. $4.0m$ in photovoltaic panels, and by the end
was a pioneer in producing them in a range It expects turnover to reach nearly $1bn this of 2022 will be able to meet the residual energy
of colours, even following interactions with year, with 85% of that coming from outside needs of its Group plants by supplying certified
many iconic Companies. Why, the question Italy. Smeg is particularly strong in Europe and green electricity generated from 100% renewable
was asked, must they always be white? Australia, but has branches worldwide. Sales sources and methane gas with zero impact on
Recently, Smeg joined forces with have been growing at 50-60% in the United greenhouse gas emissions. “We put all our efforts
Dolce&Gabbana to create the Sicily Is My States in recent years. The company’s medical into doing our best, and to being on the ‘right side
Love small domestic appliances range, equipment division is also an area of expansion. of humanity’,” says Bertazzoni. “We not only work
designed by Matteo Bazzicalupo and Raffaella Despite its global business, the company for profit, but also to be a good company, doing our
Mangiarotti of Milan studio Deepdesign. The remains grounded in its values and its home best every day and committed to sustainability.”
series draws on D&G’s Sicilian homeland, in Guastalla, a town of elegant Renaissance It all comes back to essential Italian values. The
with flamboyant motifs featuring gold lemons, buildings near the Po river in the region of Emilia- Bertazzoni family are devoted to their country, and
citrus fruits, prickly pears, and red cherries. Romagna, one of Italy’s culinary heartlands. confident of its future. “We feel optimistic about
“Smeg has allowed people all over the world Smeg’s leadership keeps firmly grounded, the future,” Bertazzoni says. “Humanity has a love
to buy products designed by a very prominent keeping in close contact with international for food, and Italy has a lot to say there. But it also
architects and designers but at accessible prices,” colleagues whom they know personally, and has one of the best economies in the world, with
says Vittorio Bertazzoni, son of Roberto and operating as much as a community as a business. very strong manufacturing and product innovation
current CEO and vice President of Smeg. “What is “We have branches all over the world, but we and excellent entrepreneurs. If you respect
around the family home is important, and we think have human scale,” says Bertazzoni. “That is Italian tradition, you can be very successful.
our products, with colourful and beautiful design, very important for us. The Italian attitude is to “Made in Italy” can be a very interesting
participate in a positive way to quality of life.” have human relationships at work, and deal proposition for international investors.
With such an emphasis on aesthetics as well with people in a frank and transparent way.”
as functionality, the company has seen a surge This respectful, attentive approach is reflected
in demand for its products over the past year and in Smeg’s Guastalla headquarters site, which is
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Marcegaglia - Pioneering steel sustainability

With a Gross Value Added of €140 billion if direct, indirect and induced
effects are factored in, Europe’s steel industry is the second-largest in
the world, and a major engine of economic global growth. While Eurofer
expects a year of healthy expansion on the continent, Marcegaglia, a
leading Italian and European industrial group in steel processing sector, is
ready for new growth under a pioneering and visionary business strategy.

E
stablished in 1959, Marcegaglia
started as a small factory specializing
in roller shutter and open profile
manufacturing in northern Italy. It has
grown operations over the years to become
the largest independent player in the global
steel processing sector, and the world’s
top producer of stainless and carbon
steel welded tubes. It owes its success to
an artful combination of a dynamic family
business model, a hands-on, people-
centric approach to doing business,
an entrepreneurial ethos, and a strong
presence in international markets, according
to Chairman and CEO Antonio Marcegaglia:
“Our inspiration comes from the
founders, my parents, and how they have
interpreted the roles of businessmen:
with vision and a responsibility towards
stakeholders, the territory, the social
fabric, and sustainability. Both my sister
Emma and I have always believed that
“doing business” cannot be strictly only a
search for profit. Businesses have a social
role in generating and distributing wealth
and wellbeing. We are working side by
side with our people, within our territory.
And we conceive our group as something
beyond the interest of the owners. This
is what doing business means to us”.
Today Marcegaglia serves more than
15,000 clients with a broad product
range that includes flat products, tubes,
low carbon, high carbon, and stainless
steel. It processes between 5.7 million
and 6.2 million tons of steel annually,
with a turnover that is expected to reach
this year €7.5 billion, and it employs
more than 6.600 people at 28 plants
and 60 sales offices around the world.
And the company has done remarkably
well during trying times, remaining
resilient during the most challenging
and unprecedented shocks in recent
memory, including a 12% decline in
Emma and Antonio Marcegaglia
European steel consumption last year:
“Despite last year’s downturn, we were
able to increase our volumes by 2.7% in real
terms. This is quite significant. Profit wise,
we were quite stable compared to 2019. We
handled the pandemic safely, and remained
credible and reliable to our customer base.
2021 will be the best year ever in the
group history”, Marcegaglia recounted.
It’s not only family values and global
reach that make the company unique:
Marcegaglia’s approach to sustainability
also sets it apart from many of its peers. The
metal industry accounts for 7% of the global
carbon emission footprint, and Marcegaglia
has taken a leading role in setting the right
example during the ongoing green transition,
focusing much of its investment on new,
clean, and green technologies to support
European and global climate targets.
The company is a pioneer in green
investment, most notably with its recent
participation in a green steel project slated
for construction in Boden, northern Sweden.
The H2 Green Steel (H2GS) complex will be
the world’s first zero emissions steel plant.
Expected to be operational in 2024, and
in anticipating of meeting the European
Union’s net-zero targets for 2050, the H2GS
complex will initially produce 2.5 million
tons of green steel annually, eventually
scaling up production to 5 million tons by
2030. It will be fuelled using only renewable
local energy sources for green hydrogen
production – namely, wind and hydropower
– as well as high quality, local iron ore.
As one in a consortium of forward-thinking
investors, Marcegaglia is also providing his
industrial know-how, on both commercial
and down steel production sides. It will be
the main commercial partner in off taking and
distributing the products in South Europe.
The project is emblematic of
Marcegaglia’s deep commitment to
sustainability. And it’s not only good for the
planet, it’s profitable: Demand for fossil-
free steel is growing rapidly, with strong
interest from sectors including automotive,
commercial vehicles, white goods, furniture,
and construction. Looking forward,
Marcegaglia sees this as the future of the
industry, and he’s almost certainly correct:
“We want to be innovative, evolving
our product line and further strengthening
our competitiveness in terms of cost
with a special eye on sustainability and
energy savings. I already have customers
asking to reserve capacity from the
H2GS plant since now, for which many
are willing to pay a green premium. It’s
the right direction to go,” he concluded.

Bonfiglioli
A global footprint from an Italian industrial leader
Italy is in bounce-back mode. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) says it expects the country’s GDP to rise by
almost 6% this year, and by over 4% in 2022, in line with other forecasts,
with economic output returning to pre-pandemic levels by early 2022.
I
taly’s recovery from the pandemic is
being strongly aided by the country’s
manufacturing sector, which is experiencing
a period of rapid expansion. The IHS
Markit Italy Manufacturing Purchasing
Managers’ Index is close to its record high,
with IHS Markit pointing to rapid upturns in
both output and new orders, and with job
creation staying close to its recent peak.
Among those that are thriving are Italian
companies with strong global footprints.
Bonfiglioli, a family-run business, has long
been a global leader in gear-motors and drive
systems, with a long-term vision as well as a
commitment to the regions in which it operates.
The company was founded in 1956, a
golden period for the Italian economy, by
Clementino Bonfiglioli, and from early on
has focused on three key pillars: advanced
manufacturing, innovation in products and
internationalisation. “We have roots in
all continents, so we’re able to balance:
when one market decreases there’s an
increase in another market,” says Sonia
Bonfiglioli, Clementino’s daughter and
the current Chairwoman of Bonfiglioli.
In 2020 the company made €921 million,
up from €789 million just five years earlier.
It has 15 plants and 20 branches around
the world, along with over 4,000 employees
and seven R&D centres: three in Italy and
the others in Germany, India and China.
By 1992 Bonfiglioli was already one of
the leading manufacturers in Italy. However,
a key pillar of its growth has been the
internationalisation of the company, starting
with a factory in Spain in 1968, which then
became a branch, and grew from there.
Bonfiglioli’s first plant outside of Europe
was in India, where the company completed
an acquisition in 2001. “Europe was the
first phase of our internationalisation,
until the 1980s, and then we moved to go
out of Europe: USA, Asia, South Africa.
It’s been a constant activity to become
more international, and not only to create
branches but to have a real manufacturing
activity outside of Italy,” says Bonfiglioli.
While Europe, Middle East, Africa still
make up the bulk of Bonfiglioli’s sales,
Asia-Pacific is gaining fast, representing
Bonfiglioli Team with Sonia Bonfiglioli
a third of sales in 2020, with the company
looking to grow across all geographical
areas and through all of its divisions.
In 2008 the company implemented a new
business unit organisational structure. “We
produce gear-motors for different sectors,
and it’s a totally different approach when
you supply an industrial company or when
you supply Siemens or Caterpillar, for
example,” says Bonfiglioli. “The business
approach is totally different so we have
produced these new organisations that
move from R&D, up to supply, you have
the production and purchases in the middle,
and they’re customised for the different
needs of the different sectors,” she adds.
Nowadays, Bonfiglioli’s discrete
manufacturing and process industries
business unit manufactures over 1.5 million
products a year, focusing on gearboxes,
geared motors, and electric motors for all
types of industrial processes and automation.
Its motion and robotics business unit offers
customised integrated solutions focused
on Industry 4.0, and is active across glass
and wood processing, textiles, food and
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beverages and pharmaceuticals, while
its mobility and wind industries unit is an
undisputed world leader, with a market share
of over 35% when it comes to supplying wind
turbine gearboxes to major global players.
After Bonfiglioli’s father passed away in
2010 there were multiple offers to buy the
company, but the family wanted it to continue
with the same values it has had since the
beginning. In 2015, Bonfiglioli also began a
wholesale digitisation program, as part of its
continued commitment to innovation and with
the increasingly technical manufacturing skills
required at the company. “We started the
Bonfiglioli digital training, with 200 hours of
re-training for our employees for them to feel
confident that they wouldn’t lose their jobs and
could find the right skills to become a positive,
proactive resource for the group,” she says.
This also meant that when Covid hit, the
company was ready to move to a digital
learning platform, the Bonfiglioli Academy,
which was inaugurated in October 2020
and extends to employees all around the
world. “We’ve always had multi-sector and
multi-geographical balance, which are very
strong points,” Bonfiglioli says. “However, I
think the most important thing is that we’re
an ethical company, we have strong values,
every worker feels like part of the company.”
Bonfiglioli also embraces the Japanese
concept of ”gemba”, which promotes a lean
manufacturing approach where hands-on
knowledge is transferred between workers
as opposed to relying on theoretical learning.
Bonfiglioli believes that Italy is changing
a lot. Emilia Romagna, the region where
Bonfiglioli is headquartered, is one of
the best regions to work in, she adds. “A
lot of sectors have their roots here and
this is very important. Historically we
have automotive and motorbike sectors –
Lamborghini, Ducati, Ferrari – and we also
have all the sectors that are moving towards
electrification today. We have a strong
activity by the local and national government
to support this evolution,” she says.
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Stevanato Group - Quality and Innovation

It’s a good time to be involved in the pharmaceutical sector. In
2020, the global pharmaceutical industry was valued at almost $1.3
trillion, according to market and consumer data company Statista.

I
talian Stevanato Group, a leading global
provider of drug containment, drug delivery and
diagnostic solutions for the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology and life science industries, is at
the cutting edge of this. The company provides
glass vials and syringes to an estimated 90%
of currently marketed vaccine programs, and
includes 41 of the top 50 pharmaceutical
companies among its client base.
Stevanato invests in research and
development, creating sophisticated products
that have enabled pharmaceutical customers to
outsource much of their glassware needs. “On
top of this we have also added other competence,
in relation to pen, auto-injectors and wearable
technologies,” says Franco Stevanato,
executive chairman of the board. “Thanks to
our scientific analytical sites, we are able to
serve customers with an integrated approach,
at each drug development stage, from the early
phase through commercialization,” he adds.
Stevanato Group was founded in 1949,
producing glass bottles, and in the early 1970s
the current chairman’s grandfather had the
great intuition to automate the production of
primary packaging. “All the technology we have Franco Stevanato
in our facilities all over the world today has been
Executive Chairman - Stevanato Group
developed by Stevanato Group engineers. This
is one of our strongest competitive advantages: expected to be built. “Most of our production bulk to high-value pre-sterilized containment
we develop the technology,” Stevanato says. and employees are no longer in Italy, in Italy solutions. “We’re proactively investing in
At the beginning, the company produced we have approximatively 2,000 employees, capacity worldwide in order to be able to
a few hundred pieces per day; today, but the group now has approximately 4,400 serve our customers once the pre-product
Stevanato Group delivers annually 10 billion people all around the globe,” says Stevanato. goes from pre-clinical to industrial,” he says.
units among drug delivery systems, sterile In October, the group began construction work “There is a clear trend in the pharmaceutical
and bulk glass containers, plastic diagnostic on an estimated $145 million facility in the industry to focus on the development of the
and medical components. In 1998, annual United States, with the site expected to house drugs and look for proactive partners that
revenue was less than €20 million, by 2020 production lines equipped with advanced take care of the full solution system, which
it had risen to €662 million, with annual process technologies to produce EZ-Fill is exactly what we want to do,” he adds.
double-digit growth over the last twenty years. syringes and vials, and to be operational by 2023. The recent IPOs should help the group to
In July, Stevanato Group listed on the Stevanato Group now has a pipeline over further invest in innovation and growth. “To
New York Stock Exchange, bringing in 1,100 different projects and molecules that be listed is a great advantage for Stevanato
$672 million at a valuation of $6.3 billion. it’s working on with its customers, developing Group as it’s giving us more discipline, building
“In 1949 we started the idea, in 1971 customized, tailor-made products with a strong governance, all aligned with the
we decided to develop the technology, particular coatings, tolerance, strengths same interests,” says Stevanato. “We’re in
and from 1990 to today we grew with three and sophistications. The company re- a very good moment. We’re here for the long
main strategies: globalization, R&D, and invests most of its profits in order to further term. We have a clear sense of responsibility,
sophisticated M&A,” says Stevanato. “Today develop innovative solutions for the market. there’s a big opportunity right now, and it’s
we’re supplying most of the pharmaceutical It also hasn’t been averse to acquiring up to us to capture these opportunities.”
industry worldwide, we have a strong presence expertise. Over the last decade Stevanato When it comes to Italy, he adds that the country
in the biotech sector, and have a customer Group has acquired two Danish companies has a huge network of mid-sized companies.
retention rate of approximately 97% worldwide.” specializing in inspection systems and “What is important is to allow these companies
Twenty years ago Stevanato Group decided assembly solutions for sophisticated products to think bigger. There are a lot of opportunities,
to follow its pharmaceutical customers as they in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as but it’s up to us to invest and not to be afraid
increasingly became global, moving to be in a company specializing in plastic injection to become big. There is a huge opportunity in
close proximity to its main clients. Today, the molding, with plants in both Germany and Italy for this network, but we have to be brave.”
company has 16 plants across nine countries, California, given the pharmaceutical industry’s
with two more facilities underway – one in the increasing use of plastics for some products.
USA under construction and one in China Stevanato says they are transitioning from

Comer Industries
Helping to power the future of agriculture and industry
Italy is looking forward to a period of sustained economic growth. Last month, the
country’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, said that the domestic economy was now
on track to grow by 6% in 2021, up from the previous estimate of 4.5%, adding
that there was now confidence in Italy, among Italians and in the rest of the world.
D
raghi also pledged to push ahead
with reducing the country’s
reliance on non-renewable energy,
which could funnel billions of euros into
cleaner energy solutions. This came as
welcome news to companies like Comer
Industries, a designer and manufacturer
of advanced engineering systems and
solutions for power transmissions,
which partners with some of the world’s
leading manufacturers when it comes to
agricultural equipment, industrial machinery
and renewable energy applications.
Founded in Reggio Emilia in 1970,
Comer Industries, which provides innovative
power transmission solutions for clients
around the world, began expanding into
France, Germany, United Kingdom and
the United States in the mid 1980s. Now
it has 1300 global employees, along with
seven production facilities. “We’re a global
company, we’re working in Europe, in
Asia, and also in South America. We’re
a real economic driver, releasing energy
into the clean energy sector,” says Matteo
Storchi, Comer Industries’ chairman and
chief executive officer, and the second
generation of his family to run the business.
Comer Industries is a purely business-
to-business company, operating in the
relatively closed space. “So everyone knows
our company and how we work, and we
have a good image,” says Storchi. “We know
what we’re doing, how we have to do it, and
we can provide a service whenever and
wherever it is needed all around the world.”
This last point is particularly important as
globalisation has become increasingly front
and centre, even in sectors like agriculture.
“In the end we’re global but there’s different
rules for specific countries; we’re global but
also local. We think it is important to create
value in the countries we’re in,” he says.
Comer Industries has pushed forward
significantly in recent years, beginning
in 2017 when Storchi took over control.
Two years later, the company went public,
opening up to external shareholders for the
first time. “This is one of the most critical
Matteo Storchi
Chairman and CEO - Comer Industries
points for a family business,” says Storchi.
The move paved the way for one of Comer
Industries’ most ambitious moves to date.
Earlier this year the company entered
into a binding agreement to acquire
WPG Holdco, the holding company of
Walterscheid Powertrain Group, a leader
in the Off-Highway sector, which operated
in 75 countries and has an annual turnover
of around €400 million. Walterscheid
Powertrain Group makes components and
drive systems for agricultural, industrial,
construction, as well as mining equipment.
“Thanks to the listing of our shares we were
able to make this acquisition, which will
help us to become a billion-dollar company,
hopefully by next year,” says Storchi.
On paper, the combined entity has an
annual revenue of almost €800 million,
with the merger creating one of the largest
global providers of powertrain equipment.
Combined, it has more than 150 years
of history, along with a clear vision for
the future and strong synergies, with
highly complementary product portfolios
in areas like agricultural, construction
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and wind power end markets. This
is likely to aid Comer Industries as it
looks to continue its global expansion.
Storchi believes that the addition of
an American private equity firm, which
now owns 28% of the company (with his
family retaining a controlling stake), is
also beneficial as Comer Industries looks
to other strategic moves in the market.
“With this shareholder we will have more
opportunity. We’re a global company, and
we need to communicate and open our
door to external investment,” he says,
adding that to date they’ve been focused
on European investors, but are going to
expand their capability in Asia and the USA.
Comer Industries’ stock has risen by
200% over the last year, highlighting the
impressive year the company has had,
despite the pandemic, with Storchi saying
that they’re 100% open to evaluating
further strategic acquisitions or mergers.
Despite its drive to bring in outside
investors and expand its global footprint,
retaining the company’s DNA is seen
as fundamental. “I believe that in each
company the most important shareholders
are the employees inside the company,”
he says, adding that the company’s DNA
is something you have to remember
every day. “Your roots are something that
remain in your life forever.” In 2008, Comer
Industries launched the Comer Academy, an
internal training and management school,
to help further develop its in-house talent.
Despite its global footprint, Comer
Industries remains at heart an Italian, family-
run business. “I’m proud to be Italian, to be an
Italian family-owned company,” says Storchi.
“In the last 20 years there’s been a lot of
external issues that have changed and have
conditioned the image of Italy abroad. Now,
the Italian government and Italian companies
must work closely together to improve
things, it has to be a joint effort,” he says.

