Olba

What Olba does

Olba Srl is an Italian foundry core manufacturer (animisteria) founded circa 1980 in Sannazzaro de' Burgondi by Franco Balladore and Vonero Olivi. The company designs and produces sand cores for foundries working in cast iron, aluminium, bronze, steel, and light alloys, serving primarily automotive customers including brake disc, cylinder block, transmission housing, and other structural castings. Operations span three production departments (shell moulding, cold box, and painting) running on three shifts, with an in-house technical office for mould design and 3D simulation, sampling services, a quality office (UNI EN ISO 9001-20015 certified since 2004), and a fleet of three owned trucks supplemented by external hauliers for just-in-time delivery across Italy and internationally.

Olba's go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales anchored in engineering collaboration with foundry customers, following anchor accounts into new geographies — the wholly-owned subsidiary Olba Poland (Myszkow) was created in 2011 at Brembo's request and doubled production capacity between 2016 and January 2020. Revenue is generated through the sale of custom-manufactured cores on a per-project/per-order basis with repeat orders from major automotive suppliers; no public pricing exists. The company is family-controlled (second-generation Balladores joined in 2000), with no institutional investors, no funding rounds, and no public listing. Technology differentiators include internally developed production management software that connects to shop-floor systems for order-based production programming, real-time WIP monitoring, and productivity analysis, alongside in-house core box tooling and maintenance capabilities.

Name

Olba

Legal name

Olba Srl

Website

https://olba.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Sannazzaro De' Burgondi

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Core manufacturing and supply: Olba manufactures and supplies sand cores (anime) for foundries across multiple metal types. Production runs on 3 shifts for high-volume availability. Revenue is generated through the sale of custom-manufactured cores, with repeat orders from major automotive suppliers.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Olba designs and manufactures sand cores (anime) for foundries producing castings in cast iron, aluminum, bronze, steel, and light alloys. Production runs on three shifts across shell moulding, cold box, and painting departments, with services spanning mould design, 3D simulation, sampling, volume production, in-house quality control, and direct delivery via owned trucks. The company is positioned as a sector leader in Italy and Poland, primarily serving automotive foundries such as Brembo.

Product overview

Olba is a foundry core manufacturer (animisteria) that produces cores for foundries working with cast iron, aluminum, bronze, steel, and light alloys. The company's primary offering is core production services, supported by integrated Design, Volume Production, Sampling, Logistics & Shipping, and Quality Control & Maintenance modules. Olba Poland serves as a subsidiary operation in Poland. The company uses proprietary production software and operates across multiple production departments (shell moulding, cold box, painting).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Foundry Core Production Services End-to-end manufacturing of sand cores (anime) for foundries producing castings in cast iron, aluminum, bronze, steel, and light alloys. Covers mould design support, sampling, volume production across three shifts via shell moulding, cold box, and painting departments, in-house quality control, and direct delivery via owned trucks and external haulage partners. Targeted at automotive foundries requiring high-volume series production with tight tolerances and just-in-time delivery.

Quantifiable outcome

• Production capacity doubled at Olba Poland (2016–2020)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• BrembocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011Brembo, a world-leading braking systems manufacturer, requested Olba to establish a production facility in Myszkow, Poland. This led to the creation of Olba Poland in 2011 as a dedicated supplier to Brembo's European operations. The relationship is foundational to Olba's international expansion and represents a core strategic customer-supplier partnership.
• Fibering S.p.A.minorOthersFibering S.p.A. serves as a data processor for the technical management of Olba's website and database hosting, acting on Olba's instructions under GDPR compliance.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• HA International: HA International is a North American and European supplier of foundry chemical binders and resins used in core and mold production. Comparable to Olba in serving the foundry core production industry with overlapping automotive foundry customers, though HA International is positioned as a materials supplier rather than a custom core manufacturer.
• ASK Chemicals: ASK Chemicals is a global supplier of foundry chemicals, binders, resins, and core-making technologies serving automotive and industrial foundries. Comparable to Olba as both operate in the foundry core-making supply chain serving similar automotive OEM and Tier 1 customers, though ASK Chemicals focuses on chemical inputs and core-making equipment rather than bespoke core manufacturing services.

Broad incumbents

• Foseco (Vesuvius): Foseco, a division of Vesuvius plc, is a global supplier of foundry consumables including binders, coatings, feeding systems, and filters. Comparable to Olba as a broader incumbent in the foundry supply chain serving similar automotive and industrial foundry customers, but at much larger scale and with a more diversified product portfolio.
• Ahresty Corporation: Ahresty Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer of automotive die-cast and gravity-cast aluminum components serving global OEMs for powertrain, chassis, and structural applications. Comparable to Olba in serving the automotive castings supply chain, though Ahresty operates as a Tier 1 component manufacturer using cores sourced from third parties.
• Tupy: Tupy is a Brazilian manufacturer of complex cast iron components for automotive, commercial vehicle, and industrial applications, with global manufacturing footprint. Comparable to Olba in the cast iron foundry space serving global automotive OEMs, though at substantially larger scale and producing finished cast components rather than cores.
• Endurance Technologies: Endurance Technologies is an Indian automotive components manufacturer specializing in aluminum castings, suspension, and other components for two-wheelers and passenger vehicles. Comparable to Olba as a Tier 1/Tier 2 supplier to automotive OEMs in cast components, though at significantly larger scale and with broader end-product manufacturing capabilities.
• Georg Fischer (GF Casting Solutions): Georg Fischer operates a Casting Solutions division producing iron, steel, and aluminum castings for automotive and industrial customers globally, with European manufacturing presence. Comparable to Olba as a specialty foundry serving the automotive industry, though much larger, more diversified, and integrated into finished casting production rather than core-only manufacturing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Olba