Italian tissue manufacturer Sofidel Group anticipates an early June grand opening for its $360 million plant in Inola, a spokesman for the company said. A total of 350 people will be employed at the 1.8 million-square-foot facility, which is expected to be fully operational by sometime this summer, spokesman Enrique Garay said. In terms of sheer size, Sofidel’s footprint is among the most spacious in the state. It is smaller than the four-story Amazon fulfillment center (about 2.5 million square feet of workspace) scheduled to open in Tulsa late this year. But the Rogers County facility is 38%

Bovone, an Italian manufacturer of machinery and technologies for the second processing of flat glass and natural and synthetic stones, has selected Rockingham County and Reidsville, North Carolina for its first North American headquarters. The company’s product lines are structured in two main areas of excellence: the product line consisting of stand-alone machines, grinding, bevelling, and washing of glass and stone; and the product line dedicated to complete plants for the silvering (coating) and layering of glass. These two areas are integrated to create the fully automated BRS Bovone

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced that 2A S.p.A., a prominent Italian die-casting company, planned to invest $15 million to expand its foundry in Auburn, where it serves as a Tier 1 supplier to major producers of automobiles and heavy trucks. The expansion project at 2A USA in Auburn will create more than 50 jobs and double the Auburn facility’s current die-casting area.“2A has earned a reputation for technical innovation, and its decision to expand its Alabama manufacturing operation is a testament to its skilled workforce in Auburn,” Ivey said. “We’re thrilled that this first-class company is

From 17 to 20 March 2021, at an earlier date compared with the previous editions, LAMIERA 2021 will be on the scene at Fiera Milano Rho. The event represents one of the most qualified international exhibitions dedicated to machine tools and cutting technologies, sheet metal forming and processing, as well as to automation, robotics and connectivity solutions for the industry that also allow energy and production streamlining of machinery, thus ensuring benefits even in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. Promoted by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Italian machine tools

Waiting for more details to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the industrial economy, based on the analysis of the Acimall Studies office we can illustrate the trend of wood and furniture technology in 2019. Unfortunately, those twelve months were characterized by hardly encouraging signals for the health of our industry, a suffering condition that can only get worse after the dramatic events of the first months of 2020. “Now more than ever, it is essential to understand the economic situation of the industries we represent,” said Dario Corbetta, director of Acimall, the Confindustria

Massimo Carboniero, President of UCIMU: “Our factories are safe places and have reduced labor intensity. Therefore, we should have a green light to resume our production activities right away”. “Health and safety come first, but we should get used to living with Coronavirus, while at the same time guaranteeing work, employment, and production”. There has been a strong fall of the index regarding the orders collected by Italian machine tool manufacturers in the first quarter of 2020, in which an 11% decrease was registered in comparison with the same period of the previous year. This is

As the current situation regarding COVID-19’s impact on the United States of America’s (USA) manufacturers rapidly changes, the Italian Trade Agency Chicago Office has included a number of what are considered trusted sources providing a wealth of updated information about the virus’s impact on the USA manufacturing economy. Of these sources, IBIS World, Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation and National Association of Manufacturers have recently published surveys on the current impact the virus has and will have on manufacturers. IBIS World’s March 24, 2020 survey on the

The announcement naming the new director was made Monday, February 3rd: “Cattaneo’s lengthy, deeply rooted experience with associations and Confindustria convinced us that he was the right person for GIMAV,” stated GIMAV President, Michele Gusti. Taking office immediately, he replaces Laura Biason, who left the association at the end of 2019. Cattaneo will assist the Board and President Gusti in guiding the glass processing machinery manufacturers association along a pathway of international outreach, strewn with some very significant challenges and events. Cattaneo’s background includes an

Verona-Bologna, 9 January 2020. Veronafiere and BolognaFiere have established a 50-50 joint venture in view of Metef, the international expo on aluminium, metal foundry and technologies for innovative materials. The show was first organized in Italy in 1997 by Metef as the first expo worldwide dedicated to aluminium. It later became a joint venture with Verona’s exhibition centre and in 2017 this latter purchased the entire equity. Since its first edition in Verona in 2017 Metef has attracted people on an international scale, hosting 400 exhibitors and over 11,000 sector operators, 40% of

The orders index for textile machinery drawn up by ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, for the period from October to December 2019, showed an 8% drop compared to the same period for 2018. The index value stood at 92.9 points (basis: 2015=100). Orders compiled by Italian machinery manufacturers were in negative figures both abroad and on domestic markets in Italy. An 8% slide was recorded abroad, with the absolute value of the index standing at 89.4 points. On the other hand, the drop in order collection on the domestic market stood at 7%, compared to the fourth