Epta
Acquisitions and global expansion for Italian refrigeration giant
Italy’s manufacturing sector has continued to see strong growth,
with the IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Italian
manufacturing rising from 59.7 in September to 61.1 in October, to signal
a sixteenth straight monthly improvement in the health of the sector.
M
eanwhile, the global commercial
refrigeration equipment market is
expected to grow to $76.6 billion
by 2025, up from around $59.2 billion in
2020. This is good news for companies
like Italy’s Epta, which specialises
in commercial refrigeration systems.
Epta currently produces around 230,000
units a year, with revenue of €908 million in
2020, 11 production facilities and sales offices
in more than 40 countries. “Today we’re one of
the leaders in Europe. We want to consolidate
this across every European country, as
well as in Asia and Americas” says Marco
Nocivelli, chief executive officer of Epta.
In 1986, Nocivelli’s father, Luigi, acquired
a company that was, at the time, one of the
market leaders for commercial refrigeration
in Italy, with a turnover of around €70 million.
The family later acquired other companies
in this sector, and in 2003 founded Epta to
combine all of these entities. Today, Epta,
headquartered in Milan, includes the brands
Costan, Bonnet Névé, Eurocryor, Misa,
Iarp and Kysor Warren, and has more than
6,000 employees. Its core business remains
producing complete systems for commercial
refrigeration, like those in supermarkets.
At the time of the generational change,
in the early 2000s, the company had grown
to revenue of nearly €400 million, but it was
still very much a mid-sized company. “The
financial situation was really difficult and we
started rebuilding the team,” says Nocivelli.
“This allowed us to restart on a path that
was half internal growth, half acquisitions.”
About every two years since 2007 the
company has completed further acquisitions,
and in 2013 Epta joined with another family
business to enter the food and beverage sector,
with refrigerated cabinets for food and drinks.
In 2019 Epta also formally entered the United
States, buying the third-largest player on the
market, Kysor Warren. “We have ambition
to grow in the USA with the same approach
that we have applied in Europe: internal
growth and acquisitions,” says Nocivelli.
The company is pushing growth across
all of its existing markets and in the last
few months has finalized two additional
acquisitions in Chile and Finland.
Marco Nocivelli
CEO - Epta
Today, Epta has external auditors and
independent board members, as well as
risk and remuneration committees, creating
a more transparent business. The company
ranked among Deloitte’s Best Managed
Companies in Italy in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Epta also joined the ELITE program offered
by the Italian Stock Exchange and London
Stock Exchange Group in 2014, to better
understand the language of investors. “The
idea of opening the capital to investors, or
an IPO, has been in our minds since 2013.
When a good moment and opportunity
arises we will be prepared,” says Nocivelli.
“For me, being open to investment is
something important,” he adds. “Investors
are good because they keep you on your
toes and make you want to be better.”
“The Group’s Development Plan includes
a growth in dimensions both for the internal
and external lines.” says Nocivelli “The
refrigeration market is quite resilient
and is showing interesting growth rates
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driven by the latest digital trends and by
a strong commitment emerging from the
Green Deal. The path towards a more
sustainable and natural refrigeration is set.
One of our guiding principles is sustainable
innovation: we have it in our DNA.” For
Epta, sustainable innovation is a legacy
of values, experiences and technological
ethics that guide its activities every day.
Over the past three years Epta has
invested €118 million in technology and
innovation. The company has around
200 engineers working in R&D involved
in studying technologies such as CO2
refrigeration systems, in order to contribute
to the reduction of the environmental footprint
of the refrigeration sector. “The impact of a
solution with CO2 as a refrigerant is 4,000
times lower compared to systems with
chemical refrigerants,” says Nocivelli. “We
are able to offer these systems everywhere in
the world and we are proud that the European
Community believed in our project and
co-financed it under the Life Programme.”
In 2021, Epta was one of the 10 Italian
companies recognized as Europe’s
Climate Leaders, and was also awarded
the title of Italian Sustainability Leader.
Nocivelli says that sustainable innovation
has to be done as part of a larger community,
with Epta contributing to setting up
schools and courses for refrigeration and
partnering with start-ups and universities.
He also highlights the multinational
aspect of the company today. “We’re
happy to be able to include people from
every nationality in our organization. We
strongly believe in the union of good ideas
and cooperation amongst different people,
that makes a product better. When we see
passion in the eyes of people as they look
at our products it makes us very proud.”
At the same time, Nocivelli believes that
the image of Italy abroad can be further
improved through the handwork of its citizens.
“In reality, all throughout Italy there are good
and hardworking people doing great things.”
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Pellegrini Group - Feeding the world the Italian way

Italy’s economy is expected to see a rapid recovery from the global
pandemic, with gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to grow by around
6% this year, and by more than 4% in 2022, according to the Italian Treasury.
This will be welcomed by the country’s food sector, among many others.

I
t’s fair to say that food is important to
Italians. It’s also a sizeable industry for the
country; food exports alone are expected to
top €50 billion in 2021, based on data from
the country’s national statistics bureau. This
year could also be an important one for those
involved in the country’s catering sector, part
of a $500 billion global industry. Catering
companies need to balance the return to the
office for many workers with the new paradigm
of hybrid and home-working for others. Some
companies will struggle, others will thrive.
Ernesto Pellegrini, chairman of Gruppo
Pellegrini, which for over 56 years has
kept workers fed across Italy and beyond,
is one of those busily preparing for this
new reality. Pellegrini says that even
one day of remote working a week could
mean a 20% loss of business, and it is not
just employees’ working habits that have
changed, it is also their lunch habits, with
many now looking for increasingly flexible
services that allow them to eat where, when Valentina and Ernesto Pellegrini
and how they want. Despite this, Pellegrini
plans to increase its turnover by 30% within a catering company, IFM, which has a solid in the realm of businesses. In 1984 he also
the next four years, with a key part of this base of prestigious clients and a turnover took over as chairman of Inter Milan, and
its institutional approach – having a direct, of around €35 million, and Mymenu, the over his decade of control the team won a
personal relationship with its customers. leading Italian food delivery group. “This has record-breaking Scudetto, an Italian Super
Pellegrini founded his eponymously allowed us not only to acquire a plethora of Cup and two UEFA Cups. “I’m still the
named company back in 1965, after being technological and managerial capabilities chairman with the most wins in Inter Milan’s
asked to run the company canteen at Bianchi, typical of a startup, but also to increase history within their first ten years,” he says.
the oldest bicycle manufacturer in the world, our range of services for companies and Pellegrini sold the team in 1994 (for
where he was working as head accountant. their employees and families, as well as reasons he has promised to reveal on his
Despite his lack of experience he jumped at diversify our offering by entering the direct- 90th birthday), and went back to dedicating
the challenge, and in the following decades to-consumer market,” says Pellegrini. himself 100% to the growth and development
his company grew substantially; Pellegrini The company is also finalising a delivery of his company, opening up a cleaning and
now has a turnover of €700 million, employs service for the smart-workers from its cooking integrated services division in 1996, a
around 10,000 people, and has become centres, which will let customers plan ahead vending division in 2000, and a company
the caterer and partner of choice for all the by allowing them to be kept meals for a few welfare division in 2015. He also founded
Italian private and public leading companies. days, utilising technologies such as protective the Ernesto Pellegrini ONLUS Foundation in
Companies that succeed need to embrace atmosphere and vasopasturization. The 2013, which includes the Ruben restaurant
change and opportunities. In 1979, Pellegrini project is being overseen by the Pellegrini in Milan, where 300 people a day can get
added Pellegrini Catering Overseas, to Accademy, the research, development an evening meal for the nominal price of €1,
provide quality service for international and training center of the Company. to help give them back a sense of dignity.
companies at work sites abroad, especially This ability to expand has been aided by Despite the challenging recent past,
those in the oil and gas sector. A few years the decision of Pellegrini and his family to Pellegrini is passionate about Italy and
later it added a centralised and integrated reinvest all profits back into the business. believes the country has a bright future.
purchasing and quality control platform, “This makes us extremely robust, with “Bringing foreign investment requires renewed
and later a fresh meat processing centre. net equity over €130 million, that will be credibility from a political perspective, and I
“This is something that still sets us apart invested also to achieve all our sustainability believe Prime Minister Mario Draghi is headed
to this day, recognised by the market objectives,” he says. The group is also in the right direction with this,” he says.
as a great strength,” says Pellegrini. expanding abroad, into Switzerland, and
Since the pandemic began Gruppo other countries such as Egypt and UAE.
Pellegrini has completed two acquisitions: Pellegrini’s successes haven’t just come
 Content from
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Metalleghe - A reliable leader in European steel

The global economic rebound has left Italian steel producers in an enviable position.
Standard & Poor’s reported the Italian industry had almost completely bounced back
from the 2020 lockdown as of July last year, and prices have been soaring in recent
months. The mid-term global outlook for the industry is positive – steel demand is set to
reach 2.2 billion metric tons by 2026, up from 1.7 billion in 2020. Metalleghe Group, a
leading Italian and European ferroalloys trader, is on the cusp of a new growth phase.

E
stablished in 1980 in Brescia,
Metalleghe is active in producing
and commercializing ferroalloys,
recarburizers and slag foaming agents,
as well as additives and corrective
materials for the Italian and European
steel industry. Its core focus on reliability,
diversification, and proximity to clients
has helped push it to the front of the pack,
as president Guido Dusi highlighted:
“Reliability is our trademark, our
reputation was built on it. We ensure
reliability with strong capitalization of
our facilities, direct management of our
properties, and investment in technology.
Our customers know they can depend on us.”
Combining the best of Italian design and
artistry with the highest-quality industrial
production and logistics has kept the group
agile, competitive, and always growing,
especially in the last 22 years, under
the guidance of Silvia Dusi, CEO of the
Group. Its unique one-stop shop model
also helps: Metalleghe operates offices,
warehouses and plants across Italy, Bosnia,
France, Germany, Turkey, and Romania,
maintaining close proximity to customers
to ensure the highest service standards.
“There are no competitors like us, doing
what we do; we are number one in both the
Italian and European market in our product
sector. We are a service company with stock
and materials in warehouses all over Europe,
which allows us to provide timely and reliable
delivery to our customers. This is our great
advantage, providing a lot of opportunities
for growth. We are a one-stop shop, and
this is quite unique,” Silvia Dusi explained.
Six subsidiaries operate under the
Metalleghe Group portfolio, including
Metalleghe SPA, Eurometa, Esart Fonderie
SRL, B.S.I. D.O.O, R-S Silicon, and
Cuprocast SRL. Diversified operations
offer clients a wide array of products and
services; Eurometa, for example, is active
in the French market, where it specializes
in the production of ferroalloy briquettes
Gianmichele Foglia - Commercial Director
Guido Dusi - President
Silvia Dusi - CEO
for iron foundries. In Italy, Esart Fonderie
casts copper components up to five tons in
mass, which are used in projects requiring
high levels of electrical conductivity, and
in Bosnia, Metalleghe produces silicon
metal, a key component of aluminum,
solar panels, silcones and electronica
device, and silica fume, which is used in
high-performance concrete and fertilizer
in agriculture. Metalleghe also diversified
in the ready-to-drink market creating in
2020 Spirito Cocktails, an Italian brand
of handcrafted ready-to-drink cocktails.
Dusi has always sought to identify gaps in
the market where the group could grow and
diversify, ranging from artisanal bronze home
products to parts for furnaces. Operations
in Bosnia launched because he was able
to acquire and refurbish an old factory that
had been damaged during the war. After
that, the group built a new greenfield factory
that also produces silicone metal. This
unique growth strategy has helped support
important and ongoing research and
innovation; Today, under Dusi’s leadership,
Metalleghe consistently invests in new
product lines to complete its offerings,
and technological upgrades to ensure the
highest quality production and punctuality.
Its plants are equipped with state of the art
grinding, screening, and drying equipment
used in the processing of ferroalloys, coals
and additives, and the group operates
an internal laboratory equipped with
cutting edge machinery for performing
daily physical and chemical analysis.
Recarburizers are carefully packed in bags
at its next-generation plant to ease transport
and handline, and products are moved to
warehouses across Italy and Europe to allow
for quick delivery to steel mills and foundries.
Metalleghe is one of the most active
players in the international market, and
the group is ready to build further on its
successes. Its revenues have nearly
doubled in value since 2018, and the
group is focused now on growth in existing
markets, as well as further expansion
in to Turkey and the Mediterranean, an
expansion that will be supported by the
new export sales department that has
been created this year. It is investing
particularly heavily in Turkey, where
business is booming, and as steel demand
continues rising, the future looks bright:
“We have 500 employees and record
€500 million in turnover. This year we
expect to exceed €500 million. Growth will
be mostly organic because our biggest push
is expanding the existing business to new
markets. We are already well established in
Germany and other neighboring countries,
but we are opening a distribution business
in Turkey, and we are interested in
Northern Africa and Europe. We see a very
good future for the company,” said Dusi.

