Steel wires
In the ’40s, it was a workshop in the back of a house in the Paternal neighborhood. Today it has become a company with global projection that has consolidated as one of the greatest references in the manufacture of steel cables in Latin America.
Surely, Mr. Ítalo Percossi never imagined that the wire he manufactured in the small family business installed in the back of his house in 1949 would be transformed into thick IPH brand cables, which today power the elevators of the emblematic Empire State Building. Building in New York.
It is not just elevator cables that they are devoted to. But these are part of the enormous production of this company that is located in the town of San Miguel, Buenos Aires.
In its plant of 45,000 square covered meters, with a monthly production capacity of 1,500 tons, it combines advanced technology, highly qualified human resources, and a quality management system. Everything is certified under the main international standards to manufacture all the components of the steel cable: from the own manufacture of wires, fiber and steel cores for its cables, to wooden or steel coils, and packaging, according to the specific requirements of its clients. This Integration Model is key in optimizing designs, productive versatility and sustainability, ensuring the quality of the final product.
In its two modern service and sales centers, located in Buenos Aires and São Paulo, Brazil, IPH has a large stock of finished products.
It also has facilities for the manufacture of slings for multiple applications, fractionation of coils, final product conditioning, certification, and laboratory testing, offering the market the most comprehensive and safest proposal in solutions for the lifting and movement of loads.
From a small workshop to the world
Mr. Juan José Percossi, IPH’s CEO, is Ítalo’s son, who arrived from Italy with his family at the age of 12 and was the one who started this metallurgical tradition. Ítalo arrived from Italy in the 1930s. He and his brothers became orphans from both parents very young. He began working at a very young age in a blacksmith shop, at the same time that he worked in a railroad position, where his father had already worked. In this way, he helped all his brothers and acquired great experience that he later poured into his own company.
Later, in the ’40s, and married to his wife Italia, mother of Juan José and Ana María, and he started buying iron from demolition works, then straightened it with the hammer and drew it, using a car engine as a draft and a flat iron of steel with holes. In this way, he produced wire and sold it in the market. That was Mr. Ítalo Percossi’s first foray into the wire industry.
While his father worked, Juan José studied at the industrial school, and accumulated more experience with the “irons.” So much so, that as soon as he finished high school, he went to work with his father, impatient to do things. They set up a welding workshop and an industrial hardware store run by Juan José’s mother and sister.
In 1958, Don Ítalo made wire again, but this time he went big.
IPH of Ítalo Percossi and Sons
“The company prospered and built a warehouse of about one hundred and fifty meters, on Rodríguez Peña Street, in the San Martín district. My father, with my collaboration, manufactured his machines,” says Juan José.
“We worked downstairs and had our house on the upper floor. There were the beginnings of IPH, an acronym for Ítalo Percossi e Hijos.”
In 1963, at the age of 19, Juan José Percossi took over the company when his father became hemiplegic after suffering a stroke.
Since they did not earn enough from wires, they began to focus on the manufacture of steel cables. They installed the first wiring machines that allowed them to produce the first cables for bicycle brakes.
They grew slowly but surely, buying new machines, land, and sheds to locate them. In the ’70s, they installed equipment for the manufacture of cables up to two inches, for the oil, gas, mining, and elevator industries.
In 2001, the third generation of the family entered the company.
The San Miguel Plant
At the beginning of the ’80s, they had incorporated several important machines that they bought from a German company and the San Martín factory rest too small for them.
They were lucky enough to find land in San Miguel at an excellent price and bought it. It was the beginning of the current IPH plant, a 40,000-m² property with 5,000 m² covered. “For me, who was used to carrying out the activity in 2,800 m², it was a gigantic place,” says Juan José, “I didn’t even know how I was going to be able to fill it with machines and merchandise.”
After working in both plants for some years, in 1987, the company moved permanently to San Miguel and the employee base now reached 40.
Luckily, Don Italo, who died in 1987, was able to see the new plant in operation.
Expanding to Brazil
At the end of the 1980s, the Alfonsín government granted IPH a loan at low rates with which they were able to acquire a “revolutionary” machine in Italy that exponentially increased production.
The domestic market was not enough to absorb so much production.
At that time, Juan José Percossi told himself that the only large market in the region was Brazil.
In 1991, they set up their office in São Paulo, an arduous task until they were finally able to get their footing and verify that their decision was correct. Exports to Brazil helped them overcome the 2001 crisis when the Argentine market was completely depressed. Since there was no great sold in Argentina, we had to agree with our two hundred employees that they should stay at home, even receiving their salary, and that they would return that time to the company by working overtime when demand recovered. That strategy benefited everyone and allowed us to weather the storm. “As always, I highlight the invaluable collaboration of all our staff, who accompanied us then and continue to accompany us today throughout history.”
IPH, in the 21st Century
At the beginning of this century, IPH consolidated its export profile. Today it exports 45% of its production to 30 countries on five continents.
“IPH has a global vocation. Beyond our leadership in the Argentine market, our high-quality standards allow a large part of our production to be distributed throughout the world. Our main markets are Brazil and the United States, as well as Latin America and Europe,” says Juan José.
Currently, IPH cables operate in the elevators of iconic buildings such as Rockefeller Center, Chicago’s Willis Tower, and later the One World Trade Center, among others. This global presence is a testament to IPH’s commitment to quality, innovation, and excellence in all aspects.
CABLES MANUFACTURED BY IPH
- High performance steel cables
- Steel cables for elevators
- Steel cables for the fishing industry
- Mining steel cables
- Steel cables for petroleum & offshore gas
- Steel cables for petroleum & onshore gas
- Steel cables for cable transport
- Utility steel cables
- Installation and maintenance of steel cables for elevators
- FUNILING steel cable slings
- FUNILUB® Lubricants for Steel Cables
- PROCINTA® Synthetic Slings
- IPH® Solutions
- Crosby®-IPH®
- CROSBY® Catalog
- LINKED® Accessories
- CONDOR® lifting devices
- Lubrication System
- PROCINTA® TPR Slings
ELEVATOR CABLES IPH manufactures cables for the following uses in elevators:
- Conventional elevators
- High-speed elevators
- Highly demanding elevators
- Governor Cables
All these cables undergo tensile elongation tests in tensile test benches, where the breaking load, diameter reduction under load and elongation are controlled, and by dimensional control of the finished product, which ensures the regularity of diameter.
IPH products are up to the highest international demands, since the company manufactures and certifies its products under
ISO 4344 standard, thus providing constructive characteristics
For more information go to https://www.iphglobal.com/ar/es
