Graziano Colombari, Tenaris quality senior manager in Dalmine, Italy. Tenaris
When Graziano Colombari, Tenaris quality senior manager in Dalmine, Italy, is asked what the most significant highlight from his time at Tenaris is, he pauses. Though described as an outspoken, multilingual individual who switches effortlessly between Italian, Spanish, and English, this pause shouldn’t come as a surprise. That’s because Colombari has spent almost twenty years at Tenaris, and counting, so singling out a memorable moment is quite difficult.
His career has been wide-ranging: a mechanical engineer from the University of Bergamo, Italy, he who started in 2002 in Tenaris as a maintenance supervisor — but for reasons that he now recalls with a laugh: “My motivation, back then, was my thesis,” he admits cheerfully. “During my graduation from mechanical engineering, I started as an intern to finish my thesis. Then, the day after I turned in the thesis, I kept on working, and I never left."
Graziano and the quality team at Tenaris in Dalmine, Italy. Tenaris
Colombari reminisces about his lengthy career. “I started in maintenance in Dalmine. Then, I moved to operations and spent eight years there,” he says and goes on to list how he spent a couple of additional years in operations, in a different role, and in 2017, moved to quality. During his stint in operations, Colombari was the heat treatment coordinator and then hot rolling and finishing manager. After thinking about it for a moment, he calls this his highpoint, becoming an expert on processes.
Colombari considers interaction with customers and people one of the most important parts of the job and is exceptionally fond of his colleagues at Tenaris. A couple of months ago, he traveled to Houston, Texas, and visited the McCarty and Houston facilities to exchange best practices on customer satisfaction. “I’ve always been curious to learn new processes,” he explains as the reasons for his travels. During his trips - and considering the different roles Colombari has held at the mills - he has had the opportunity to meet members of the team he’s collaborating with. “I made numerous friends over the years,” he says, “I learned to speak Spanish because so many of my colleagues spoke the language, and I wanted to improve my work here. My colleagues from Argentina and Mexico were very patient with me and gave me the possibility to learn.”
Colombari and his family. Tenaris
According to Colombari, his current role as quality senior manager represents a link between the company and its customers. That’s why he was also recently in Qatar, helping a customer and ensuring all the technical specs were compliant with their needs. “It’s a very rewarding position. I get the opportunity to work with my Tenaris colleagues worldwide sharing our best practices to find solutions to reach customer satisfaction.”
Although Colombari travels a lot for work, he’ll never lose his soft spot for home. “I have a little disaster that’s just turned six years old,” he says, laughing, of the family he’s formed with his wife. “I always like spending time with my daughter and my wife.”
Colombari foresees he’ll spend his future years in Tenaris in whichever place allows him to keep on interacting with customers. “It could be quality, or maybe even commercial or technical sales — I don’t know. The one constant are the challenges.” With nearly two decades of experience under his belt, Colombari continues to welcome the one constant in his career, the challenges.