Rodacciai - part of Rodasteel Corporation Group
Italian steel manufacturer building for the future
The Italian economy is improving vigorously from the challenges of 2020,
with most sectors recovering and on track to return to pre-pandemic
levels in the near future. The oil and gas has already recovered,
generating optimism among the various players in the steel sector.
T
he global automotive metals market,
which had slowed considerably due
to the commodity and semiconductor
crisis, is also expected to grow at a
compound annual growth rate of 4.52%
between 2020 and 2026, according to global
market research firm Straits Research.
Despite complicated dynamics,
2021 has already been a record year
for Rodasteel Corporation Group, with
over €650 million in turnover and 1,400
employees; numbers that make the
Rodasteel Group one of the world leaders
in the sector of long cold finished products.
In its Bosisio Parini plant, in the
heart of Lombardy, where Rodacciai
is headquartered, the company’s
cold treatment activities are carried
out. The result of these processes
are steel bars and wires of different
shapes and sizes, with the possibility of
specific customization for customers.
“Every year 370,000 tons of cold finished
steel products come out of our plants: free
cutting steel, alloy, carbon, and stainless
steels, used basically in all productive
sectors,” says Gianluca Roda, president of
Rodacciai and Olarra, companies that are
part of the Rodasteel Corporation Group.
“The added value of Rodacciai lies in the
presence of its technologically advanced
rolling mill, which allows for the production
of steels in unique formats on the market
and for vast production flexibility, making
order fulfilment faster and more effective,”
he adds. “It also enables us to carry out
stringent quality control on practically
the entire supply chain of the product.”
‘Made in Italy’ and being a family
business are key factors that determine
the DNA of the Rodasteel Corporation
Group, with its history strongly linked to
that of the Roda family; Giuseppe, who
founded the company back in 1956, his son
Gianluca who now leads it, and his sons,
Andrea and Giorgio, who represent the
third generation of the family involved in
the business and who have already joined
the company overseeing key departments.
Gianluca Roda
President - Rodacciai and Olarra
One of the key milestones in the group’s
history was the acquisition, in 1994, of
the Olarra steel mill in Bilbao, Spain.
“In Olarra, we don’t stop at the semi-
finished product, as typically happens
for other steel mills, but we move on to
the transformation into a cold finished
product, and in this way generate optimal
control of the supply chain,” says Roda.
The distribution capacity created by
the group over the years to support sales
is also very significant, and relies on
the widespread presence of logistic and
commercial branches or subsidiaries
in Italy, France, Poland, Turkey,
Germany, Spain and the United States.
While the group has solid roots in Italy,
where about 50% of its turnover is still
achieved, it is continually looking to expand
into other markets, including in the Far
East, where many of its strategic customers
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operate directly and often ask for supplies
that meet European quality standards.
At the same time, entrepreneurs and
managers are careful to identify and evaluate,
without preclusions, new opportunities that
may arise in all areas of the business.
The company’s path of consolidation and
expansion has proceeded uninterrupted for
more than a decade, a period in which there
has been a growing evolution of plants,
processes, the strengthening of production
capacity, and also significant improvements
in the management of departments, with the
acquisition of high-level professional skills.
During the pandemic, the Roda Custom
Line was also presented to the market, a
category of special products characterized
by a high degree of customization and
innovation, with a unique qualitative added
value for customers. “This is the result of
the innovation achieved in RodaLab, a
department dedicated to R&D, which is the
contact point between research, engineering
and industrialization,” says Roda. “Here, the
company’s future is studied and planned.”
In recent years, the group has also
paid increasing attention to sustainability,
which has resulted in concrete actions
to reduce its environmental impact,
addressed in its recent Sustainability
Report. The group also commits to
human resources regarding welfare,
organization, and educational programs
that aim to enforce technical and soft skills.
“I believe in specialization,” says Roda.
“We do not pretend to do everything, but
what we do must be the best available on
the market, and, in fact, our competitors
cannot reach the quality level that we
can offer. After all, we do not want the
customer to buy from us just because we
are the most straight forward, we want
him to choose to buy one of our steel bars
consciously because we are the best.”
 Content from
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UFI Filters
Italian filtration giant aims to harness shift to electric vehicles
The coronavirus pandemic took its toll on the Italian economy, which shrank by 8.9% in 2020,
according to the country’s national statistics bureau. However, its recovery could be just as
swift, benefiting from far-reaching developments tied to exports and global trends like the push
towards cleaner energy. In April, Italian exports were up 6% compared to January 2020 levels,
the strongest growth of any major eurozone economy, and in May the country’s economic
sentiment index rose by 11 points, according to European Commission data, by far the fastest
monthly increase among the major eurozone countries, and Italy’s strongest gains since 2000.

O
ne area that could see strong growth
in the near future is the automotive
sector, given the global rise in electric
vehicles. According to strategic research
provider BloombergNEF, passenger electric
vehicle sales are set to increase sharply over
the next few years, rising from 3.1 million in
2020 to 14 million in 2025. By 2025, electric
vehicles are expected to make up 40% of total
vehicle sales in Germany and 25% in China,
the world’s largest automotive market. Sales
of electric cars in Europe have jumped from
198,000 in 2018 to an expected 1.17m this year.
Italian companies like UFI Filters are
well placed to benefit from the shift from
combustible engines to electric, both for
passenger vehicles and heavy duty ones. “We
produce coolers, chillers, water condensers,
all the systems to maintain and manage the
temperature of the battery. We invest a lot into Giorgio Girondi
fuel cells, in all filtrations of fuel cells where Chairman – UFI Filters – MultiTube Engine Air filter, up to 4% more horsepower
we already have products available. We are
participating in a European project to produce Aftermarket, accessible across 70 countries. its customer base and strategic partnerships,
fuel cells and electricity from hydrogen,” Global, just-in-time supply chains are but isn’t ruling out further acquisitions, if the
says UFI Filters chairman Giorgio Girondi. changing the way many businesses operate, right opportunities present themselves. “I’m
Over the last four decades UFI Filters has and China, in particular, has the possibility always open to M&As, especially in times
grown to become one of the global leaders in to become an even larger market for UFI like these when there are big changes; the
filtration technology and thermal management, Filters, aided by favorable market conditions electric car is a big change, and also fuel
for everything from the automotive sector to and its long experience in the country. cells, where we believe a lot”, says Girondi.
aerospace, marine, customized hydraulic UFI Filters was one of the first Italian As the birthplace of Ferrari, Fiat, Lamborghini,
applications and wind power. Its technologies companies to push hard into the Far East, Alfa Romeo and Maserati, Italy has a strong
can be found in Formula 1 cars (where they and has now established 19 industrial sites reputation when it comes to creating beloved
supply nine out of ten teams), as well as and three innovation centre, including seven automotive brands. Still, despite its reputation
on the ExoMars spacecraft being created in China and three in India, with over 4,000 as the birthplace of the renaissance and the
by the European Space Agency (ESA) and employees across 21 countries. Girondi has continued growth of pioneering companies
Russian space agency Roscosmos. The shown his own commitment to the global like UFI Filters, the country is rarely at the
group currently holds more than 260 patents, footprint of his company; he was one of the first forefront of people’s minds when they think
and has developed technologies using low- entrepreneurs to invest in China in the 1980s, about industrial development. “The way we
weight and recyclable materials that reduce where he remained for over five years, and later market ourselves is a problem,” says Girondi.
the weight of cars – such as the MultiTube air spending three years in India and time in South “We have the food, the wine, the tourism, etc.
filter, which increases engine power by 4% Korea. “Our advantage is innovation and the It is difficult for an Italian to go from such a
– and therefore CO2 emissions, another big possibility of building a product in every part of beautiful country and try to develop. Italy is a
plus in an increasingly green-focused world. the world. We opened Australia now so we’re country of ideas, of the creation of products,
UFI Filters’ turnover was roughly $2.5 million on every continent. We have the possibility to research going from Archimedes, Da Vinci,
when Girondi took over; now it is close to $500 have the perfect quality in every country we Galileo, Marconi. We have a DNA for inventing.
million, “and this was only organic growth,” he work in,” he says. “The advantage we have is We need to work to improve our image in the
says. The group has doubled its turnover in the last that we are very open, especially due to our world and also to attract investment here.”
10 years alone, and its products are used by six long stay in Asia. We want to be the future of
out of seven leading automotive manufacturers our sector, when I turn back I see it. We are
in the world, covering over 95% of the world car not afraid, we are excited by the changes.”
park, with its spare parts distribution business, UFI Filters is currently focused on expanding

Intals - Italy’s circular economy champion
W
ith growth expected to hit 4.5%
this year and maintain a similar
pace through 2022, Italy’s
economy is resurging strongly following the
covid-19 pandemic, according to a recent
report by the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development. The OECD
highlighted strong momentum manufacturing,
exports, and investment in particular.
Indeed, the industrial sector is already
larger than it was in February 2020, before the
pandemic hit Italy, and grew by an annually-
adjusted 13.9% in June. Strong growth is not
the only story in Italian manufacturing: it is
also being shaped by Italy’s development of a
more circular economy, for which the country
ranks first among major economies in the EU,
according to the Circular Economy Network.
An 120-year old family business, Intals
exemplifies Italy’s leadership in the industrial
circular economy. The secondary aluminum
producer has worldwide connections stretching
from the United States to South America to
Japan, with 50% of its turnover outside its
home market, and is strongly-placed for the
global shift towards circularity and lower carbon.
“We’re in a change of paradigm that
started before the pandemic and has been
accelerated by it,” says Intals managing
director Marco Vedani. “We’re at a turning
point with the growth of renewable energy,
Gruppo Vender - Carrying the Italian flag globally
I
nvestor confidence in Italy is resurging in 2021,
after a tough period during the peak of the
covid-19 pandemic. In the first half of the year,
the country saw 79 transactions from private
equity investors alone, with a total declared deal
value of $30bn, according to Deloitte. Some
96% of those surveyed said that they were
planning new investments in the coming months.
Confidence is particularly strong in the
industrial sector, boosted by the rise in
demand domestically and internationally,
to which manufacturers have been quick to
respond. Crude steel output rose by 27.5%
year-on-year in the January-August period.
Italy is both the second-largest steel market in
the European Union and its second-biggest
producer, accounting for 15% of overall output.
Vender Group has taken this opportunity,
as a leading company in stainless steel
transformation and distribution with a strong
presence across Europe. The company
was founded in 1976 in Parma (Italy) by
Giovanni Vender, who expanded his network
by acquiring new companies across Italy.
In 1992, Vender Group was the first
private Italian company to enter Eastern
Europe market by foundation of new
subsidiaries, this strategy has helped to
develop the economy of these countries.
“We now have 45 distribution sites across
Marco Vedani
CEO - Intals
greater attention to climate change, CO2
reduction. And we’re in the right business.”
Intals produces aluminum alloys from metals
for recycling, as well as residues and scrap.
Its products can in turn be recycled, leading
to much-reduced waste and lower emissions.
Compared to manufacturing from bauxite,
recycling aluminum reduces CO2 emissions
by 7000kg per tonne and saves 16,000
Enrico Vender
CEO - Gruppo Vender
CEE,” says Enrico Vender, Giovanni’s son,
CEO Vender Group.. “We are continually
researching international markets in which
we can develop our business and transfer our
knowledge, including outside Europe. We are
seeking partnerships and acquisitions. We have
become stronger from taking our opportunities.”
Over the past decade, Vender Group has been
focusing on the domestic market by automating
warehouses, and deploying of technology
including geolocalisation – essential to maintain
the company’s leading position in the market.
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The International Investor
litres of water, while using 95% less energy.
“We help clients meet regulatory
requirements in reducing CO2 emissions in
their value chain,” says Vedani. “Customers
also want to see greater recyclability, as we
saw with a recent project with Nespresso.
Lowering carbon footprint is a business
driver, and the direction of travel is clear.”
With its roots in a business taken over by
Vedani’s great-grandfather, a foundry labourer,
Intals remains rooted in its family values,
while embracing international opportunities in
the green transition. Vedani sees particular
potential in the automotive industry, a major
consumer of aluminium, and the company is
open to new partnerships to support its growth.
“We are known for our skills, professionalism,
and long history in the business, want to
offer our knowledge across the world.”
Vedani sees his company’s values
and success as rooted in those of its
home market, which has provided a
bedrock for Intal’s international expansion.
“Italians are very flexible, and are native
problem solvers,” he says. “We never say no,
because we always find a reliable solution.”
The strategy has proved successful – the
group’s turnover in 2019 was over $700m,
and this year it is forecast to reach $900m.
“We have four main competitive advantages,”
says Enrico Vender. “First of all, the competence,
expertise and know-how of our people.
Secondly, our network, which we compare
to capillaries across the territories we operate
in. Moreover, our wide range of products.
And finally, our automated warehouses.”
That automation brings manifold benefits,
including quick collection, a guarantee of
product protection, space optimisation, and
better stock control. The emphasis on quality
and innovation is combined with the passion
and global strategic vision of the leadership.
“Our family is very involved in the business,
and we take all decisions in a fast and
proactive manner,” says Enrico Vender.
Indeed, as Acciai Vender looks
to continue its global expansion, it
remains an Italian family business.
“Personally, I have always showcased the
Italian flag with pride,” says Enrico Vender.
“I’ve travelled all over the world, bringing Italian
business values globally – and our company
looks forward to carrying them even further.”
Periscope NEWS, OPINION + ANALYSIS

ENVIRONMENT

Who is
Doing the
Least?
The U.N.’s recent summit focused
on fossil fuel emissions as a driver
of climate change. Many governments
are unwilling or unable to cut theirs

human activity is causing the earth’s atmosphere to

heat up much more quickly than any changes which might
happen naturally, leaving many ecosystems at their breaking points.
November’s United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow
was the first time a global climate deal explicitly identified fos-
sil fuel consumption as a major driver of climate change. While
climate experts regarded that as a step forward, however, many
also warned the Glasgow attendees have not done enough to limit
mean global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius compared
to pre-industrial levels—a key goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Climate Action Tracker (CAT) is an international consortium of
nonprofit institutes founded in 2009 that studies climate change
science and tracks the goals and policies of the 40 countries that
produce 85 percent of global greenhouse gas
emissions. In a statement in November, Bill Hare,
CEO of Climate Analytics, a CAT partner said, “It’s BY
all very well for leaders to claim they have a net
zero target, but if they have no plans as to how TOM FISH
to get there, and their 2030 targets are as low as @Fish_og

so many of them are, then frankly, these net zero

targets are just lip service to real climate action. Glasgow has a
serious credibility gap.”
The following is CAT’s analysis of the countries whose climate
GETTY

policies have so far been the least helpful in combating global

warming. The analysts have ranked these nations’ plans and ef-
forts as either “highly insufficient” or “critically insufficent.”

22 NEWSWEEK.COM
23
Periscope
“Critically Insufficient” Countries
These are countries, according to CAT, whose climate policies and commitments
reflect minimal to no action and are not at all consistent with the Paris Agreement.
Iran
Iran is one of the few countries that
has not ratified the Paris Agreement.
International sanctions in place since
2018 and the effects of the pandemic
have meant a decrease in the export
of fossil fuel oil, yet there has been a
continuing sluggishness in embrac-
ing eco-friendly policies.
Russia
In November 2020, Russia proposed
reducing its emissions by a minimum
of 30 percent below 1990 levels by
2030. But CAT analysts don’t call
this an increase in climate action,
“as it is simply the lower bound of
the previous target’s range (25–30
percent).” According to CAT, “Russia
needs to set a more ambitious target
for emissions reductions, adopt and
implement additional policies, and
provide additional finance.”
E N V I RO N M E NT
Singapore
Singapore’s climate policies and
commitments reflect “minimal to no
action,” according to CAT. Govern-
ment policy here is “not at all consis-
tent with the Paris Agreement.” The
island city-state in Southeast Asia is
also believed to be overly reliant on
natural gas, which CAT estimates
provides 96 percent of the country’s
electricity. CAT writes: “If all coun-
tries were to follow Singapore’s ap-
proach, warming could reach over
3 degrees C and up to 4 degrees C”—
twice the upper target of the Paris
Agreement.
Thailand
CAT analysts call Thailand’s overall
climate performance “weak despite
some good intentions.” Thai leaders
have pledged to shift from depen-
dence on coal to natural gas over
the next 20 years, but little change
has been seen so far: “Until the next
wave of Thailand’s climate strate-
gies and its accompanying mitiga-
tion policies are implemented and
strengthened, CAT rates Thailand’s
climate targets and policies as ‘criti-
cally insufficient.’’’
Turkey
Turkey is “at a crossroads’’ regard-
ing its energy future, CAT analysts
say. President Recep Erdoğan’s gov-
ernment intends to decrease de-
pendence on gas imports through
increased renewable energy capac-
ity, but also plans to continue to use
domestic coal for the foreseeable
future. CAT writes: “Turkey’s emis-
sions will increase significantly un-
der current policies. This first NDC
[Nationally Determined Contribu-
tions plan] is so weak that it allows
GHG [Green House Gas] emissions
F RO M L EF T: A N DR E Y RU DA KOV/B LO OM B E RG /G ET T Y; TO NG Y U/CH I N A N EWS S E RV I CE /G ET T Y; F L AG S: GET T Y
to essentially double compared to
current levels.”
Vietnam
Vietnam lacks policies for a transi-
tion to a low-carbon economy and
hasn’t focused efforts on emissions
reductions, according to the ana-
lysts. While there have been “posi-
tive developments” in the country’s
renewable energy policy, CAT says
these are outweighed by “plans for
continuing the expansion of fossil
fuels.” CAT writes: “Vietnam is fur-
ther off track when compared with
modelled domestic pathways and
the extent of reductions that need
to be taking place inside its borders
with international support.”
STILL DIGGING Dump trucks hauling
loads of coal at the Krasnogorsky open
pit mine in Mezhdurechensk, Russia.
D e c e m b e r 1 7, 2 0 2 1

“Highly Insufficient” Countries
These are countries whose policies and actions, CAT believes, will lead to
“rising, rather than falling, emissions” and global temperatures rising “up
to 4 degrees Celsius by end of the century.”
Argentina
CAT’s analysts say Argentina’s policies
and actions are “not at all consistent
with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees
C temperature limit.” Beset by eco-
nomic trouble, the country failed to
introduce a single green measure of
note in its latest recovery stimulus plan,
according to the researchers. Former
President Mauricio Macri’s govern-
ment declared a “climate emergency”
in 2019, but little action has been taken
since, the analysts found.
Australia
Australia was one of several coun-
tries which proved unsupportive of
COP26 plans to strengthen 2030 tar-
gets at next year’s summit in Egypt.
CAT writes: “GHG emissions in Aus-
tralia have dipped due to a range of
factors, but effective climate policy is
not one of them.”
Brazil
Although Brazil’s President Jair Bol-
sonaro missed the COP26 summit,
South America’s largest country
pledged to reduce methane emissions
and, most notably, end illegal defor-
estation by 2030. However, CAT is still
Beset by economic
trouble, Argentina
failed to introduce a
single green measure
of note in its latest
recovery stimulus plan.
UNCLEAR Heavy fog in Tianjin,
China. The country officially plans to
become “carbon neutral” by 2060,
but climate experts aren’t satisfied.
critical of Brazil, writing: “There are
significant gaps in Brazilian policy-
making for halting emissions growth,
and Brazil’s deforestation remains a
serious cause for concern.”
Canada
Canada has often borne the brunt
of climate change, from brutal heat
waves to devastating forest fires. But
while describing recent climate pol-
icy developments as “positive,” CAT
deems these to be “insufficient” to ad-
dress the climate crisis. The analysts
add: “If fully implemented, Canada’s
current policies are not enough to
achieve this target and are only in
line with 4 degrees C warming. Can-
ada is also not meeting its fair-share
contributions to climate change, and
in addition to strengthening its tar-
gets and policies also needs to pro-
vide additional support to others.”
China
An agreement between China and the
U.S., the world’s two biggest carbon
polluters, to boost climate coopera-
tion over the next 10 years, was one
of the most striking headlines from
the COP26 climate summit. Ahead
of the summit, China officially an-
nounced a target of carbon neutrali-
ty “before 2060.” However, CAT says,
“To improve on its rating and become
compatible with 2 degrees C (‘almost
sufficient’), China would need to
peak emissions as early as possible,
and decrease coal and other fossil
fuel consumption at a much faster
rate than currently planned—and
set clear phase-out timelines.”
NEWSWEEK.COM 25
Periscope

Colombia
The South American country with a
population of almost 51 million peo-
ple has previously said reducing emis-
sions from deforestation is a vital part
of its planned climate action. However,
while Colombia does have mitigation
targets for energy and transport, CAT
says that “further action is needed.”

