The Team Italia group and Onyx Marine, leaders in bridge integration and ship automation solutions, already strongly present and well positioned in the Italian market, further strengthen their leadership in the yachting market with the entry of technology group Rolls-Royce.
After a collaboration with Rolls-Royce’s business unit Power Systems that began as early as 2019 with the realisation of joint developments, the two companies now agreed, that the best way to realize strategic growth plans would be for Team Italia to become part of Rolls-Royce, dedicated to complete NavCom bridge integration and automation.
The company, so far mainly focused on the domestic market with several offices in Italy, designs and develops integrated bridge, navigation and automation systems, serving major Italian yacht builders. Since its foundation in 2000, the company has built a high market share in the Italian yacht industry and thus in the global yacht market. Since then, the Team Italia Group has created a solid base to prepare for internationalisation and the next natural phase of growth.
"The acquisition is a logical step in our journey to becoming an integrated solutions provider for the yacht industry. Our products complement each other perfectly and with this step, we expand our solutions portfolio significantly in order to enhance our market position and create further benefits for our customers,” said Denise Kurtulus, Vice President Marine in the Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems with its solution brand mtu. In addition to a mtu propulsion system, Rolls-Royce can now offer leading-edge integrated bridge products as well as regulation, control, automation, and navigation systems, and many other functions for yachts. Team Italia benefits from the Rolls-Royce Power Systems worldwide distribution network which provides access to global markets and yacht makers all over the world.
"We are proud and very happy to become part of the Rolls-Royce group, said Massimo Minnella, Managing Director of Team Italia. "We strongly believe that in order to implement a structured expansion and maintain the high level of continuity and growth that will secure the future of our company, we need an excellent partner and marine expert like Rolls-Royce Power Systems at our side and we are excited about this because we see excellent prospects for reaping the benefits together in the global luxury yacht market."
Team Italia has always aimed to build products that make complex operations much simpler. By joining forces with Rolls-Royce Power Systems, it is moving another step forward in making the increasingly complex systems that will equip the yachts of the future simpler and safer to operate," said Daniele Ceccanti, Technical Director of Team Italia.
"Team Italia Group has proven its outstanding capabilities – not only in system design and integration, but in software programming and successful ongoing development of its bridge and integrated platforms," said Clemens Berger, President Mobile Power Solutions at Rolls-Royce Power Systems. "These capabilities and cutting-edge technologies fit perfectly with our vision for our mtu NautIQ marine automation portfolio. Together with Team Italia we extend our systems competence to serve our marine customers with a holistic portfolio. Moreover, we strengthen our leading positions, diversify our offerings, explore new markets and will realize profitable growth," Berger added.
With the new name Team Italia s.r.l. the company continues to operate in the Italian cities of Fano, Livorno and Forlì. Its workforce of almost 60 employees including all managers and key personal will be employed by Rolls-Royce, as Massimo Minnella will keep the role as Managing Director and Daniele Ceccanti as Technical Director. They will be supported by Nicola Camuffo, Head of Rolls-Royce's mtu Yacht Competence Centre in La Spezia. Also, the other people in charge also remain on board: Bernabucci Barbara as CFO, Federico Sturlese as Technical Director of the Automation Division, Mirco Antonucci as Production Manager of the NavCom Division, Omar Lunardi as After Sales Manager, and Mirko Felici as Technical and Engineering Manager.
The successor entity Team Italia Marine s.r.l. will remain the trusted partner for its customers and will continue to follow them in Italy under this well-known brand name while for markets outside Italy, Rolls-Royce will market the systems under the mtu NautIQ name. Already today, more than 300 yachts for national and international customers are equipped with Team Italia systems, regardless of the propulsion engine installed.
"We will continue to develop and customize our integrated bridges and automation as specific products for each need regardless of the propulsion system on board” stressed Nicola Camuffo.