THE ITALIAN INDUSTRY OF MACHINE TOOLS AND ROBOTS PRESENTS ITSELF TO THE BRITISH MARKET

Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, leads the delegation of Italian enterprises including: PIETRO CARNAGHI (Villa Cortese MI), MANDELLI SISTEMI (Piacenza), BALANCE SYSTEMS (Pessano con Bornago MI), OMERA (Chiuppano VI), MARPOSS (Bentivoglio BO), COMAU (Grugliasco TO), SISMA (Piovene Rocchette VI), GHIRINGHELLI (Luino VA), MCM (Vigolzone PC) and PRIMA INDUSTRIE (Collegno TO).

Today, about 200 guests, among machine tool and robot manufacturers and users met at the Imperial College of London for the event “Manufacturing Technologies & Robotics: the future is now”, organised by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Italian machine tools, robots and automation systems manufacturers' association, by the Ministry of Economic Development and by ICE-Italian Trade Agency.

Thanks to its positioning in the world rankings of the sector, where it is firmly in fourth place among manufacturers and in third position among exporters, the Italian industry has chosen London to show its manufacturing excellence, in response to the needs of the British market, which is now experiencing a re-industrialisation process that has become even more essential after Brexit. 

With 32,000 employees, 400 enterprises and a turnover that exceeded 8 billion euro in 2017, the Italian industry of the sector sells about 60% of its production in the foreign markets, which have always appreciated its supply offering, due to its high technological content, its marked product customization and its customer service, also guaranteed after sales.

To the traditional peculiarities, also thanks to the important incentive measures implemented by the Italian Government with regard to Industry 4.0, now Italian manufacturers are able to add a wide digital dimension: this concretely translates to higher automation and interconnection of machines and processes that may surely be of interest for British users and partners, who intend to equip their factories with state-of-the-art technologies. 

“With this forum - stated Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE – together with the Ministry of Economic Development and ICE-Italian Trade Agency, we intended to create an opportunity to exchange views between two countries, Great Britain and Italy, which are both experiencing a deep and positive change in their respective industrial systems”. 

“The United Kingdom is committed to an important re-industrialisation programme; on the other hand, Italy is right in the middle of a digital transformation of its manufacturing activity, which, also owing to the Hyper- and Super-Depreciation incentives, made the Italian production of the sector even more competitive, as today it is equipped with technologies 4.0”. 

On these bases, UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE and ICE-Italian Trade Agency, through its London office, organised the FORUM that was attended by institutions and representatives of the industrial and academic worlds of the two countries.

Besides Raffaele Trombetta, Ambassador of Italy in London, the speakers at the opening of work sessions were: Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, Roberto Luongo, Director of the London office of ICE, and Mike Berry, Board Member of MTA.  

Moreover, there was an interesting discussion between Keith Hodgkinson, Deputy Director Manufacturing, Defence and Marine at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and, “live from Rome”, Stefano Firpo, General Director for Industrial Policy, Competitiveness and Mid- and Small-Sized Enterprises at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.

An added value of the initiative was the participation of the large delegation of Italian enterprises: PIETRO CARNAGHI (Villa Cortese MI), MANDELLI SISTEMI (Piacenza), BALANCE SYSTEMS (Pessano con Bornago MI), OMERA (Chiuppano VI), MARPOSS (Bentivoglio BO), COMAU (Grugliasco TO), SISMA (Piovene Rocchette VI), GHIRINGHELLI (Luino VA), MCM (Vigolzone PC) and PRIMA INDUSTRIE (Collegno TO), which contributed through their case studies to better presenting the Italian production of the sector.

Later on, in the afternoon, before the visit to the laboratories of the Imperial College, on stage there will be universities and research centres, representing the excellence of the Italian (Politecnico of Milan, University “Federico II” of Naples, Italian Institute of Technology of Genoa, Scuola Superiore S. Anna of Pisa, Politecnico of Turin) and British systems. 

“With this forum – concluded Massimo Carboniero – we intend to highlight and bring to the attention of our partners across the Channel, also through the case histories of a few among the best enterprises of the sector, the opportunities offered by the new Italian technology. The aim of this initiative is to create the conditions to enable the counterparts to come back home with a more precise idea about what it is possible to do together, based on the spirit of cooperation and partnership characterizing the way, in which we, the Italian manufacturers, are working in foreign markets”. 

Roberto Luongo, Director of the ICE Office in London concluded: “Here today, we have a great opportunity to present the best Italian technologies to the sophisticated British market. The deep commitment of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE to cooperating in this initiative confirms that this project is quite positive and we are sure that it may encourage interesting relationships and exchanges among the stakeholders of the two national economic systems”.