India
Political pressure exerted by India
and China reportedly resulted in the
final COP26 deal promising only to
“phase down” instead of “phase out”
coal. CAT says, “India has been se-
verely impacted by COVID-19 during
the second wave in the first half of
2021, which has further reduced
the resilience of climate change-vul-
nerable populations already at risk
of displacement by storms, floods,
droughts and other climate disasters.”

Indonesia
Following COP26, Indonesia intro-
duced new rules on carbon trading
to introduce a market mechanism to
achieve the Southeast Asian country’s
greenhouse gas reduction targets by
2030. However, CAT analysts believe
emissions will still “continue to ac-
celerate away from Paris compatible
levels.”
Kazakhstan
The Central Asian state has been
rated “highly insufficient” by CAT,
which argues that despites its fall-
ing fossil fuel production due to the
pandemic, Kazakhstan’s “climate pol-
icies and commitments are not con-
sistent with any interpretation of a
fair-share contribution and lead to
rising, rather than falling, emissions.”
Mexico
CAT rates Mexico’s climate targets
and policies “highly insufficient,”
with one exception: Mexico’s con-
ditional Nationally Determined
Contributions target “roughly sta-
bilises emissions at today’s level.”
During the pandemic, the Mexi-
can Ministry of Energy published
a bill effectively halting private re-
newable energy investment in the
country, prioritizing the govern-
ment’s own aging, fossil fuel-fired
power plants.
New Zealand
New Zealand has a net-zero emis-
sions 2050 target goal enshrined
in law, but CAT considers the coun-
try’s short-term policies will make it
unable to keep on track. CAT writes:
“New Zealand is increasingly rely-
ing on the mitigation potential of
the land use and forestry sector to
meet its target rather than focusing
efforts on reducing emissions from
high emitting sectors.”

26 NEWSWEEK.COM D e c e m b e r 1 7, 2 0 2 1

Saudi Arabia
Despite perceived improvements in
Saudi Arabia’s commitment to cli-
mate action, CAT says these “com-
mitments do not resolve concerns
about its role as one of the world’s
leading fossil fuel exporters.” CAT
writes: “Its updated Paris Agree-
J I T CH AT TO PA DH YAY/G ET T Y
ment pledge is explicitly based on a
scenario with substantial fossil fuel
exports and has a ‘get out clause’ if
international climate change poli-
cies negatively affect these exports.
Shortly before the Saudi govern-
ment released its updated emissions
pledge, the national oil company
Saudi Aramco announced it would
aim to increase oil production ca-
pacity during this decade.”
“Canada is also not
meeting its fair-share
contributions to
climate change.”
E N V I R O NM E N T
WATER WORLD When India’s Ganges
River rises above its banks, heavily
populated areas nearby like this street in
Kolkata become subject to heavy flooding.
South Korea
Although there are positive signs of
progress, CAT believes South Korea
“lacks the necessary speed and strin-
gency it needs to get onto a pathway
compatible with the Paris Agree-
ment’s 1.5 degrees C temperature
limit.” This is despite the fact South
Korea’s 2020 share of coal-fired pow-
er generation decreased from 43 per-
cent to 39 percent, as fossil fuels still
account for a “very large” amount.
United Arab Emirates
Although the UAE’s development of
large renewable and nuclear ener-
gy projects shows signs of hope, its
emissions are projected to continue
growing because of the continued
expansion of its fossil fuel-based
sources of electricity. CAT writes: “In
line with its energy strategy, which
projects coal reaching a 12 percent
share of total electricity generation
in 2050, in May 2020 the UAE com-
pleted the first unit of its inaugural
2.4 GW coal-fired power plant.” Ac-
cording to the analysts, “The con-
struction of new coal-fired gener-
ation is inconsistent with the need
to phase out coal from electricity
production in the Middle East by
2034 in order to limit warming to
1.5 degrees C.”
Ukraine
Environmental forecasts for the
country paint a somewhat bleak
prognosis for Ukraine, with emis-
sions projected to be 1 percent higher
than pre-COVID-19 estimates.
NEWSWEEK.COM 27
 CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO

The niche purveyors of Japanese monozukuri

Japan has faced stiffer regional
competition from the likes of China
and Korea in recent decades, as
these countries have grown stron-
ger in mass production. But behind
the scenes, Japanese SMEs still
dominate niche B2B industries,
leveraging Japan’s monozukuri
craftsmanship philosophy, which
entails the development of supe-
rior-quality products defined by
unmatchable performance and
technology; as well as an acute
understanding of customer needs.
“The reality now is that Japanese
companies can’t replace or surpass
the mass production volume and
price competitiveness created by
these Asian companies. But the
Japanese are outstanding in listen-
ing to clients’ particular demands,”
says Satoru Toyooka, President
and CEO of Nippon Fusso, which
specializes in fluoropolymer coat-
ings for a range of industries. “At
Nippon Fusso, our know-how and
technology that have been built
from our long history allow us
to provide tailored solutions to
clients. This sets us apart from
other countries. Globally, we have a
limit on taking high volume orders
and competing with countries that
have high production capabilities,
but we can achieve an advantage
by focusing on niche fields.”
Japan was once the world’s top
producer of stainless steel, with Nip-
pon Yakin Kogyo (NYK) being one of
the most well-known stainless-steel
producers in Japan. Now China is
producing more than half the world’s
supply and so NYK has shifted its
focus to specialized stainless steels
and high-functional new materials.
“Japan still has a strong lead in
terms of technology and quality, and
this is where Japanese monozukuri
will help us have international suc-
cess,” says NYK president, Hisashi
Kubota. “NYK is now the sixth larg-
est producer in the world of nickel
alloys, and in 2019, we were ranked
second in the field of flat products
such as plates and coils. While we are
currently an SME for stainless steel,
we are one of the leaders for high
nickel alloys, for which it is expected
there will be increasing demand as
we pursue a carbon-neutral society.”
The move towards a carbon
neutral society is also shaping the
priorities of Kawasaki Thermal En-
gineering (KTE), which develops
highly efficient and environmentally
friendly hydrogen-fueled boilers. “By
virtue of their long experience in
craftsmanship, Japanese firms can
produce products of superior qual-
ity and functionality,” explains KTE
president, Susumu Shinohara. “For
example, we are currently developing
boilers that are more compact, with
higher efficiency rates and lower
energy consumption. This commit-
ment to functionality and continuous
improvement is the reason why our
customers highly regard us.”
Indeed Japanese companies abil-
ity to stay ahead of the competi-
tion can also be attributed to their
willingness and ability to acutely
respond to client needs, as explained
by Toshikazu Tanaka, President of
Nippon Fruehauf, a leader in truck
body and container technology that
aims to revolutionize cold chain lo-
gistics across Asia. “Japan is con-
sistent when it comes to product
development, with the strength
of Japanese companies being the
ability to create added value for cus-
tomers,” he adds. “We not only listen
to customers’ demands, but we also
propose potential added value to
the products for the customers,
allowing us to remain competitive.”
A conversation with the presi-
dent of any Japanese SME manu-
facturer always turns to monozu-
kuri, with Kazuhiko Ueno, President
of Ibara Seiki, giving his insightful
take, comparing it to the age-old
tradition of origami. “Monozukuri,
or the art of making things, is
symbolized by origami. Japanese
children are raised to have a keen
interest in making small, beautiful
things, such as origami and plastic
toys,” he says. “This dedication to
work from an early age symbolizes
Japanese manufacturing, and the
love of making things at a high level
is a core element of our manufactur-
ing. Education and training are also
essential elements of monozukuri.
In Japan, as employees grow within
companies, they systematically con-
sider improvements that contribute
to the country’s competitiveness.”

A highly efficient heat energy source today

for the carbon-free future of tomorrow
For over 120 years, Kawasaki Thermal Engineering has been on the boil in providing
world firsts when it comes to package boilers and absorption chillers.
K awa s a k i Th e r m ed from petrochem- use dry burners, which do not
Engineering Co., Ltd plants, steelworks, require NOx-reduction measures
(KTE) is proud to ustic soda produc- seen in standard-type burner
have launched the on operations and combustion chambers such as
WILLHEAT series ther such facilities steam-spraying systems and Susumu Shinohara,
of compact once- and processes, as exhaust-gas recirculation. President, KTE
through boilers, fuel. Development
equipped with low- also took advan-
NOx hydrogen com tage of Kawasaki Features
bustion dry burners. Heavy Industries’ • NOx emissions are kept at 60 ppm or less (at 0% O2) based on
This product wa knowledge in the low-air-ratio standards specified in the Energy Saving Act
developed based on K hydrogen-related • Rated boiler efficiency of 98%
experience and technol fields. For these
ogies in the manufac- Hydrogen-fired Multi latest boilers, KTE • PID continuous control is applied for feed water to control the
turing of boilers that tube once-through boiler developed a new steam–water separator’s water level, which facilitates stable
use hydrogen byproducts, which type of burner fueled by hydro- water levels, and this used in conjunction with the separator’s
gen, which is a highly promising, rotation function achieves a high level of steam dryness (99.8%)
environmentally friendly, next-
generation energy source.
Hydrogen is a clean energy
source that emits no CO2 dur-
ing combustion, but due to its
high burning temperature it
produces roughly three times Kawasaki Thermal Engineering Co., Ltd.
Low-NOx hydrogen combustion the NOx emissions of natural Tokyo Head Office · Overseas Project Department
dry burner gas fuel. KTE’s new products Tel: +81-3 -3645-8251 · E-mail: ospd@kte-corp.co.jp

Green steel for a greener society
Nippon Yakin Kogyo is leveraging its near century of manufacturing experience to create high-performance
stainless steels and nickel alloys in high demand by the green economy.
“We are evolving
from a stainless-steel
manufacturer with
a prominent history
into a manufacturer of
specialized stainless
steels alongside
high-functional new
materials to meet the
needs of today’s world.”
Hisashi Kubota,
President,
Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co., Ltd.
The strength of Nippon Yakin lies not
only in its stainless steels, but also in
its wide range of high nickel alloys,
which offer excellent corrosion and
heat resistance. These products are
supported by manufacturing tech-
nologies developed over many years,
and delivered to customers around
the world by a global sales network.
Our commitment to the SDGs:
Electric furnaces are attracting
attention in the steel industry as we
move towards a decarbonized so-
ciety. Our new electric arc furnace,
which is scheduled to start full-
scale operation in January 2022,
is equipped with an Electric Arc
Furnace with Rotating Body Sys-
tem, which eliminates the uneven
melting of scrap for more efficient
operation, and Electro Magnetic
UP TO THE CHALLENGE
NEW FIELDS,
NEW APPLICATIONS,
NEW ALLOYS
Main gate of Kawasaki Plant
Stirrers for uniform stirring in the
furnace to speed up the melting
process and ensure uniform tem-
perature and composition, which
results in cost reduction by im-
proving energy efficiency. A large
enclosure in the furnace body will
improve dust collection and sound-
proofing, while automation of the
work in front of the furnace will
improve the working environment.
Materials essential for a recy-
cling-oriented society: Our stain-
less steels and high-performance
materials have a long service life
and are highly recyclable. Their
properties, such as corrosion re-
sistance, heat resistance and low
thermal expansion, are particularly
needed in the field of renewable
energy and new energy sources
such as hydrogen.
Piers at Haneda Airport Runway
New energy field (hydrogen sta-
tions): Hydrogen stations for fuel
cell vehicles are in a high-pressure
hydrogen gas environment, which
poses a high risk of hydrogen em-
brittlement (a phenomenon in
which materials become brittle
due to exposure to a hydrogen
environment). For this reason,
modified stainless steel Type 316L,
which has improved resistance to
hydrogen embrittlement.
Offshore structures (Haneda Air-
port Runway D): Our highly corro-
sion-resistant austenitic stainless
steels NAS 185N (UNS S31254)
and NAS 354N (UNS N08354)
are used in the piers of Runway D
at Haneda Airport. We have been
conducting seawater exposure
tests for decades, and the results
of this research have been applied
to the development and adoption
of new materials.
Polka Plate (stainless steel plate
for floor): Polka Plate is a flooring
stainless steel sheet with excellent
slip resistance, ease of cleaning and
design features. It is used as a ma-
terial for girders, stages, stairs and
floors in food and pharmaceutical
factories where hygienic environ-
ments are required.
Marine exposure test site at
Kawasaki Plant
R&D and manufacturing technol-
ogy: Our technical strength lies in
the tradition of developing materi-
als and researching technologies to
meet the increasingly diverse and
sophisticated needs of customers.
As an example of our achievements,
we received the John Chipman
Award from the Iron and Steel So-
ciety in 2002 for our research into
the control of inclusions in stainless
and high-alloy steels. The award is
presented for outstanding academic
and industrial contributions to steel
CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO
technology, and we were the first
special steel manufacturer in the
world to receive this award.
JV Business in China (NISCO
Nippon Yakin Kogyo Nanjing Co.
Ltd.): To meet the increasingly so-
phisticated needs of Chinese users,
we launched a joint venture with
Chinese steel company Nanjing Iron
& Steel in 2018 with the aim of de-
veloping a local production facility
and strengthening sales functions.
Nanjing Iron & Steel’s wide-width
hot-rolling mill is capable of rolling
high-performance stainless steel
plates up to 5m widths.
Polka Plate (polka dot pattern
and example of staircase use)
Overseas network: Since the
1960s, we have opened a series
of representative offices overseas.
In the 2010s, the company began
to establish overseas subsidiaries,
and as of 2021, it has four sales
offices in the USA (Chicago), the
UK (London), China (Shanghai)
and Singapore. In recent years,
the company has also focused on
developing the growing markets
of India and Latin America. We
aim to expand our high-nickel alloy
business and to become a global
supplier trusted by our customers
for our industry-leading quality, de-
livery and responsiveness, in order
to become a sustainable company
for our 100th anniversary in 2025.
Formoreinformation,pleasevisitour
website:https://www.nyk.co.jp/en/
www.nyk.co.jp/en

