Prime Minister Matteo Renzi made his first official visit to Chicago on March 30, 2016. The visit by the Italian head of state focused on Italian manufacturers in the Midwest at the ITA’s i3 Forum=Impact. Innovate. Integrate. at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center. “The i3 Forum provided a unique opportunity for U.S. and Italian manufacturers to address the challenges and trends in the marketplace through sharing practical experiences,” said Roberto Luongo, Director General of the Italian Trade Agency. "Chicago is not only the epicenter of the U.S. advanced manufacturing ecosystem, it

Benefiting from over 62 years of experience, OCME is known worldwide as one of the most trusted leaders and innovators within the field of integrated packaging, filling and handling technology. Based in Parma, Italy, OCME manufactures primary and secondary packaging machines including fillers, end-of-line and logistic machines for the beverages, food processing, detergents, petro-chemical and tissue sectors. In addition to being a machine supplier, OCME provides complete ‘turnkey’ lines and complete solutions. OCME prides itself on paying particular attention to the environment and its

EFI™ Reggiani’s strong position, and long and successful history as the leading manufacturer of high-end digital textile machines, has resulted in a comprehensive range of systems used worldwide for a growing variety of fabric applications. The company’s innovative philosophy is founded on decades of extensive research and now targets end-user demand for consistent, fast productivity and superior quality. This is achieved successfully through the optimisation of the textile manufacturing process with reduced energy and water consumption, leading to greater efficiency and a lower environmental

Vietnam has by now become a major market for textile machinery manufacturers. Having emerged as an important manufacturing hub for the garments sector, thanks to low labour costs, the Country has now received a further boost for developing its textile industry, through the free trade agreements recently signed with the European Union and United States. “ In the face of these new scenarios,” explains Raffaella Carabelli, President of ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, “we’re expecting over the medium term a strong boost in demand for textile machinery by

The year 2015 will not be remembered as a season of records, but for the Italian woodworking technology industry the past twelve months were undoubtedly better than expected. The trends based on the positive figures of the preliminary balance published by the association in mid-December (for convenience, see the table in the left column of this press release) will probably be revised upwards, although it should be noticed that most orders coming in the fourth quarter will generate revenues in 2016. As a matter of fact, orders in the final quarter 2015 cast a new light onto the industry. On the

In the last quarter of 2015, Italian textile machinery manufacturers received a boost from their export markets, but in domestic markets, positive order trends received a setback. As per an Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers ( ACIMIT) press release, the orders index for textile machinery grew during the fourth quarter of 2015, mainly due to a boost in exports. Based on the survey conducted by ACIMIT, during October-December 2015, the order intake for machinery manufacturers rose by 2 per cent compared to the same period of previous year. “The value of the index for October

Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, a subsidiary of 3D-printing technology leader Stratasys (Eden Prairie, MN) published a report on the impact of 3D printing on manufacturing. The document is based on a survey of 700 designers, engineers and executives who work for companies committed to advanced manufacturing (AM) technology. 40% of them are employed by companies with more than $50 million in revenue. It is the only business report of its kind, dedicated to 3D printing and insights from professional users, such as the following: by a large margin, respondents ranked complex design capabilities

An impressive installation covering 2,600 square meters will represent the comeback of SCM Group at the next Xylexpo, the biennial international exhibition of the wood and furniture industry, to be held at FieraMilano-Rho from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 May, 2016. This long-awaited news will be one of the focal points of the event, celebrating its 25th edition in 2016. “We were extremely satisfied when we were informed of SCM Group’s decision”, said Lorenzo Primultini, President of ACIMALL, the Italian association of Italian woodworking technology manufacturers, which organizes the exhibition.

The woodworking technology and wood-based materials industry keeps showing encouraging trends: preliminary figures for the current year speak for themselves, showing a fully positive sign for all major indexes. The analysis carried out by the Studies office of the Confindustria-member association ACIMALL, gathering the industry's leading companies provides a brighter picture than many were expecting. And compared to the recent past, satisfaction comes from the domestic market, a trend that might bring even more significant “surprises” in 2016. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at figures, reminding