ACIMIT: On the Topic of Sustainability, Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers are in the Front Row
President of ACIMIT, Alessandro Zucchi said that, “Through the Sustainable Technologies project, realized by ACIMIT, many of our member companies are constantly engaged in offering machines with a lower environmental impact and reduced consumption of raw materials.”
ACIMIT is a private national body that brings together most of Italian textile machinery companies (that account for about 80% of the whole Italian textile machinery production). The Association main purpose consists in promoting the Italian textile machinery and in supporting the activity of our member companies, mainly abroad.
ACIMIT organizes exhibitions, technical seminars, missions in Italy and abroad and so on. The majority of these activities are carried out in cooperation with Italian Trade Agency and Italian Ministry of Economic Development. ACIMIT is a member of CEMATEX (Comité Européen des Constructeurs de Machines Textile), that groups more than 600 companies in Europe. One of the fundamental tasks of Cematex is the organization and allocation of ITMA, the most important specialized fair worldwide in the textile machinery industry.
We interviewed with President of ACIMIT, Alessandro Zucchi.
How is the Italian textile machinery market currently performing?
The preliminary results for 2019 show a decrease both for the production and for export of Italian textile machines of about 10%. Turkey remains one of the main markets for Italian manufacturers. The Country is in second place behind China alone, with an Italian export value of 107 million euros in the first nine months of 2019.
Which markets are developing and declining for the Italy textile machinery industry?
Overall, many leading markets are slowing down for Italian manufacturers. Among the top ten destinations of the Italian machinery only United States of America, Bangladesh, Poland and Spain recorded an increase for the Italian exports in 2019 January-September period compared to the same 2018 period.
What trends have you noticed in the textile market recently?
Digitalization of production process and sustainability are major terms in the agenda for many textile companies in the recent past. The digitalization of the textile sector is essential to achieve increasingly higher quality standards in the production processes. To achieve this goal, a strong partnership among technology providers and textile companies is required. The Italian manufacturers are now on the cutting edge on some issues, such as predictive maintenance, the use of collaborative robot and 3D printing. On the topic of sustainability, Italian textile machinery manufacturers are in the front row too. Through the Sustainable Technologies project, realized by ACIMIT, many of our member companies are constantly engaged in offering machines with a lower environmental impact and reduced consumption of raw materials.
What developments have ACIMIT members achieved in the European and Turkish market over the past 12 months?
The current economic situation in Europe has certainly not pushed the demand for textile machinery. However, the European Union markets and Turkey remain among the most developed ones. Therefore, Italian manufacturers need to respond to the requests of textile customers in these advanced markets with high-tech solutions. ACIMIT member companies continue to strive to provide reliable and fast machines with reduced production costs.
What industrial and economic challenges are currently impacting ACIMIT’s member companies, and how are they responding to them?
The challenges facing Italian companies are those that affect the entire textile supply chain. Therefore, a more digitized and sustainable production will be the main challenge of the future also for the Italian textile machinery sector. ACIMIT is at the side of its member companies providing all the necessary tools to face and overcome this challenge.
Interview: Dilek HAYIRLI
