Generators of experiences, culture and knowledge are comparable to genuine growth accelerators. For people and society.
The perfect example of this is MUMAC, a hub bursting with content which offers plenty of eye-opening and useful insight, most notably through its training activities for employees, customers and the external public during which the culture of coffee is conveyed in many different and engaging ways.

 
Waves of passion and training
MUMAC is more than a meeting place: it is an intriguing invitation for those that want to learn more about the world of coffee but also for employees who are able to learn about the heritage and innovative vision that enable the company to keep growing: from the HR department’s induction programme for new hires entitled “Welcome in Cimbali”, to the constant updates guaranteed by the MUMAC Academy and the online initiatives for employees and students where the circular nature of the information speeds up flows and encourages people to take responsibility.

 
History in a coffee cup
MUMAC is a place of training and continuous inspiration: every year it is visited by dozens of schools, universities, companies and people interested in professional or amateur training.

Since 2016, every year it has welcomed an average of 25 primary and secondary school classes from the provinces of Milan and Pavia that want to learn more about one of Italy’s most prominent businesses.

In addition, thanks to the Cimbali Group’s partnerships with numerous universities (including IULM, Milan Polytechnic, Turin Polytechnic, Bocconi University, Cattolica University, the University of Pavia, the University of Milan Bicocca) MUMAC has often been visited by lecturers and students.

International universities and associations, with around 800 students of various different nationalities – American, Italian, French, British, Chinese and Indian – from institutions such as SDA Bocconi, 24Ore Business School, Istituto Marangoni, Milan Polytechnic, IULM, Texas A&M University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rotman School of Business of Toronto and Florida International University, have organised Master’s courses inside the museum as well as degree theses which have enriched the MUMAC Library, the historic coffee library.

 
Sensory Business Case
This panorama of partnerships, involving various company departments each time, also includes the project work with IULM, notable for being the first such initiative in the company and, even more importantly, for having identified a solution made possible by technology, and this despite the temporary health emergency.

In the first quarter of 2020, the students of the Master’s in International Marketing & Sales Communication at IULM University of Milan, to whom the company was presented together with the project of the new Experience Center Technology Heart Human mind Lab of the LaCimbali brand, were involved in a business case.

The Master’s, in its first year, is an innovative project that aims to develop transversal marketing, sales and communication skills, crucial for a customer- centric approach, and even more so in a global context. Held in English, it prepares students to manage real business problems through the active participation of numerous business partners and the development of projects in the field. Thanks to the creation of a genuine partnership with the Cimbali Group HR department, directors Prof. Daniela Corsaro and Prof. Luca Pellegrini, together with coordinator Anna Bulgheroni, worked in close collaboration with the Group’s Marketing and Communication department to launch a business case in which the students were asked to create a communication and marketing launch plan for the new Experience Center set up in Hangar 100 of MUMAC, a multifunctional post-industrial space used for temporary exhibitions dedicated to the company’s brands and, at the present time, converted into the LaCimbali Lab.
A detailed brief indicating the challenges, budget, timeframe and goals was followed by an entire day in the company and, following a tour of the museum and the Lab, the students, divided into five groups, used the MUMAC spaces to work on the project, liaising with the Cimbali Group managers, from Director of Marketing and Communications Simona Colombo to Brand manager Silvia Ruggero and MUMAC Manager Barbara Foglia. They were supervised and coordinated during the project by MUMAC curator Cinzia Cona and Brand marketing specialist Antonella Farigu.

The final step, scheduled to take place in mid-March at the University site, was meant to be a collective moment involving the presentation of the projects which, as well as explaining the ideas, would also have involved the creation of ad hoc moodboards and videos.

The health emergency that broke out in the meantime, at national level then at global level, seemed to have put paid to the postponement of the students’ presentations, with the risk that the Master’s would be terminated due to the inability to guarantee everybody’s presence at a later date.

Unwilling to put this expense of energy to waste, the university team together with the Cimbali Group came up with a presentation method that was adopted for the first time by both parties: a virtual meeting with live ‘coverage’ from the homes of each participant, as well as 30 people watching the presentations of the 5 projects whose passion, knowledge and freshness was not allowed to go to waste.

Using Teams by Microsoft it was possible to virtually connect all of the parties and share the presentations, projects, audio and video materials in a collective effort that was able to overcome the physical barriers imposed by the emergency situation.

At the end of the presentations feedback was provided by the company management which recognised the validity, feasibility, sustainability and high quality of all of the projects, and in the end identified one in particular which was developed with a level of professionalism and creativity worthy of an agency. A detailed and precise yet highly interesting and inventive project: from the hashtag used (#lacimbalimeets) to augmented reality, from the detailed use of technology – one of the assets of the LaCimbali brand – to the perfect promotion of flavour and sharing, and concluding with an excellent mix of online and offline features, respected timeframes and budgets, and lively, engaging and fast-paced presentation methods. Not a dead certainty by any means, particularly as the students hadn’t yet “experienced” their prize, the MUMAC Academy Sensory Skills course, part of the Coffee Skills Program SCA, a module dedicated to sensory analysis in which participants learn how to use their senses to evaluate the quality of a coffee. After the course going to the bar will never be the same again!

 
Links to coffee
Aside from its courses, in order to share its expertise and knowledge MUMAC also tells stories about the products, revealing what is behind and inside the machines with project work that goes beyond mere knowledge. For this reason various companies (such as Accenture, Jaguar, Subaru, Renault, AB Medica, Cabiotec, Archiva, BTicino, Carrefour, Jungheinrich, Daimler, Ambrosetti, Autogrill, Primeur) have chosen MUMAC as the location for their events, always identifying training “links” with the content of the museum, each time structured according to their own training and content requirements: from design and technology to innovation and heritage, culture and society.