Cold chain expertise key to growth as
Nippon Fruehauf prepares for future
“Our future target is to
meet the demand for a
new source of energy
for vehicles.”
Toshikazu Tanaka, President,
Nippon Fruehauf Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1963, Nippon Fruehauf
is a leading Japanese transporta-
tion technology firm that produces
truck bodies, trailers, and contain-
ers, with a growing presence across
Asia. Over the past decade, it has
established joint ventures in China,
Thailand and the Philippines.
Today’s Commitment, Tomorrow’s Technology: The philosophy of Miyazaki Seiko
By constantly building upon its core technology with new ideas, Miyazaki Seiko continues its challenge to be the very
best manufacturer in secondary processing of specialty steel bars and wires.
Japanese company Miyazaki Seiko
is a leader in the secondary process-
ing of specialty steel, with four ma-
jor product lines: cold drawn bars,
pipe in coil (cold drawn pipe), cold
heading quality wire, and fine slugs.
Cold Drawn Bar & Pipe in Coil
(Cold Drawn Pipe)
A firm that chiefly works with the
automotive industry – “almost 95%
of our products are used for car
parts”, notes President Motonobu
Miyazaki – Miyazaki Seiko embraces
continuous innovation and improve-
ment. “Ever since the birth of the
company, we’ve constantly been
integrating unique technologies in-
spired by new ideas with our core
technologies,” Mr. Miyazaki says.
This philosophy means Miyaza-
ki Seiko is ready for the “revolu-
tion” occurring in the automobile
industry, “with electric vehicles
A leader in Japan in truck body and container technology, Nippon
Fruehauf’s sights are now also set on other Asian markets.
Environmentally conscious in the
manufacture of its transportation
units, Nippon Fruehauf is committed
to meeting “the demand for a new
source of energy” for cargo vehicles,
says its president, Toshikazu Tanaka.
Indeed, the way goods are trans-
ported is expected to undergo a
gradual shift, he says: “From inland
trucks and aeroplanes to railway
and eco-friendly ships.”
Wing Type
A specialist in temperature-con-
trolled transportation, Nippon Frue-
hauf is branching out as it tackles the
issue of preserving perishable goods
being introduced and the switch
to lightweight materials”, Mr. Mi-
yazaki says. In collaboration with
its steel suppliers, the company’s
research and development efforts
have enabled car parts made from
its products to be “downsized and
lightened”, he explains.
Cold Heading Quality Wire &
Fine Slug
A changing car industry offers
up “so many opportunities”, Mr.
Miyazaki says, but he also concedes
that electrification and weight re-
duction are expected to reduce
steel demand. However, Miyazaki
Seiko is prepared: it is taking its
products into other industries and
expanding its client base in the
automotive market.
In 2014, Miyazaki Seiko estab-
lished a plant in Mexico – a country
it chose because “future growth is
throughout the supply chain from
producer to consumer. The company’s
focus must “not only be on courier
refrigeration but also on warehouse
storage and customer refrigeration
systems”, Mr. Tanaka explains.
This approach is central to Nip-
pon Fruehauf ’s expansion into
China and Southeast Asia, he
says: “In Japan, most manufac-
turers and customers have their
refrigeration systems; we only
had to find refrigeration solu-
tions for the couriers. China and
Southeast Asian countries don’t
yet have the same availability of
such kinds of refrigeration.”
One product that seeks to fill
this gap is the KANTAN small
warehouse, a refrigerated stor-
age unit manufactured by the
Bangkok-based sister company
of Nippon Fruehauf, Nikkei Siam
Aluminium. KANTAN, meaning
“simple” in Japanese, makes it pos-
expected” in both population and de-
mand for automobiles, Mr. Miyazaki
says, “and we can export to North
and South America”.
Miyazaki Seiko benefits from a
culture of close cooperation with the
other companies in Miyazaki Group,
he adds. For example, “Miyazaki En-
gineering has provided support for
theintroductionofproductionequip-
ment, including factory automation,
and technological improvements.”
Mexico Plant
(Miyazaki Seiko de Mexico)
Miyazaki Seiko Co., Ltd
Head Office: Nagoya-city, Japan
Plant Location (4 Sites): Nagoya/Jushiyama/chita/Lagos de Moreno, Mexico
Products: Cold Drawn Bar/Pipe in Coil (Cold Drawn Pipe)/Cold Heading Quality
Wire/Fine Slug
CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO
KANTAN
sible to build and set up a cold
storage unit quite easily.
Meanwhile, at Fruehauf Maha-
jak, a Nippon Fruehauf subsidiary
in the Thai capital, a ‘Cold Chain
College’ has been created, with
the goal of increasing expertise
in the handling of temperature-
dependent goods in Asia. The com-
pany is working hard to study for
the next step of the Cold Chain
with customer and stakeholders
in Bangkok, who are welcomed
at the college.
Fruehauf Mahajak Co., Ltd.:
67/16 Moo.5 Kokfad, Nongchok,
Bangkok 10530, Thailand
www.fruehauf.co.jp/en
“Ever since the birth
of the company,
we’ve constantly been
integrating unique
technologies inspired by
new ideas with our core
technologies.”
Motonobu Miyazaki,
President,
Miyazaki Seiko Co., Ltd.
www.miyazaki-seiko.co.jp
 CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO

Supplying 2bn high-precision metallic parts to

the automotive supply chain per year
With expertise gathered over more than 50 years, Tokai Riki supplies the wiper,
valve, and spring needs for everything from mini vehicles to luxury cars.

Plate springs made via the yield-maximizing machining method
Established in 1948 and 1959,
respectively, Tokai Spring Mfg. Co.,
Ltd. and its sister company Tokai
Riki Mfg. Co., Ltd, have played a vi-
tal role in the Japanese automobile
industry supply chain for decades
-- with the former manufacturing
spring parts and the latter supply-
ing wipers and control valves for
Japan’s leading car makers.
In 2020, the two companies
came together to form Tokai Riki
Co., Ltd., combining their exper-
Stiffening collars inserted into plastic products
tise in order to enhance innova-
tion, business development, and
the ability to address the latest
needs of the industry.
With environmental concerns
prompting the demand for in-
creased fuel efficiency in traditional
combustion engine vehicles and the
shift toward hybrid and electric
vehicles, automobile manufacturers
require lighter and smaller parts.
Tokai Riki is facing the chal-
lenge head-on, leveraging its
“We continue to
be selected as a
trustworthy partner
due to our solid
product development
technology, stable
proprietary technology, such as performance, and high
its fine wire weaving technology quality standards.”
and CAE analysis system, to de-
velop wipers, flow control valves, Yasuyuki Nishi, President,
and springs suitable for the Tokai Riki Co., Ltd.
next generation of automobiles.
“Many of our major customers
in the automotive industry re-
quire us to make smaller parts
to fit their smaller designs,” says
president, Yasuyuki Nishi. “We
put in a lot of effort to meet our
customers’ needs.” www.tokai-riki.co.jp

Kamiita Sosei: Forging a road to future success

Cold forging specialists Kamiita are geared up for the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) with competitively-priced
and high-quality automotive parts.
Through their expertise in cold
forged manufacturing technol-
ogy, Kamiita Sosei ensures high
quality while preventing mate-
rial loss. Using their technology
and accumulated know-how, the
company specializes in producing
various kinds of parts for speak-
ers and automobiles.
“Our motto is to make products
that are second to none,” says
Mutsuko Takeyama, President
of Kamiita Sosei. “The essence
of monozukuri in our company
is to strive to obtain something
that is one of a kind, and that is
of better quality than with what
other companies offer. This spirit
is embedded within our company.”
Kamiita has
been a leading
parts manufac-
turer since be-
fore the 2000s,
being the very
first company
to provide in-
tegrated back-
plates for speak-
ers. However, the
company’s main efforts today are in Kamiita Sosei has made continu- “Producing better
the automotive industry, where cold ous investment to meet their cli-
forging continues to play a vital part ents’ ever-changing needs.
quality products than
in the manufacturing process. others is the motto of
“We are currently focused our business.”
on automotive parts, with our
best-selling product in Japan and Mutsuko Takeyama,
overseas being our brake piston CEO & President,
unit. We are also well prepared KAMIITA SOSEI CO., LTD.
for the upcoming transition to
electric vehicles (EVs), as our
parts are focused on steering “Kamiita aims to supply our
and the chassis, not the engine,” products faster than ever and con-
says Ms. Takeyama. tinues to offer even higher qual-
With a strong commitment to ity and more competitively-priced
producing high-quality products, products to our customers.” https://kamiita.co.jp/
 CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO

Nippon Fusso: In prime position for the new epoch

“We are decisively
looking to shift and
strengthen our presence
in overseas markets.”
Satoru Toyooka,
CEO & President,
Nippon Fusso Co., Ltd.
As the world enters the fourth
industrial revolution, the needs
of the market are at the cusp of
significant change. To meet them,
Nippon Fusso, a leading developer
of fluoropolymer coatings is per-
fectly placed; with a synergised
R&D and Sales Department, over
half a century of experience, as
Since its beginnings in 1964, Nippon Fusso has specialized in fluoropolymer coatings
and contributed to the development of global industry through the continuous
improvement of and dedication to technology, quality and service.
is the EC Series, as recounted by Thailand also opens up our busi-
company CEO and president Satoru ness to countries like Singapore,
Toyooka: “Many companies needed Malaysia, Vietnam, and possibly
coatings with anti-static features to China or India; the major focus
use fluoropolymer effectively. There for our overseas expansion will
were no existing solutions available, be in those areas.”
so we conducted R&D and intro- In order to knit all the above
duced the EC Series as an anti-static together, one tenet of Nippon
coating series for the first time in Fusso is not to be forgotten: the
Overseas group companies the world. This experiment made us fostering of human capital. One
well as a talented and diverse realize the importanceofpr tde- person can do a good job, but
workforce, it can be dependably velopment to meet custom o can do better, and teamwork
called upon to create an incred- and from that moment w ndoubtedly renders
ibly strong platform to meet its and became an R&D etter results. As the
customers’ ever shifting and in- oriented company.” world moves into a
creasingly exact needs. Part of Nippon new era, everybody’s
These needs are Fusso’s current Teflon® coated way of living and work-
met by Nippon vision lies Qz for SPE ing is about to change
Fusso’s insistence in its strong desire to drastically, and Nippon Fusso finds
on providing strengthen its pres- itself extremely well positioned to
tailor-made solu- ence overseas. Mr. further develop industry all over
tions to the various Toyooka is focusing the world, as it has successfully
problems its cus- upon receiving more re- done since 1964.
tomers face. A success quests from China and
story that empha- Southeast Asia: “Hav-
sizes this approach Teflon® coated equipment ing our production in www.nipponfusso.co.jp

Shishido: A company with its eyes

firmly on the future
Shishido, a Japanese company specializing in the manufacturing of ionizers for the
removal of static electricity, is entering its eighth decade in operation.
merging together ‘make’ and
‘craftsmanship’, it provides Shishi-
do with the philosophy needed
for its approach, producing in-
tegrated machines that are able
to overcome multiple obstacles.
In a rapidly expanding semi-
conductor industry, naturally,
Shishido has to react quickly
to potential opportunities. The
“When it comes to company manages this by never
resting on its laurels. It releases
technology and research new products every year as well
on the static electricity as working on core technologies
market, I believe that such as HDC-AC technology – an
Japan is already ahead.”
Ryuichi Takeuchi,
President,
Shishido Electrostatic, Ltd.
Shishido leans on one of the key
Japanese watchwords to capture
its very essence: ‘Monozukuri’.
A compound term in Japanese “HDC-AC” ionizers
Measurement
equipment
optimal option to guarantee safe-
ty and cleanliness in the manufac-
turing of semiconductors both
for the short and medium term.
Shishido can rightfully con-
sider itself at the top of the
tree when it comes to static
elimination. In order to increase
competitiveness in the market,
Shishido’s R&D and production
engineering team started a next-
generation CAB-series project
which resulted in a 30% reduc-
tion in the static elimination
times as well as the production
of a smaller, more manageable
BF-X2ME: Blower-type ionizer
product for the customer. This
is the industry’s leading static
elimination ionizer.
A company such as Shishido will
always have its eyes fixed ahead.
To be able to head in that direc-
tion confidently, Shishido has col-
laborated with academic institu-
tions and other entities to achieve
ever more precise measurement.
With such an approach and over
80 years’ experience at the head
of the industry, Shishido will no
doubt be increasingly recognized
in North America as a top ionizer
and electrostatic-related equip-
ment company moving forward.
www.shishido-esd.co.jp

Ensuring people’s happiness by pursuing
monozukuri in various forms
Sanka is not only an integrated manufacturer of industrial components, it serves society
by expanding and adapting to provide diverse solutions within its products.
“Customers have
changed their
requirements for our
components. Therefore,
through our relationships
with our clients, our
products have been
changing to cater to
environmental needs.”
Iwao Kagoshima,
CEO, SANKA Co., Ltd.
‘3S Segment Method’: To protect social infrastructure
A leading manufacturer of plastic products since 1948, the Shonan Plastics has developed an innovative
method for pipeline rehabilitation.
A firm that specializes in plastic
molded products, plastic mold
design and non-excavation con-
struction methods, Shonan Plas-
tics is dedicated to monozukuri,
the spirit of innovation and per-
fection that’s a core philosophy
for Japanese businesses.
2000mm L224.2m
For Takao Kamiyama, the com-
pany’s president, monozukuri is
also about responding to the de-
mands of the market. “I think the
essence of manufacturing in Ja-
pan is to produce what is needed
by customers and society with
high quality,” he says.
“My father, our founder, fore-
saw the potential demand for plas-
CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO
Businesses across all industries needs has been key to this growth,
have been hit by the volatile na- explaining: “If another company
ture of the past 18 months, and is doing ten versions of a prod-
many are seeking to widen their uct, we increase the variations to
portfolios to increase their adapt- twenty or thirty so we can provide
ability. Japan’s Sanka is a great ex- more variety to our clients.”
From heavy industrial processes
to the production of OEM lifestyle
goods, and its original Royal Draw-
er, Storanti and Natura brands,
Sanka applies its motto of “living
in the future” across its business squ+ ROYAL DRAWER
operations. Working with local ers, communities, and employees
communities, in Japan and across happy. As Mr. Kagoshima says,
the world, enables Sanka to under- this happiness can be achieved
stand both the current and future by “pursuing monozukuri in vari-
squ+ ROOM’S shade needs of each market. ous forms,” and as we all know,
ample of the resilience that variety With a manufacturing plant variety is the spice of life.
brings, growing from a component and strategic locations across
provider into an OEM and manu- Japan, Sanka can minimize lo-
facturer of original products. gistics expenses and is always
Company president Iwao Ka- looking for innovative mergers
goshima reveals that understand- and acquisitions to help carry out
ing the diversity of customer its mission of making its custom- www.sanka.ne.jp
“The essence of
manufacturing in Japan is
to produce what is needed
by customers and society
with high quality.”
Takao Kamiyama,
President,
Shonan Plastics MFG. Co., Ltd. 2000mm L224.2m
not require large-scale equip-
tics after the war and started the Key to Shonan Plastics’ pipeline ment during construction, the
plastics business in 1948,” Mr. Ka- rehabilitation is its cutting-edge ‘3S number of trucks will be reduced,
miyama continues. “Since then, we Segment Method’, which involves so it also has the feature of being
have been designing and manufac- assembling translucent plastic environmentally friendly.”
turing plastic parts for electrical, segments on the pipe’s inside wall Having already established a
mechanical and automobile-re- and injecting a cement-based filler factory in Thailand, Shonan Plas-
lated equipment. between the seg- tics’ plans for international growth
Based on these ments and the are focused on Southeast Asia,
basic technolo- inner surface. in addition to the United States.
gies, we have The process is “Currently, we are in the process
also focused on twice as quick of developing a strategy to sell our
the renewal of as conventional products in these countries,” Mr.
pipelines, such excavation, Kamiyama says.
as sewer pipes in Mr. Kamiyama
the aging social notes, adding:
infrastructure.” 2600mm L102.2m “Since it does www.shonan-gousei.co.jp/en
Explosive
p g
growth in “ultra-processed”
p foo
ods that bear little
resemblance to anything remotely natural is behind a panoply of
diet-related disease. Policymakers are starting to take notice

by Adam Piore
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTA MARIA FONTINA
GETTY

34 NEWSWEEK.COM
 “
“DESPITE BEIN
WEALTHIEST NATION IN THE
WORLD, WE HAVE CREATED
A FOOD SYSTEM THAT
RELE
E LESSLY ENCOURAGES
THE
HE OVEREATING OF EMPTY
LOR
ORIES THAT ARE LITERALLY
KING
G SICK.”

