17/02/2011 | DITEC automatic pedestrian doors now welcome CONAD shoppers

Conad is short for Consorzio Nazionale Dettaglianti, or national retailers’ consortium.

Headquartered in Bologna, it currently comprises 8 cooperatives of retailers operating throughout Italy, unlike many large-scale retail traders.

Conad was founded way back in 1962 and after a series of rationalisations and mergers among the purchasing groups, the various brands took on their own identities in the 1990s: Conad for supermarkets, Margherita and Conad for minimarkets, and Pianeta - Conad (now E.Leclerc - Conad) for hypermarkets.

Conad also sells its own-brand fuels, which are produced at its own independent refinery, at lower prices than those of the ordinary fuel distribution network, and it was the first to offer this service at an Italian hypermarket (at Gallicano, near Lucca).

The current 8 cooperatives have as many as 2,899 associated retail outlets throughout the country, employing over 34,000 sales professionals. It has all been created by the commitment and enterprise of its members. For each and every one of them, ensuring quality at competitive prices is much more than a corporate mission, it is first and foremost a personal commitment.
In 2010, Conad’s end of year turnover exceeded 9 million euros, which was up on the previous year despite the marked trend to the contrary in its market as a whole.

Conad has now gained a 9.9% market share and proudly leads in the supermarket and convenience store sectors, with shares of 15.4% and 12.8%, respectively.

Conad responded to the recession by mobilising resources on several fronts: Private label, a targeted offering based on quality, focussing on health and quality, and growing its network.
Conad vigorously markets the distinctive values of its brand, by strengthening the image of its Italian-ness and its strongly-rooted local presence close to its customers that makes it ideally placed to meet their needs.

This strategy has seen an increasing number of new store openings throughout the country: take Pontecagnano, near Salerno, as a recent example, with an entrance created using DITEC automation and fixtures.

This project also involved the installation of two automatic doors with Valor automation and DITEC PAM 45M frames featuring an anti-panic system with ASME external breakaway mobile wings.

DITEC’s PAM 45 range of frames comprises a system of aluminium profiles that have been specially designed to enable highly rapid and simplified frame production, construction and installation.
This system is dedicated to automatic 1-wing, 2-wing or telescopic sliding doors, including standard versions with fanlight and fixed panels and also the versions with breakaway mobile wing or full breakaway anti-panic systems.
The PAM 45 system can accommodate all types of glass, from 8 - 38 mm thicknesses, without protruding frames. It is available with snap-on glazing retainer or with slot-in glazing.
It has a floor guide track that is suitable for 1- or 2-wing sliding or telescopic openings.

For the PAM 45 profiles, there is a choice of 3 different types of anti-panic door opening systems: ASMI, ASME and AST.
The AMSI device is a breakout system for inwards sliding wings only; the ASME device for outwards sliding wings only, whilst the AST device is a full breakout system for both wings and fixed panels. This device also makes the door suitable as a FIRE EXIT door (TÜV certified).
The breakout anti-panic opening system is 45 mm thick, it features steel wings rotation and fixed panels release/retainer pivots, anodised aluminium or stainless steel floor guide, polizene runner and hidden fixed panels rotation hinges.

Any technical system, even the best, is only as good as its installation and testing, which need to be carried out by a true professional with expert knowledge of the product and its market.
To this end, we are grateful to Mr. Crescenzo De Vivo, of RR Systems in Scafati, near Salerno, our local DITEC Expert, who has gained the trust of the local managers of the new CONAD store with his professionalism and expertise, and has completed the installation to perfection and will now be keeping the automatic door in tip top condition through his subsequent maintenance work.