Italian textile machinery manufacturers meet the full spectrum of industry needs (spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, finishing, printing and laundry machines). A lot of them produce machines for technical and innovative textiles too, maximizing the flexibility and versatility that characterize Italian supply. Tekstil Business Magazine interviewed with ACIMIT President Alessandro Zucchi about product and service offerings, key markets, technological capabilities, Enjoy reading…
Q. Could you introduce ACIMIT to our readers?
A. Alessandro Zucchi: ACIMIT, the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, gathers Italian textile machinery companies producing more than 80% of the Italian textile machinery production. creativity, sustainable technology, reliability and quality of our textile machinery make Italy a leading producer in the world and the technological level of its production is considered of the highest standard by the competitors themselves. Italian textile machinery manufacturers meet the full spectrum of industry needs (spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, finishing, printing and laundry machines). A lot of them produce machines for technical and innovative textiles too, maximizing the flexibility and versatility that characterize Italian supply.
Q. How would you evaluate the Turkish market in terms of ACIMIT?
A. Alessandro Zucchi: The important role that Turkey plays in the international textile and clothing industry has made the country one of the world's leading markets for textile machinery. In particular Turkey is the second foreign market for the Italian textle machinery manufacturers behind only China. Most of the 300 Italian manufacturers in the sector export to the Turkish market. In 2021, Italian exports to Turkey reached a value of 269 million Euros.
There is a long trade tradition between Italy and Turkey in the textile industry. In particular, Italian textile machinery exports to Turkey have been growing at an average annual rate of 9% over the past 5 years.
Q. Could you give some information about the strategy and methods you follow in global markets for ACIMIT?
A. Alessandro Zucchi: ACIMIT gathers Italian textile machinery companies producing more than 80% of the Italian textile machinery production, worth Euro 2.5 billion. The main contribution to this value comes from exports. Italian textile machines are exported in about 130 countries, mainly in Asia and Europe.
Q. Could you give us information about the technology and innovations that will be showcased at the ITM 2022 Fair?
A. Alessandro Zucchi: Italian textile machinery supply are among the most innovative in the world. Visitors to ITM would be able to see the great commitment that Italian companies have put into providing technologies that can reduce production costs and consumption of raw materials, energy and chemicals.
Q. Could you give some information about the environmentally-friendly and hybrid technologies, energy and chemicals-saving production methods and Industry 4.0 practices that Acimit members follow in line with its strategies and activities?
A. Alessandro Zucchi: The Italian textile machinery industry is a world leader in textile technology. Flexibility, excellent value for money, creativity are the hallmarks of the Italian textile machinery sector. Added to this is the constant commitment of Italian textile machinery manufacturers to the sustainability (economic and environmental) of textile production processes, a commitment materialized in the Sustainable Technologies project and the Green Label (www.green-label.it/en)) Regarding the Industry 4.0 the increasing digitization of production processes in the global textile industry will represent an innovative push for the world textile machinery sector. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the demand for machines that are increasingly connected to each other and to customers’ information systems, spurring the use of 4.0 technologies such as IoT, augmented reality, clouding, etc. Digitization will also facilitate maintenance, both preventive and predictive, allowing a significant improvement in productivity distributed over the entire textile process. The Italian textile machinery manufacturers are really committed to all these issues.
Q. Could you give us information about the marketing and promotional activities you have planned for 2022?
A. Alessandro Zucchi: In 2022, trade show activity resumed in attendance. This is a clear sign of a return to normality. ACIMIT is busy organizing participation in the main trade fairs of the sector this year (Techtextil North America, Techtextil Frankfurt, ITMA Asia and CAITME). Obviously, our association and all the Italian manufacturers are already working towards ITMA 2023, which will be held in Milan in June next year. I am confident that ITMA Milan will be a business opportunity for the entire textile machinery industry and for the textile companies that will visit the show.