EK.COM
 HEALTH

few years ago, kevin hall set out
to debunk a theory, espoused by a
growing number of nutritionists,
that Americans were getting fat-
tter and sicker because of the
complex indu ustrial and chemical processing that
food compaanies were using to make their products of adults, 10 percent of
appealin ng. Hall believed the explanation had more
to do with
w Americans simply eating too many cal-
oriies, fats and sugars. The notion, that extra pro-
ccessing might be causing the problem struck him
as “ridiculous.” from left: Doritos Nacho
To prove it, Hall, who runs a research laboratory
that studies the regulation of metabolism and body
weight at the U.S. National Institutes of Health
(NIH), ran a controlled experiment that he thought
would show beyond a doubt that processing wasn’t
as important as nutrients. He paid 20 volunteers
$5,000 apiece to move into an NIH facility in
Bethesda, Maryland, for one month. He divided the
& /2 & . : , 6 (  ) 5 2 0  / ( ) 7  % , / /  + 2 * $ 1 ʔ& + , & $* 2  7 5 , % 8 1 ( ʔ* ( 7 7 <  - 2 (  5 $ ( '/ ( ʔ* ( 7 7 <  = % , * 1 , ( :  %= '$ . ʔ& + , & $* 2  7 5 , % 8 1 ( ʔ* ( 7 7 <
of the early days of tobacco smoking more than half
a century ago, before regulators caught up with Big
Tobacco. (It’s no coincidence that many tobacco
companies later acquired food companies.) This
EXPANDING time, it’s Big Food peddling harmful and possibly
UNIVERSE addictive products.
In the U.S., 42 percent
At issue is the explosive growth in a broad class
kids between 2-and-5 of food products that are not merely processed in
years old and one in the conventional sense to lengthen shelf life, but are
ɿYH WHHQV DUH REHVH
Ultra-processed foods also often modified to maximize flavor, visual appeal,
are a factor. Clockwise texture, odor and the speed with which they are di-
gested. These foods are made by deconstructing nat-
Cheese Chips; a beach
in Hollywood, Florida. ural food into its chemical constituents, modifying
and a production line them and recombining them into new forms that
of Easy Mac Macaroni bear little resemblance to anything found in nature.
& Cheese Cups at the
Kraft Heinz plant in So radically are they altered that nutrition scientists
Champaign, Illinois. have given them a new name: ultra-processed.

volunteers into two groups. One ate mainly healthy

food derived from simple ingredients with minimal
processing, such as Greek yogurt, beef tender roast
and shrimp scampi with spaghetti. The other group
ate Honey Nut Cheerios, Chef Boyardee beef ravio-
li, Eggo pancakes and other processed foods—the
kind most overweight people in America eat. Both
groups were served an identical number of calories
and amounts of sugar and fat, but the volunteers
were allowed to eat as much as they wanted.
Hall, it turns out, had it all wrong—processing,
in fact, made all the difference. The subjects in
Hall’s study who subsisted on Cheerios and Chef
Boyardee gained one pound per week on average
and consumed in excess of 500 calories a day more
than the group with the healthier diet. What’s more,
when they later switched to a natural diet, they
dropped the extra weight. The conclusion: what-
ever food company chemists are doing to food, it
makes people fatter.
Spurred by these results and others since then,
public health advocates and nutritionists are now
calling upon regulators to put in place measures
similar to those used to curb the influence of to-
bacco companies in the 1990s, such as limiting the
marketing of certain kinds of food to children and
actively discouraging the consumption of key in-
gredients—chief among them, sugar. The nation’s
food crisis is playing out in ways eerily reminiscent

D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 2 1

Ultra-processed foods are often designed to
directly target the vulnerabilities of the human
brain—in particular, to exploit the way the brain
processes pleasurable sensations. They often deliver
a signal to the brain’s reward centers so quick and
potent, some neuroscientists believe, that many
people find it as addictive as opioids or nicotine.
Lab-made creations such as chips, hot dogs,
enriched bagels and American cheese have been
a staple of the American diet since the 1980s. In
recent years, however, the varieties of these foods
have multiplied on store shelves and in fast-food
restaurants. In 2017 and 2018, they accounted for
57 percent of the calories consumed by the average
American—up from 54 percent in 2001 and 2002,
according to one study.
“We’ve gotten really good at stripping out and
refining and processing sugars and fats into these
really potent vehicles, and they’ve gotten cheaper to
make,” says Ashley Gearhardt, a psychology profes-
sor at the University of Michigan who studies food
and addiction. “Then we combine them into totally
novel food products that are so much more reward-
ing than anything our brains ever evolved to handle.
That’s why so many of us can’t stop eating them.”
The implications for the nation are worrisome.
Half of American adults now have diabetes or pre-
diabetes, three quarters of adults are overweight
and about 100 million, or 42 percent, are obese, by
38 NEWSWEEK.COM
HEALTH
the standards of the Centers for Disease ontr
and Prevention (CDC). Among children beetween
2 and 5 years old, one in 10 are already obese.
Among teens, that number is one in five. ri
the COVID-19 epidemic, Americans who aree obese,
without any other risk factors, were hospitalized at
three times the rate of those who weren’t, b some
estimates. When combined with other diet-relat
health conditions such as cardiovascular disea
and diabetes, obesity raises the risk of hosp taliza-
tion sixfold and the risk of death twelvefold.
Our food, in other words, is literally killing us.
Food companies have tricked our brains into ki
us complicit, and our elected officials are co plicit,
too. What’s needed is a better understanding g of ex-
actly how processed foods make us sick and a ublic
reckoning with Big Food’s role in the nation’s ealth
crisis. So far, policymakers have shown little appetit
for scrutinizing the tactics of the powerful foo lobb
But the presure on government officials to cu c
CAUSE AND EFFECT sumption of ultra-processed foods is growing.
The participants in Kevin
“We have now the accumulated evidence, p ticu-
Hall’s study who subsisted
on ultra-processed larly in the last five years, that people who eat more
foods gained one pound ultra-processed foods have higher risk of obesity, d
per week on average.
betes, cardiovascular diseases, depression, can er, -
Whatever food company
chemists are doing to nal and liver diseases,” says Marion Nestle, a pro ssor
food, it makes people emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health
h
fatter. Above: Hall and a
at New York University. “The studies have bee over-
study participant. Right:
a corn dog with mustard. whelming. There’ve been hundreds and hundr s
them. There’s no doubt that this is not a good thi .
It is a problem.”
What better time than the winter holiday s son,
the peak period of the nation’s caloric consum ion,
to think about what we are putting on our dinner
plates?
The Two-Year Cupcake
humans have been modifying food s nc
hunter-gathers discovered fire and figured out how ) 5 2 0  / ( ) 7  - ( 1 1 , ) ( 5  5< 0 $ 58 . ʔ 1 , +   * ( 7 7 <
to barbeque stone-age animals. Ten thousand ars
ago, ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians learned
how to smoke, salt and dry their food to presserve
it. In the 19th century, pasteurization and cannin
techniques vastly expanded the capacity for -
term storage and transport of food.
Processed food, as we know it today, arrived in
n the
first half of the 20th century. That’s when food en
neers figured out how to use modified potato starch
to form pork, ham, sugar, water and sodium ni
D E C E M B E R 1 7, 21
 into a pliable gelatinous blob that would fit into a
rectangular tin emblazoned with the wo d “Spam.”
Two World Wars, the Space Race and incre sing con-
mer demand for fast meals with a lon shelf life
that could support the lifestyle of the ex ing mid-
dle class financed the scientific efforts necessary to
give us spray drying, evaporation, freeze-dr ng and a
sophisticated understanding of how to ma a decent
tasting cupcake you can put on a shelf a still eat
two years later. By the early 2000s, Ameri ns were
getting more than half of their calories fro chicken
nuggets, artificially sweetened canned food d, potato
ips and other man-made concoctions.
Nutritionists didn’t create a langua to escribe
this trend until 2009. That year, Carlos A. onteiro,
lanky, curly-haired professor of nutriti n at the
University of Sao Paulo, introduced th “NOVA
Food Classification system,” a novel ping of
foods based not on their nutritional c ent but
cording to the extent and purpose of the hysical,
biological and chemical processes ap ied to them
after they were separated from nature.
He coined the term “ultra-processed,” (as pposed
to “minimally processed” or simply “ essed”)
to refer to “industrial formulations made eentirely
or mostly from substances extracted fr foods
(oils, fats, sugar, starch and proteins), deri d from
food constituents (hydrogenated fats and odified
starch), or synthesized in laboratories fr m food
substrates or other organic sources (such s flavor
enhancers, colors and food additives used to make

“THE STUDIES e product hyper-palatable). Monteira ex

foods that had been exposed to simple oc ses like
xcluded

drying, fermentation, pasteurization or ot er pro-

VERWHEL IN cesses that might subtract part of the food frozen

’ vegetables, dried pasta or eggs). He also ca ed out

exceptions for products manufactured b in ndustry
HUNDREDS with the use of salt, sugar, oil or other su tances
AND HUND ded to natural or minimally processed ods to

F THEM. TH R preserve or to make them more palatable, but that

could still be recognized as versions of the riginal
NO DOUBT T foods—usually foods that had just two or t ree in-
THIS IS NO edients (such as beef jerky, or freshly made bread).

OOD THIN Ultra-processed food, by contrast, was meeant to

include Frankenstein-like creations th often
IT IS A PROB E made up of added sugar, salt, fat and starches xtract-
ed from natural occurring foods and then b ended
with artificial colors, flavors and stabilizers to hold it
all together. Soft drinks, hot dogs, cold cuts, kaged

NEWSWEEK. 39

cookk s annd lt like pretzel rods all quali-
many frozen dinners and canned entres.
“They are not food,” Monteiro says. “They are for-
mulations. They contain chemical compounds that
do not belong to food—that
food that should not belong to
foods.”
Many researchers dismiss Monteiro’s classifi-
cation system as overly broad. The category of “ul-
tra-processed foods,” after all, encompasses a wide
variety of different products with endlessly varied
nutritional profiles. It lumps Twinkies, Doritos and
diet soda together with protein-rich entrees like
Perdue Chicken tenders, which are made from the
rib meat of an actual chicken and then combined
with dextrose, sugar, guar gum, yellow corn flour
and other ingredients, and Hormel Beef and bean
chili, made from actual beef, beans and crushed
tomatoes and combined with less than 2 percent
modified cornstarch, soy flour and caramel color.
Nonetheless, by defining a new category that
represents levels of processing, he gave public
health experts and epidemiologists the language
to discuss how industrial chemists had changed
food—and how to measure their inventions against
a wide array of health problems. The strength of
those associations soon began to generate attention.
40 NEWSWEEK.COM
“WE’VE GOTTEN
REALLY GOOD AT
STRIPPING O T
AND REFINING
AND PROCESSING
SUGARS AND
FATS INTO THESE
REALLY POTENT
VEHICLES. THAT’S
VEHICLES THAT S
WHY SO MANY OF
US CAN’T STOP
EATING THEM.”
Toxic Sugar
although scientists haven’t figured out how
ultra-processed foods cause people to gain weigh ht—
which of the thousands of chemicals, additivves,
nutrients actually lead to worse health outcome
outcomes—
the market forces that have guided food manufac-
turers are clear enough. Between 1980 and 2000,
the period in which obesity and metabolic diseases
began to rocket upwards, the number of calories
available for purchase in the U.S. food supply in-
creased 20 percent, from about 3,200 per person
per day to 4,000, which dramatically increased
competition for the limited attention and stomach
capacity of the American consumer.
Nestle, the author of many books on the politics
of food policy, suggests that federal farm subsidies ) 5 2 0  / ( ) 7  * ( 7 7 <  2 / , 9 ( 5  0 2 5 5 , 6 ʔ* ( 7 7 <
that ensured surplus crops, such as corn, made it
to market, along with the widespread adoption of
cheap additives in the 1970s like high fructose corn
syrup, were among the factors that drove this over-
production. Meanwhile in the 1980s, activist stock-
holders stepped up pressure on food companies to
grow their quarterly growth profits to keep the
stock prices rising. All of this fueled a high-stakes
arms race in the food industry between competing
product development and marketing teams.
D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 2 1
 HEALTH
“If you’re trying to sell your food product and make
a profit in an environment in which there’s twice as
many calories as anybody needs,” says Nestle, “you ei-
ther have to get people to buy yours instead of some-
body else’s or to get everybody to eat more in general.”
To sell more, food companies made their prod-
ucts ubiquitous. They sold them in bookstores and
libraries. They set up in clothing stores, drugstores
and gas stations. They offered up bigger portions
and created more cartoon characters to sell cereal,
using tactics pioneered and perfected by Big To-
bacco, which by then had begun to diversify from
cigarettes into food. They also called in scientists,
who helped devise ingenious marketing techniques
and scientific innovations to sell more food.
Michael Moss devotes a chapter of his 2013 book
Salt Sugar Fat to the exploits of Howard Moskowitz,
an industry star who pioneered the use of advanced
mathematics and computational science to “optimize”
food products so that they created the most powerful
cravings. Over the years, Moskowitz reengineered a
wide array of products, ranging from General Mills
breakfast cereals to Prego Spaghetti sauce, by testing
out modifications in color, smell, packaging, taste
and texture on human guinea pigs, and then feed-
ing the data into a sophisticated mathematical model
that “maps out the ingredients to the sensory percep-
tions these ingredients create, so that I can just dial
up the product,” Moskowitz explained to Moss.
The most important weapon in Big Food’s ar-
senal turns out to be sugar. Moskowitz coined the
term “bliss point” to describe the “perfect amount”
of the sweetness in a product to maximize con-
sumption. By focusing on the bliss point, Moss ar-
PERFECTLY SWEET
The food industry uses gues, food companies have changed the American
advanced mathematics palate in ways that predispose us to overeating the
and computational bad stuff (potato chips and ice cream) and push-
science to “optimize”
food products so that ing the good stuff (broccoli and asparagus) to the
they created the most side. Recent studies, he says, show that 66 percent
powerful cravings. of the food in grocery stores now contain added
Left: Instant noodles.
Below: Michael Moss, sweeteners.
author of Salt Sugar Fat. “These companies have learned how to find and ex-
ploit our basic instincts that attract us to food,” says
Moss, whose latest book, Hooked, examines the ad-
dictiveness of the food. “The problem isn’t that these
companies have engineered the perfect amount of
sweetness for things like soda, cookies or ice cream.
It’s that they’ve marched around the grocery store,
adding sugar to stuff that didn’t used to be sweet, like
bread and yogurts and spaghetti sauce. This has cre-
ated this expectancy that everything should be sweet.”
Fructose, one of the most commonly used sweeten-
ers, is now present in many foods at concentrations
unheard of in nature, according Robert Lustig, a pedi-
atric endocrinologist affiliated with UC San Francisco
and author of Metabolical, about the dangers of pro-
cessed food. In recent years, studies have shown that
fructose destroys or inactivates several key enzymes
needed for the healthy functioning of mitochondria,
the power plants in human cells that convert simple
sugars into ATP, the form of energy we use to carry out
the functions of the human body and brain.
This disruption in energy conversion causes a
backlog of unprocessed glucose to circulate in the
bloodstream. Sensing the excess glucose, the pan-
creas floods the system with the hormone insulin,
which tells the body to remove the glucose from
the bloodstream and store it as fat. Some of this
fat tends to build up on the liver, which the body
relies upon to filter, process and balance the blood
NEWSWEEK.COM 41
 “THE PROBLEM ISN’T THAT
FOOD COMPANIES HAVE ENGINEERED
THE PERFECT AMOUNT OF
SWEETNESS FOR THINGS LIKE
SODA, COOKIES OR ICE CREAM.
IT’S THAT THEY’VE CREATED
THIS EXPECTANCY THAT
EVERYTHING SHOULD BE SWEET.”
) 5 2 0  / ( ) 7  * ( 7 7 <  '$9 , '  & 5 2 & . ( 7 7ʔ* ( 7 7 <
 HEALTH

leaving the stomach. The liver becomes sick and the Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and of Nu-
problem worsens. Starved of the energy our mito- trition at Harvard School of Public Health. “I think
chondria would normally provide, we eat more. what we have trouble with consistently is resisting
“It shouldn’t be surprising that kids are getting type- extreme hunger.”
two diabetes and fatty-liver disease that used to be
the diseases of alcohol,” he says. “We now know that As Addictive as Heroin
fructose is a mitochondrial toxin, which turns into some researchers suggest the change in our
fat in the liver and is metabolized by the liver in ways diet may also be changing our brains, rewiring
virtually identical to how alcohol is metabolized.” them with aberrant patterns that lead to compul-
Sugar isn’t even the worst problem in the Ameri- sive eating, and possibly even addiction.
can diet. More damaging still is the consumption of Nora Volkow, a neuroscientist who is now Direc-
processed grains, used in corn flakes, white bread tor of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
and many other products. These grains are stripped at the NIH, was one of the first to begin researching
of their outer shell, known as the “bran,” and their food addiction in 1980s. She was struck by similari-
inner germ, which contains fiber, fatty acids and nu- ties between the compulsive behaviors and experi-
trients, leaving only the carbohydrates. The human ences reported by drug addicts and alcoholics and
body digests these liberated carbohydrates much
faster than when they’re locked inside the grains.
“Instead of sitting in the stomach and gradually
being broken down into glucose, it begins to break “THERE’S A WHOLE LOT
down as soon as it gets to your mouth and is almost OF THINGS WE COULD DO.
fully digested by the time it has moved through the BUT YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING
stomach, and all absorbed by the time it gets to
your small bowel,” says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a WITHOUT TAKING ON THE
cardiologist and dean of the nutrition departmentt FOOD INDUSTRY.”
at Tufts University.
This rapid digestion starves the gut bacteria,
which we rely on for healthy functioning of the
digestive system, leading to increased gut perme-
ability that in turn may allow bacteria and toxins
to enter the bloodstream and cause widespread in-
flammation, a factor in a wide variety of diseases
such as celiac disease, diabetes, asthma, Alzheimer’s
and cancer.
It also floods the bloodstream with glucose,
causing insulin levels to spike. This high “glycemicc
load,” a measure of how quickly blood sugar rises,
can have long-term consequences for the way thee
body processes food, leading to a long-term dysreg-
ulation of the hormonal systems. These hormones
tell the body to store more fat at the expense of pro-
viding calories to keep things running. The bodyy,
starved of energy, craves food—meaning we aree
forever hungry, even when we overeat.
“Having seen thousands of patients with obesityy,
I think people can show a lot of discipline around
food choice and selection if they experience bene-
fits,” says David Ludwig, a pediatric endocrinologistt
at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor off

