At the general assembly of ACIMIT, the association representing Italian textile machinery manufacturers, a number of  future projects for boosting the industry were discussed.

In 2020, Italy’s production of textile machinery fell by 22% compared to the previous year, with a similar drop in exports. Weighing heavily on this situation was a near total stop of production between the first and second quarter of 2020, while the recovery in the second half of the year was only partial. Travel restrictions have contributed negatively to performance of the industry and still do not allow companies to seize the opportunities created by a recovery of the textile sector.

“In this first half of 2021, the overall economic situation appears to be improving both in terms of exports and in our own domestic market in Italy,” said ACIMIT president Alessandro Zucchi. “The resumption of trade fair events in our sector has provided a positive sign of a progressive return to normal business conditions.

“Entrepreneurs in the industry have realised the urgency of enacting the digital transformation of their businesses and this is precisely why ACIMIT has accelerated its Digital Label project for certifying Italian textile machines that adopt a common set of data, in order to more easily integrate with the operating systems of their client businesses.

“The competitive edge of each individual company, as for the entire industry, will increasingly depend on the level of digitalisation to which we will have been able to elevate our production and organisational processes. ACIMIT’s digital certification aims to achieve this goal.”

The general assembly confirmed Zucchi, who is the CEO pf Ferraro, as ACIMIT’s president for two more years, with Federico Businaro of Santex Rimar, Cristian Locatelli of Marzoli Camozzi, Andrea Piattelli of Unitech and Ugo Ghilardi of Itema as vice presidents.

A special award was also presented to the group of machinery producers who have been members of ACIMIT since its founding in 1945 – Crosta, Gaudino, Marzoli, Mezzera, Noseda, Octir, Reggiani, Sant’Andrea, Savio and Zonco.

www.acimit.it