Industria Abrasivi Parmense, that subsequently developed with the GLOBE trade mark,  originated in 1961 from an idea of brothers Paolo and Pietro Ficai, who acquired their experience from their father Celestino, Professor of Applied Chemistry at the University  of Bologna (Faculty of Engineering) as well as co-founder and director or the Ceramics Centre linked to the Faculty.
The researches of Prof. Celestino Ficai mainly  focused on industrial ceramics (which at the time was growing in the Modena area), on special cements, on the sintering of aluminum oxides to produce abrasive and refractory elements. The idea of manufacturing abrasive discs was fulfilled and achieved in the factory in La Spezia Street n.75, Parma.

From 1961 until 1971 production was all manual and carried out with rotary distribution presses.
Polymerization was already made  through continuous ovens, really original (the first ones in the world), designed by engineer Paolo Ficai.

In 1971 engineer Giovanni joined the company that moved premises to La Spezia Street n. 160, were it continuously expanded until reaching the present dimensions of approximately 6.500 sq m. From 1972 on, Eng. Giovanni and Dr. Pietro focused on continuous and dynamic growing, aiming to enhance and automate production for the development of an extremely high quality of products.
New automatic presses were bought in Germany, Italy and Canada and represented an important turning point in the process of automation.

After these acquisitions, all automatic presses, continuous  tunnel ovens and mixing system were and are still designed and built by the company engineers.

So it was that together with the high innovation and quality of GLOBE abrasive discs, also company automation was developed,  featured by a strong design originality resulting from a deep knowledge of production problems.
In 2013 GLOBE acquired a new building of about 6.000 sq m, strategically located next to the motorway of Cisa-Fornovo. In this plant the company manages packaging  and logistics and manufactures flap discs.
Today our company can boast completely automated and computer-controlled mixing systems, three tunnel ovens providing an output capacity of more than 35 million pieces/year as well as a set of automatic presses allowing to produce any type of resin-bonded wheels with diameters from 50 up to 800 mm.


A laboratory for tests and checks of products’ safety parameters crowns the company production chain.
Continuous effort still goes into research and development with the aim of constantly enhancing products, advancing automation systems and productivity, this process is supported and consolidated by newly hired staff and family members (Eng. Paolo, son of Eng. Giovanni Ficai).