44 NEWSWEEK.COM
 those reported by obese patients who claimed to be
unable to control their eating. In recent years, she
says, evidence has emerged from her lab and others
linking the pathological brain activation patterns
seen in drug addicts to those seen in many morbidly
obese research subjects and compulsive overeaters.
“When I first started to speak about it, there was a
complete and absolute rejection, almost anger, from
people who insisted it was an endocrinological dis-
ease, not a disease of addiction,” she says. “But that’s
an artificial distinction. If you look at it from the
outside, what is the difference between nicotine and
an ultra-processed food if both have been designed
optimally to generate that compulsive response—a
response that manipulates the dopaminergic system
in a way that you don’t find in natural foods?”
Nicole Avena began studying whether or not
sugar could actually meet the scientific criteria for
other addictive substances in the early 2000s after
hearing from recovering drug addicts that they
found it more difficult to quit sugar than heroin.
Avena, an associate professor of neuroscience at
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, found that sug-
ar, in both animals and humans, led to binging,
withdrawal and craving—all components of ad-
diction typically seen in drugs of abuse. She also
saw neurochemical and neuroimaging changes
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in the brain virtually identical to those found in

drug addicts. Sugar, when combined with other
ingredients present in ultra-processed food, was
more addictive still. In rats, sugar was found to be
as addictive as cocaine.
“Our brains just aren’t designed to be able to
process these different types of ingredients in the
quantities that we’re being exposed to,” says Avena.
Ultra-processed foods have something else in
common with nicotine: Some of the biggest produc-
ers of processed foods were, from the 1980s to the
end of the 2000s, known as Big Tobacco. In 1985,
RJ Reynolds acquired Nabisco for $4.9 billion, and
Phillip Morris acquired General Foods in a $5.75
billion deal that was then the largest takeover in U.S.
history outside of the oil industry. Phillip Morris
added Kraft to its portfolio in 1988 and rebranded
itself as Altria in 2003. (RJR flipped Nabisco to Phil-
lip Morris in 2000, which in turn spun off Kraft
from its international tobacco business in 2007.)
UM’s Gearhardt has been studying the events
that led up the groundbreaking 1988 Surgeon
ADDICTION NATION General’s report that deemed nicotine addictive,
Sugar leads to binging, and the benchmarks used to do so, despite a con-
withdrawal and craving
—all components of certed effort by one of the most powerful lobbies
addiction typically in the nation to prevent it.
seen in drugs of abuse. One of the most important factors producing an
Clockwise from top:
Marion Nestle; a diabetic addiction is the speed with which a drug hits the
patient is placed inside body and lights up the reward centers of the brain.
a hyperbaric chamber; By the time Big Tobacco began acquiring food com-
and a frozen TV dinner.
panies, they had decades of experience studying
and optimizing the speed with which their prod-
ucts delivered nicotine to the brain. They contin-
ued to harness that science in their food products.
“Many of these ultra-processed foods are almost
pre-chewed for us,” she says. “They melt in your
mouth immediately. There’s no protein, there’s no
water, there’s no fiber slowing them down. It’s go-
ing to hit your taste buds and light up your reward
and motivation centers of the brain immediately.
Then there’s a secondary hit of dopamine when it
gets absorbed into the body.”

D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 2 1 NEWSWEEK.COM 45

Taking on Big Food
the threat is so grave that policymakers have
recently shown glimmers of a newfound willing-
ness to take on the food industry. A report by the
General Accounting Office in August, commis-
sioned by members of Congress on the powerful
House appropriations committee to review diet-re-
lated chronic health conditions and federal efforts
to address them, painted a grim picture.
More than 30 percent of young people aged 17
to 24 no longer qualify for U.S. military service be-
cause of their weight. Diet-related ailments such as
cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes soaked
up 54 percent of the U.S. government’s $383.6
billion in health care spending, which includes
Medicare and Medicaid, in 2018. They account-
ed for about one-quarter of the nation’s total $1.5
trillion in health care spending in 2018 and were
HEALTH
associated with 1,487,411 deaths—more than half
of deaths from all causes.
Recently policymakers on bo oth sides of the aisle
called for a White House con nference along the
lines of the 1969 conference on n food, nutrrition and
health. That meeting, called by then-Presid dent Rich-
ard Nixon to address the hungger crisis, reesulted in
the creation of the special supp plemental nutrition
program for Woman, Infants and childreen (SNAP)
and the school lunch program, among oth her things.
“Now we face a second food crisis,” said d Senator
Cory Booker, who chaired a farm subco ommittee
earlier this month that focused d on the GAAO report.
“Despite being the wealthiest nation in the world,
we have created a food system that relentlessly en-
courages the overeating of empty calories that are
literally making us sick and cau using us to spend an
ever-increasing amount of taxpayer dollaars—liter-
ally, trillions of dollars a year—
—on health care costs
to treat diet related diseases.”
Nobody is under any illusion ns that solutions will
come easy. In recent years, public health h officials
have launched major campaign ns to deal with what
many consider to be the lowestt hanging fruit: regu-
lations to reduce soda consumption through taxes
and limitations on how federal and statte food as-
sistance can be spent, among other meassures. The
food industry, which has pourred tens off millions
“WHAT IS THE
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and influencing public opinio on,, has fou
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ferociously.
In California, where four cities have passed soda
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moting a 2018 ballot initiative that would have
made it harder for cities to raise taxes of any kind.
The industry dropped the initiative after lawmak-
ers agreed to implement a 12-year moratorium on
local taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks. The word
“ultra-processed foods” appears in U.S. dietary
guidelines only in the references, says NYU’s Nes- COOKED UP
tle, because if it appeared more prominently “the Ultra-processed foods
are Frankenstein-like
food industry would go berserk.” She notes that in “formulations” of sugar, salt,
2015, when a scientific committee recommended fat and starches blended
changing guidelines to encourage Americans to eat ZLWK DUWLɿFLDO FRORUV
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less meat for reasons of “health and sustainability,” Counterclockwise from
industry lobbyists convinced Congress to insert this page, top: Primary
language into a spending bill ordering the Depart- school students learn
about healthy foods;
ment of Agriculture to change it. Carlos Monteiro;
“We could put restrictions on portion size, put DQGMHOO\GRQXWV
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restrictions on advertising and marketing, change
federal subsidy policies to subsidize healthier
foods and make them more available,” Nestle says.
“There’s a whole lot of things we could do. But you
can’t do anything without taking on the food indus-
try. And nobody wants to do that because they’re
very powerful—everybody eats and loves their
products. Anytime anybody talks about taking on
/ ( :  5 2 % ( 576 2 1 ʔ* ( 7 7 <
the food industry, all of a sudden we have charges
of ‘nanny statism.’”
(In response to a request for an interview, a
spokeswoman for the Consumer Brands Associ-
ation, which represents companies that manu-
facture food, beverages, household and personal
care products, su uggested Newsweek reach out to
the SNAC International, formerly the Snack Food
Association, whiccch did not respond to inquiries.)
Congress has been slow to address the obesity
crisis. Dr. Fatimaa Cody Stanford, an obesity med-
icine physician aat Massachusetts General Hospi-
tal and Harvard Medical
M School, has been among
those advocating for the passage of a bipartisan bill
that would requirre Medicare to cover medications,
behavioral theraapy,
a dietician visits and other ap-
proved therapiess to treat obesity. The bill has been
introduced in both the House and Senate every
year since 2013, but
b Congress has not passed it.
It will take tim
m
me, research and public pressure
to change minds in Washington, advocates say. For
now, the best ho ope for a solution is to catalyze a
groundswell of cconsumer demand for products
that are healthierr. Many food companies have rec-
ognized that dieet-friendly, healthy choices are in
demand and can move products. Which brings us
back to the science.
‘We Need a Moo
onshot’
o
to change mind ds,
d scientists—and the food in-
dustry itself—will need a better understanding of
precisely what itt is about the nation’s diet that is
feeding the publiic health crisis.
What is it ab b out ultra-processed food that
prompts overindulgence and weight gain? The
ques
qu esti
tion
on is a maatter of intense speculation and
debate in the world of nutrition science. “We need
a national nutrition moonshot,” says Tufts Mo-
zaffarian. “We’re drowning under an epidemic of
diet-related disease.”
Hall, for one, is following the avenue of inquiry
his study of the healthy versus processed-food eat-
ers opened up. “We need to better understand what
the mechanisms are that are driving the deleterious
effects of ultra-processed food so we can target pol-
icies and potential reformulations to improve the
health of the nation.”
Among other projects, he plans to run anoth-
er comparison study to make sure people aren’t
simply eating more because the food tastes better.
This time he’ll make sure the processed and unpro-
cessed dishes both taste equally delicious, as judged
by independent tasters. The results will hopefully
bring us another step closer to understanding and,
eventually, action.
NEWSWEEK.COM 47
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 MONEY TRAIL
National Institutes of Health
Director Dr. Francis Collins
(left) and Dr. Anthony Fauci
KDYH ERWK FRPH XQGHU ɿUH
for experiments conducted
in Wuhan, China, that
were funded by the NIH.

How Dr. Fauci and other officials withheld information on

RISKY CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH
by Rowan Jacobsen

Photo-illust rat ion b y G L U E K I T NEWSWEEK.COM 49

 or half a year, anthony fauci, the
nation’s top infectious-disease official,
and Kentucky senator and physician
Rand Paul have been locked in a bat-
tle over whether the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) funded dangerous “gain-of-function” research
at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and wheth-
er that research could have played a role in the pan-
demic. Against Senator Paul’s aggressive questioning
over three separate hearings, Dr. Fauci adamantly
denied the charge. “The NIH has not ever and does
not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wu-
han Institute of Virology,” he said in their first fracas
on May 11, a position he has steadfastly maintained.
Gain-of-function experiments are those in which
viruses are genetically engineered to give them new
powers, including the ability to infect and kill humans.
by accident or wrongdoing, outweighs the benefits.
The U.S. government froze funding for gain-of-
function research in 2014 when a group of scientists
petitioned the NIH, then allowed it again in 2017 on
a case-by-case basis. The work became a hot-button
issue when the pandemic started and some scien-
tists speculated that SARS-CoV-2 could possibly be
the product of gain-of-function research. There is no
proof whatsoever that it is, but that hasn’t stopped
Senator Paul from trying to pin responsibility on Dr.
Fauci for funding such work in the Wuhan lab.
Recently, a tranche of documents surfaced that
complicate Dr. Fauci’s denials. The documents, ob-
tained by Freedom of Information Act requests, show
ANSWERING
that the NIH was funding research at the Wuhan lab QUESTIONS
that involved manipulating coronaviruses in ways Above: Fauci (center)
that could have made them more transmissible and with Centers for Disease
Control Director Dr.
The work is controversial. Some scientists say studying deadly to humans—work that arguably fits the defini- 5REHUW 5HGɿHOG OHIW
new deadly viruses in the lab is important preparation tion of gain-of-function. The documents establish that and Assistant Secretary
for novel viruses that leap from animals to humans top NIH officials were concerned that the work may of Health Admiral Brett
Giroir testifying at a House
with great regularity. Others say the risk of handling have crossed a line the U.S. government had drawn coronavirus subcommittee
deadly viruses in the lab, where they could escape against funding such risky research. The funding hearing in 2020.

50 NEWSWEEK.COM D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 2 1
 COVID-19

came from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which Dr. Fauci heads.
The resistance among Dr. Fauci and other NIH of-
ficials to be forthcoming with information that could
inform the debate over the origins of COVID-19 illus-
trates the old Watergate-era saw that the cover-up is
often worse than the crime. There’s no evidence that
the experiments in question had any direct bearing
on the pandemic. In the past, Dr. Fauci has made
strong arguments for why this type of research, albeit
risky, was necessary to prevent future pandemics, and
he could have done so again. But the NIH has dragged
its feet over FOIA requests on the matter, handing
over documents only after online news organization
The Intercept took the agency to court.
The trouble began in May 2016,
when EcoHealth informed the
NIH that it wanted to conduct a
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Under Wraps
from the start, daszak has worked vigorously
to discredit any notion that the pandemic could
have been the result of a lab accident. When the
media was first grappling with the basics of the sit-
uation, Daszak organized a letter in the prestigious
medical journal The Lancet from 27 scientists, to
“strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting
that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin,” and
got himself appointed to the World Health Organi-
zation (WHO) team investigating COVID’s origins,
where he successfully argued that there was no
need to look into the WIV’s archives.
What Daszak didn’t reveal at the time was that INVESTIGATORS
Below (top to bottom):
the WIV had been using the NIH grant money to The Wuhan Institute of
genetically engineer dozens of novel coronavirus- Virology in Wuhan, China;
es discovered in bat samples, and that he knew it and collecting patient
samples for coronavirus
was entirely possible that one of those samples testing in a hospital in
had contained SARS-CoV-2 and had infected a Leuven, Belgium, in 2020.

SERIES OF NEW EXPERIMENTS during

the third year of its five-year grant.

The apparent eagerness to conceal the documents

has only raised suspicions about the controversial re-
search and put the NIH on the defensive. Fauci told
ABC News “neither I nor Dr. Francis Collins, the direc-
tor of the NIH, lied or misled about what we’ve done.”
The episode is a self-inflicted wound that eroded
trust in the nation’s public health officials. Now with
the emergence and spread of the as-yet poorly un-
derstood Omicron variant sparking new lockdown
orders, travel bans and fear around the world, that
lost trust will be more sorely missed than ever.
While Dr. Fauci takes the political heat, the reve-
lations center on another figure in this drama: Peter
Daszak, a British zoologist and infectious disease ex-
pert who is president of the private research firm Eco-
Health Alliance, which received the $3 million NIH
grant for coronavirus research and subcontracted the
gain-of-function experiments to the Wuhan lab. The
activities of Daszak and EcoHealth before and during
the pandemic show a startling lack of transparency
about their work with coronaviruses and raise ques-
tions about what more there may be to learn.
researcher, as he conceded to the journal Science
in a November 17 interview: “Of course, it’s possi-
ble—things have happened in the past.”
The NIH fought for more than a year to keep
details about the EcoHealth grant under wraps.
The 528 pages of proposals, conditions, emails and
progress reports revealed that EcoHealth had fund-
ed experiments at the WIV that were considerably
riskier than the ones previously disclosed.
The trouble began in May 2016, when EcoHealth
informed the NIH that it wanted to conduct a se-
ries of new experiments during the third year of its
five-year grant. One proposed producing “chimeras”
made from one SARS-like virus and the spike pro-
teins (which the virus uses to infiltrate animal cells)
of others, and testing them in “humanized” mice,
which had been genetically engineered to have
human-like receptors in their lungs, making them
better stand-ins for people. When such novel virus-
es are created, there is always a risk they will turn
out to be dangerous pathogens in their own right.
Another risky experiment involved the Middle

With the emergence and spread

of the as yet poorly understood
Omicron variant, the lost trust

) 5 2 0  72 3  / ( ) 7  72 0  : , / / , $ 0 6 ʔ& 4 ʝ 5 2 / /  & $ / / ʔ* ( 7 7 <  1 , $ , 'ʔ* ( 7 7 <  7$6 2 6  . $72 3 2 ' , 6 ʔ* ( 7 7 <

in the nation’s public health
officials WILL BE SORELY MISSED.
East Respiratory (MERS) virus. Although MERS is le-
thal—it kills 35 percent of those who catch it—it’s
not highly transmissible, which is partly why it has
claimed fewer than 900 lives so far. EcoHealth want-
ed to graft the spikes of other related coronaviruses
onto MERS to see how that changed its abilities.
Both experiments seemed to cross the gain-of-
function line. NIH program officers said as much,
sending Daszak a letter asking him to explain why
he thought they didn’t.
In his reply, Daszak argued that because the new
spikes being added to the chimeras were more dis-
tantly related to SARS and MERS than their original
spikes, he didn’t anticipate any enhanced pathoge-
nicity or infectiousness. That was a key distinction
that arguably made them exempt from the NIH’s
prohibition on gain-of-function ex-
periments. But, of course, one never
knows; as a precaution, he offered
that if any of the chimeric viruses
began to grow 10 times better than
the natural viruses, which would suggest enhanced
fitness, EcoHealth would immediately stop all ex-
periments, inform the NIH program officers and
together they’d figure out what to do next.
The NIH accepted Daszak’s terms, inserting his
suggestions into the grant conditions. Scientists
at the WIV conducted the experiments in 2018.
To their surprise, the SARS-like chimeras quickly
grew 10,000 times better than the natural virus, LOOKING CLOSELY
flourishing in the lab’s humanized mice and mak- This page (top to bottom):
ing them sicker than the original. They had the NIH Director Dr. Francis
Collins arrives for a
hallmarks of very dangerous pathogens. Senate subcommittee
The WIV and EcoHealth did not stop the hearing on the NIH’s
experiment as required. Nor did they let the budget this May; and
an electron micrograph
NIH know what was going on. The results image of SARS-CoV-2
were buried in figure 35 of EcoHealth’s year- virus particles.

