The beginnings
Founded in 1935 by Salvatore Robuschi (born in 1896), “Officine Meccaniche Robuschi Salvatore” began its operations in a small 50 m² workshop on Via Petrarca, in the historic center of Parma. The company manufactured self-priming pumps, primarily used in rural areas to draw water from wells to homes.
The post-war period
After the war, backed by 15 years of experience, the workshops relocated in 1948 to a new 200 m² facility on Viale Piacenza. The company expanded its production to include agricultural pumps and began approaching the industrial sector, which was starting to flourish after the wartime stagnation.
Expansion and range extension
In the early 1960s, Italo Robuschi joined the company. Italy’s economic boom during this decade created significant opportunities, particularly linked to the growth of the agricultural and food processing industries, where Salvatore Robuschi was already present with its products.
In 1958, the company invested in a new 600 m² plant on Via Palermo to support the expansion of its product range, which now included industrial boiler feed pumps, as well as pumps for livestock farming, the food industry, and small paper mills.
Third generation and new frontiers in the industrial world
In 1982, Michele and then Francesca Robuschi joined the company, followed shortly after by her husband Giulio Schiaretti, marking the beginning of the third generation. The product range during those years drove such growth that, in the early 1980s, the company expanded further, moving its manufacturing plant to Via Verona, occupying a total area of 1,500 m². During the same period, a partnership was established with a well-known brand of sanitary pumps for the food industry.
This experience proved fundamental for the company’s development in the following years: it allowed Michele to explore a broader spectrum of industrial applications in Italy and, for the first time, abroad (the first contact took place at ACHEMA in Frankfurt in 1985).
Exposure to a new industrial landscape, combined with Michele’s intuition, sparked a key insight: the food industry used small pumps with stamped casings for light-duty applications, which were more economical but just as efficient as traditional process pumps.
Why not offer them to other sectors in a more heavy-duty version tailored to industrial demands? This led to the creation of the RS series (close-coupled pumps with recessed impellers and stamped casings) which would prove to be true bridgeheads into new applications, plant types, industries, and markets.
The evolution
In a short time, the success of the RS series redefined the commercial potential of the range, opening doors to a new and unprecedented industrial landscape for the company.
Relying on two core elements that are still part of the corporate DNA today, manufacturing quality (even then, investment cast impellers were used while the market was still heavily tied to sand casting technology) and component modularity, Salvatore Robuschi Pumps decided to invest in equipment and personnel to sustain the momentum generated by the RS series’ success.
Within a few years, this led to an upgraded revision of the RC series. Accompanied by two new series, the RD with a closed impeller and the RG with a semi-open impeller, this quickly allowed Salvatore Robuschi Pumps to enter new sectors such as winemaking and textiles. It also enabled the company to take its first steps into foreign markets, starting with Denmark, followed by Spain and the Netherlands.
Betting on the future and industrialization
In 2001, construction began on a new 6,600 m² facility on Via Segré (the current headquarters), located within the S.P.I.P. industrial district on the outskirts of Parma. When construction started, the Via Segré site was four times larger than the area required for production at that time.
With a growing focus on the industrial sector, the company expanded its portfolio with new process pumps, developing the RB series (channel impeller) and the new “light-duty” HD and HG series (featuring closed and semi-open impellers, respectively). The range of vertical pumps was also modernized and, for the first time, “Cantilever” configurations were developed, aiming for ever-greater coverage of market demands.
Digital innovation, operational processes, and expansion
In response to the growth recorded during these years, the company decided to invest in digitalization, opting for the most robust and comprehensive ERP system on the market: SAP. Not only did it equip itself with new tools capable of supporting the organization’s future steps, but, in collaboration with the software provider, it developed and patented the world’s first product configurator fully integrated with an ERP system.
Supported by this new management software, the company focused on optimizing operational processes, essential for governing a fast-growing business that refuses to compromise on quality, punctuality, and product customization.
The result of this effort materialized in obtaining the ISO 9001 quality certification. In line with the optimization of internal procedures, the company worked on expanding into foreign markets, thanks to an increasingly widespread distribution network. By the end of the decade, the company broke ground on its sixth expansion, adding another 6,400 m² to the existing structure for a total of 13,000 m² of covered space.
Automation and range expansion
The 2020 expansion allowed the company to enlarge its warehouse, expand the assembly area, and redesign the painting and testing areas.
Regarding the latter, in 2022 the company invested in a new robotic painting booth controlled by over 1,000 painting programs, while the testing facility was overhauled and expanded with the construction of a testing tank measuring 12 meters long and over 6 meters deep.
The 2024-2025 biennium was particularly full of milestones: the fourth generation joined the company, represented by Pietro Robuschi and Matteo Schiaretti; SR Pumps Singapore Pte Ltd, the first international branch, was established; and the first units of the RB 400-60 and RD 32-12 were produced, representing the largest and smallest pumps ever manufactured by the company, respectively.
Finally in March 2025, the VS series, the company’s first line of liquid ring vacuum pumps, was officially announced.
