The Spark That Started It All:
A Founder’s Story
A snapshot from an upcoming video, featuring Roberto Mari, Founder and CEO and the SIGMA leadership team.
Celebrating 36 Years of Family Legacy
Since 1990, SIGMA Group has grown from a single warehouse in Locate Varesino into a global leader in high-performance refractories for the glass industry. But behind the numbers—two production facilities, over 100 colleagues, and customers in more than 60 countries—there is a story that has never been told quite like this.
In our latest video interview, Roberto Mari, CEO and co-founder of SIGMA, sat down with us to share the memories, the emotions, and the values that built this company. What follows is not just a company history—it’s the story of a family’s passion for refractories and the glass industry.
“I Still Remember the Sound of the First Furnace”
Roberto recalls those early days with vivid clarity:
“I still remember the sound of the first furnace firing up, my hands covered in chamotte, the blocks loaded by hand, one by one, in our small warehouse in Locate Varesino.”
It was 1990. Roberto and his father Dario—a man with 55 years of experience in refractory production—took a leap of faith. They rented an 800-square-meter warehouse and ordered their first furnace.
“I was driving back from a customer visit when I saw a ‘for rent’ sign on a warehouse. I wrote down the phone number, went home, and told my father: ‘Dad, they’re renting it out—shall we give it a try?’ And that’s how it started.”
A Father’s Legacy: Rigor, Intuition, and No Shortcuts
Roberto describes his father Dario as “a man from another era—absolute rigor and rare intuition.”
“He taught me never to take shortcuts, to always do things the right way. We were few, it’s true—but we had a fire inside us that kept us awake at night. Right from the start, we chose the harder path: quality above all else.”
That commitment to quality became the foundation of everything SIGMA would become.
From a Single Spark to a Global Flame
That first spark—the ignition of the first burner in that modest warehouse—has since transformed into something far greater:
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Two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Locate Varesino (Italy) and Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
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16 sintering furnaces operating across both sites
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Over 100 colleagues dedicated to refractory excellence
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Exports to more than 60 countries across five continents
Today, Federico Mari (COO) and Valentina Mari are actively involved in the business, ensuring the family legacy continues into its third generation.
As Roberto reminds us:
“The most important thing is that the passion still burns—and perhaps today even more than it did back then.”
Coming Soon
The full video interview with Roberto Mari will be published on our website and LinkedIn channel in the coming weeks.
Stay tuned – more to come.