52 NEWSWEEK.COM D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 2 1

four progress report, delivered in April 2018.
Did the NIH call Peter Daszak in to explain him-
self? It did not. There are no signs in the released
documents that the NIH even noticed the alarming
results. In fact, NIH signaled its enthusiasm for the
project by granting EcoHealth a $7.5 million, five-
year renewal in 2019. (The Trump administration
suspended the grant in 2020, when EcoHealth’s
relationship with the WIV came under scrutiny.)
In a letter to Congress on October 20, the NIH’s
Principal Deputy Director, Lawrence Tabak, ac-
knowledged the screwup, but he placed the blame
at EcoHealth’s door, citing its duty to immediately
report the enhanced growth that had occurred:
“EcoHealth failed to report this finding right away,
as was required by the terms of the grant.” In a
follow-up interview with the The Washington Post,
NIH Director Francis Collins was more blunt:
COVID-19
“They messed up here. There’s going to be some con-
sequences for EcoHealth.” So far, the NIH has not
elaborated on what those consequences might be.
As damning as the NIH grant documents are,
they pale in comparison to another EcoHealth
grant proposal leaked to the online COVID inves-
tigative group DRASTIC in September. In that 2018
proposal to the Defense Advanced Research Proj-
ects Agency (DARPA), a Pentagon research arm,
EcoHealth sketched an elaborate plan to discover
what it would take to turn a garden-variety coro-
navirus into a pandemic pathogen. The idea was
to study dangerous viruses as a way of preparing
Senator Rand Paul at
for the worst nature or a military foe could deliver. a press conference in
EcoHealth proposed widely sampling Chinese bats March. Paul has publically
in search of new SARS-related viruses, grafting the clashed repeatedly
with Dr. Anthony
spike proteins from those viruses onto other virus- Fauci on the possible
es they had in the lab to create a suite of chimeras, origins of COVID-19.
 The documents show that the NIH was
funding research at the Wuhan lab that involved
MANIPULATING CORONAVIRUSES in ways that could have
made them more transmissible and deadly to humans.
 HIGH VOLUME
A medical worker in an
inflatable COVID-19
testing laboratory in
Lanzhou, China, in
October. The lab is capable
of testing as many as
80,000 samples a day.
YA N G YA N M I N/CH I NA NEWS S ERV I C E/G ET T Y

NEWSWEEK.COM 55
 COVID-19

then, through genetic engineering, introducing conducted”—the proposal makes it clear that they
mutations into those chimeras and testing them in were considering taking that step as early as 2018.
humanized mice. DARPA rejected the proposal, listing among its
One piece of the proposal was especially Strange- shortcomings the failures to address the risks of
lovian. For years, scientists had known that adding gain-of-function research and the lack of discus-
a special type of “cleavage site” to the spike could su- sion of ethical, legal and social issues. It was a lev-
percharge a virus’ transmissibility. Although many vi- elheaded assessment. What’s remarkable is that
ruses in nature have such sites, neither SARS nor any much of the same work that crossed a line for the
of its cousins do. EcoHealth proposed incorporating Department of Defense was embraced by the NIH.
human-optimized cleavage sites into the SARS-like
viruses it discovered and testing their infectiousness. Crisis Management Mode
Such a cleavage site, of course, is exactly what makes the nih and ecohealth have asserted that
GROUND ZERO?
Below (top to bottom): SARS-CoV-2 wildly more infectious than its kin. That none of the engineered viruses created with the
EcoHealth President detail was the reason some scientists
Dr. Peter Daszak in initially suspected SARS-CoV-2 might
Wuhan, China, with the
WHO team investigating have been engineered in a lab. And
COVID-19 in Feburary; while there’s no proof that EcoHealth A LACK OF EVIDENCE
and a staff member at a or the WIV ever actively experiment proves nothing, but neither does
Wuhan hospital gets a
ed with cleavage sites—EcoHealth it put EcoHealth’s or the WIV’s
COVID vaccine booster
shot in November. says that “the research was never actions in the early days of
the pandemic in a good light.

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NIH grant could have become SARS-CoV-2. On that,
everyone agrees—the viruses are too distantly re-
lated. But the detailed recipe in the DARPA applica-
tion is a blueprint for doing just that with a more
closely related virus.
In September, scientists from France’s Pasteur In-
stitute announced the discovery of just such a virus—
SARS-CoV-2’s closest known relative—in a bat cave
in Laos. Although still too distant from SARS-CoV-2
to have been the direct progenitor, and lacking the
all-important cleavage site, it was a kissing cousin.
The discovery was hailed by some scientists as evi-
dence that SARS-CoV-2 must have had a natural origin.
But the plot turned in November, when another trove
of NIH documents—released in response to a FOIA
request by the White Coat Waste Project, a group op-
posed to taxpayer-funded animal research—brought
the evidence trail right to EcoHealth’s doorstep.
In 2017, EcoHealth had informed the NIH that it
would be shifting its focus to Laos and other coun-
tries in Southeast Asia, where the wildlife trade was
more active, relying on local partner organizations
to do the sample collecting and to send the sam-
ples to the WIV for their ongoing work. EcoHealth
told Newsweek that it did not directly undertake

D E C E M B E R 1 7, 2 0 2 1
 or fund any of the sampling in Laos. “Any samples
or results from Laos are based on the WIV’s work,
funded through other mechanisms,” says a company
spokesman.
EcoHealth did not make Daszak available for an
interview. But he recently told Science magazine’s
Jon Cohen, “We have done nothing wrong. We’ve
done everything that any normal scientist would do.”
Regardless of who paid for the collecting portion
of the project, it’s clear that for years, a large num-
ber of bat samples from the region that harbors
viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 were sent to the WIV.
In other words, EcoHealth’s team was in the right
place at the right time to have found things very
close to SARS-CoV-2 and to have sent them to Wu-
han. Because there’s a lag of several years between
when samples are collected and when experiments
JUST LANDED involving those viruses are published, the most re-
Travelers in personal cent papers from EcoHealth and the WIV date to
protective gear arrive at 2015. The identity of the viruses found between
Tullamarine Airport in
Melbourne, Australia on 2016 and 2019 are known only to the two organi-
November 29. Australian zations, neither of which has been willing to share
authorites have so far that information with the world.
FRQɿUPHG D VPDOO QXPEHU
of cases of the Omicron A lack of evidence proves nothing, but neither does
variant in the country. it put EcoHealth’s or the WIV’s actions in the early
days of the pandemic in a good light. Why choose not
to share valuable information on SARS-like coronavi-
ruses with the world? Why not explain your projects
and proposals and give scientists access to the unpub-
lished virus sequences in your databases?
For whatever reason, they chose crisis-manage-
ment mode instead. the WIV went into lockdown.
Databases were taken offline. Daszak launched his
preemptive campaign to prevent anyone from looking
behind the curtain. And EcoHealth and the NIH tried
hard to keep the details of their collaboration private.
Congressional inquiries focusing on Dr. Fauci
and the NIH’s decisions to fund unnecessarily
risky research by a lab in Wuhan are probably
forthcoming if, as appears increasingly likely,
Republicans take control of Congress after the
2022 midterms. While it’s important to under-
stand how the NIH came to use such poor judg-
ment in its dealings with EcoHealth Alliance, that
won’t tell us much about the WIV’s research in
the months leading up to the pandemic, espe-
cially since China is not likely to open its books.
Answers are more likely to lie in the records of
EcoHealth Alliance. Republicans and Democrats
alike should be eager to find them.
NEWSWEEK.COM 57
Culture HIGH, LOW + EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

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killers to murderers to whatever horrific thing
we’re seeing in the news, and they’re coming to
your town.”
In a promotional video for the show, executive
producer Sheridan, who also co-created the hit
Yellowstone, says Mayor of Kingstown is “the study
of a corporation, it’s a study of institutionalized
racism, it’s the study of exploitation from the bot-
tom rung of the ladder. It’s a fascinating way to

JA M E S M I NC H I N /PAR A M O UN T+ ; TOP R I GH T: GE T T Y
miere episode. look at a really, really ineffective bro-
Hugh Dillon, who created the show ken system.”
with actor/screenwriter/director BY Dillon, who started his career in
Taylor Sheridan and also has a regular show business as the singer of the
role in it as a police detective, says he ROXY SIMONS Canadian rock band Headstones, says
drew on his own experience as a kid in @roxysimons the show was born when Sheridan,
Kingstown, Ontario. then his acting coach, encouraged him
“I grew up in a town with nine penitentiaries, a to pursue it 15 years ago.
maximum, a medium and a women’s minimum “He’d sit there and put the acting coach aside
security,” Dillon says. “My mom was a teacher, my and say, ‘What would you really want to do?’” Dil-
friends’ parents were prison guards, one was a lon explains. “I said I want to make a TV show...and
warden, other friends were convicts and it was Taylor said, ‘That’s a great idea.’”
in this perfectly cultivated, civilized world there’s Dillon says he and Sheridan worked hard from
this brutality and these institutions.” the beginning of their collaboration to concen-
“As a kid I was fascinated with it, and I remem- trate on characters and setting before plot. He
ber I’d drive by [the prisons] with my parents and says, “We would focus, hyper focus, on: Keep it
I’d see the guard tower and you think, at five and deconstructed, a character, a world, the emotions
six, ‘Oh, that’s Disneyland’. But it isn’t, it’s the polar of the character.”

58 NEWSWEEK.COM
UNCHARTED
Traveling the world through books » P.62

MIDDLE MAN
Jeremy Renner stars
as a power broker
in a crumbling city
who is faced with a
lot of tough choices.

59
Culture

Renner, also currently starring

in Disney+’s Hawkeye series, says the
quality of the writing and the com-
plexity of the character of Mike were
what interested him about the project.
“This character is an interesting
anti-hero, but it’s complicated,” Ren-
ner says, “He comes from the basic
principles that I admire.I admire
the selflessness in a job, and I love
the decisions he makes and doesn’t
make. He’s a complicated character
in a complicated world and there
couldn’t be something more inter-
esting for me to play than that.”
Renner says Mike has to navi-
gate very tough, frequently violent
and almost always morally murky
situations to try to help the people
around him.
Renner says, “It’s selfless. He
points out [things like] ‘You under-
stand if you do this and you don’t
look both ways when you cross the
street then you might get [run] over’
And he’s just trying to see the bigger
picture of it all and there’s some-
thing admirable about that to me,
that I really like about the guy.”
Renner also says he likes the
way the show addresses real social
issues—among them racism and
the political and financial power of
the prison industrial complex sys-
tem over the Rust Belt towns that

JA M E S M I N CH I N / PA R A M OU NT+ ( 4 ) ; TA R A Z I E MBA/G ET T Y
depend on it—through the eyes of
his character.
“When you talk about systemic
racism and all those sorts of things,
this guy is not a part of that process,”
Renner says, “He has a much wider
scope or lens to look at those sorts of
things, and I think that’s a great way
for audiences to look in and have a
greater understanding.’’
The actor adds that part of the
show’s purpose is to show the real-
ity of prisons. “This is what happens
in prisons, this is not what people

60 NEWSWEEK.COM D E C E M b E r 1 7, 2 0 2 1
 TE L E V I S I ON

know in a real way. I find it was a

wonderful blessing to be that voice
for Taylor [Sheridan] and to share
that with audiences.”
While Mike’s preferred weap-
ons are his fists, Renner also gets
to use some other tools of violence
he’s become familiar with in his
onscreen life as Hawkeye. Episode
two features a scene where, armed
with a bow and arrow, Mike con-
fronts a bear near his cabin. Renner
says he was not thrilled about any-
thing that might remind viewers of
his best-known role. “I tried to actu-
ally cut that from the show,” he says.
“I thought, ‘My God, do you really

“Child killers want to do this? You really want

to put me with a bow and arrow?’
to serial It might pull people out. But they

killers to wanted it in, so I did it anyway.’’

Mayor of Kingstown has become
murderers one of Paramount+’s most popular

to whatever shows. It is also the streaming plat-

form’s top original scripted drama
horrific thing since its March rebrand (previously

we’re seeing known as CBS All Access), which is

reflected in the show’s 81 percent
in the news, audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

and they’re Are the strong ratings and good

reviews enough to get the show
coming to renewed for a second season? In a

your town.” statement in November, MTV Enter-

THE PEOPLE
OF KINGSTOWN
Clockwise from top left:
Actors Tobi Bamtefa as
Deverin “Bunny” Washington,
Taylor Handley as Kyle
McLusky, co-creator
Hugh Dillon (inset) as Ian
Ferguson, Kyle Chandler
as Mitch McLusky and
Emma Laird as Iris.
tainment President and CEO Chris
McCarthy (MTV Entertainment is
Paramount+’s parent company)
credited the show’s success to execu-
tive producer Sheridan and the pop-
ularity of his contemporary western
Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner.
(A prequel series, 1883, is set to join
the burgeoning “Taylor Sheridan
universe” on December 19). McCar-
thy also credited Renner’s fans.
McCarthy wrote that Mayor of
Kingstown is “exceeding expecta-
tions…. We feel really, really good
about where we are and about how
it’s going to continue to grow.”

NEWSWEEK.COM 61
Culture
World Travel: An Irreverent Guide
G
by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woo olever
ECCO
K CITY
NEW YORK
While many felt wistful for adventure d during
WKHODVW\HDUWKHKROHWKDW%RXUGDLQŠV VXXGGHQ
death left as one of the most impactful travel
voices of our time became even more e clear
with this collection of travel musings. In these
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and his own words, we are reminded to pull up
a chair and connect with a stranger anywhere
LQWKHZRUOGŜIURP7DQ]DQLDWR6KDQJKDL
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Love is an Ex-Country
by Randa Jarrar
CATAPULT
CALIFORNIA TO
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CON NECTICUT
You haven’t read this
American road trip story
before. Written during the
t
Trump years, this memoir by
Jarrar, a queer Muslim Arrab
American woman, tackles
systemic racism, domesstic
violence, sexuality, traum
ma,
body image and more as it
crisscrosses the country with
w look at new life in Chernobyl or The
plenty of humor and heart
to break up the journney.
62 NEWSWEEK.COM
02
4
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A Small Boat
Voyage to Iceland
by Paul Heiney
BLOOMSBURY
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This ode to life at sea by writer
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Afterr months of being grounded
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exactly what grounded travelers
exact U N C H AR T E D
need to reignite the adventurer
in their dormant imaginations.
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female aviator circumnavigating
the globe is reimagined a century
later with a Hollywood actress
SRUWUD\LQJKHULQDɿOPDERXWKHU
disappearance in Antarctica.
In a year when travel was limited, a
weary world found comfort traveling
through the pages of great books.
Whether in Farewell Mr. Puffin’s ode
to life at sea, Islands of Abandonment’s
Third Pole’s mystery of who reached the
summit of Everest first, these works
transported us all around a world that
we were longing for and provided future
adventures as well. —Kathleen Rellihan
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Minarets in the Mountains:
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NEWSWEEK.COM 63
Culture

P A R T ING SHOT

RizAhmed
z ahmed is king ar out of king arri on fil Is Encounter different from
and TV while also picking roles consistently different from his last. The RWKHUVFLɿɿOPV"
first Muslim to be nominated for Best Actor (Sound of Meta and the fi It gives you all the thrills and spills
Muslim and Asian actor to win an Emmy in a leading categor he Nig and imagination and spectacle of a
), Ahmed continues to change perceptions in his new film counte n genre movie, but it is something more
theaters December 10). Directed by Michael Pearce, Ahmed plays Malik Khan, vividly urgent than an alien invasion
father trying to protect his kids from a looming alien threat. But Ahmed movie. It’s about what’s happening
ys it’s more than just a science fiction film. “This is about something more ULJKW QRZ6R,ŠGVD\WKLVLVQŠWVFLɿ
pressing, more grounded.” And part of what grounds the film is Ahmed’s WKLV LVQRZɿ
Malik. “He is someone who isn’t sure if he’s wanted in society, if he’s proper
accepted in the country that he’s fought for and helped to protect.” All the :KDWZDVLWDERXW0LFKDHO3HDUFHŠV
layers and genres counte bridges is part of what appealed to Ahmed. “It YLVLRQWKDWɿUVWDSSHDOHGWR\RX"
kes so much of what we love from so many different kinds of films and Well, he was willing to cast me, which
makes something unique. That’s really the kind of film that I’m drawn to.” always helps. [laughs] Originally
everyone thought that this role
should be played by perhaps a
white American rather than a British
“This Pakistani. To some extent, I kind
of saw it that way, too. I realized,
LVQŠWVFL˽ FDVWLQJVRPHRQHOLNHPHLQWKLVɿOP

this is adds layers to the movie. That’s an

example of what’s special about
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he’s also open to collaboration.

<RX SLFNYDULHGFKDUDFWHUV:K\"
It comes down to how can I push
myself and audiences. When you do
that, you kind of stretch culture.

<RX UHOHDVHG\RXUDOEXPThe Long

Goodbye LQ'R\RXKDYH
* $ 5 ( 7 +  & $7 7 ( 5 0 2 / ( ʔ& 2 1 72 8 5 ʔ* ( 7 7 <

PRUHPXVLFLQWKHZRUNV"
Music is my therapy, it’s a direct line
to what’s going on in my head. I’m
thinking about how I might be able to
perform The Long Goodbye live; we
managed to put together a really cool
livestream for it. That’s the next thing
I would like to turn my attention to,
musically. —H. Alan Scott

V i s it Ne w s w e e k .c om f o r t h e f u l l int e r v i e w
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