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Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers Set to Play Major Role in ITMA

26 Sep '11

4 min read

The 16th edition of ITMA, the world's most important trade fair dedicated to textile machinery, opened its door in Barcelona, and once again a consistent contingent of machinery manufacturers, both in terms of numbers and product quality, will represent Italy.

In ITMA visitors of the globe's most prominent event for textile machinery will be able to appreciate the high level of technology proposed by the 320 Italian manufacturers exhibiting in Spain. The overall exhibition space occupied by Italian machinery manufacturers exceeds 20,000 squared meters (roughly one-third of the total available surface area), confirming Italy as the premier exhibiting nation, both in terms of number of participants and surface area occupied.

"The massive presence of Italian companies here in Barcelona,” confirms Sandro Salmoiraghi, President of ACIMIT, the Italian Association of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, "bears witness to the vitality of our sector in spite of the profound uncertainty influencing the global economic landscape." Indeed, after having closed 2010 with increased production and exports of over 20%, and with a similar positive start to 2011, global demand for textile machinery has slowed down somewhat. "Global growth appears to have hit a snag,””and this downturn is across the board and stronger than expected, even for emerging countries."

The Spanish edition of ITMA represents a sort of litmus test for assessing the effective state of health of the world's textile industry. “This event,” underscores ACIMIT's President, “will serve to test the real capacities of global textile entrepreneurs to continue to invest.”

At Barcelona, Italian machinery companies will be emphasizing the sustainability and efficiency in their products, seeking to satisfy an overall demand in the sector for a development model that is sustainable and offers end users efficient technology solutions while cutting down on energy and production costs.

ACIMIT too considers sustainability a vitally important issue for the future of the textile machinery industry, as demonstrated by the creation of the Sustainable Technologies project, which aims to sensitize its associated members on the sustainability of technology solutions proposed to customers, through the creation of a green label. Realized with the technical support of the engineering firm D'Appolonia, Sustainable Technologies, the project benefits from the cooperation of the European project Nu-Wave, and will be afforded a broad visibility in Barcelona, where Italian machinery manufacturers who have already joined the project can illustrate to their customers the benefits derived from the insertion of machines bearing a green label, which are more efficient and 'eco-sustainable' in the production cycle.

“At ITMA, ACIMIT will be presenting to the specialized press the details of the Sustainable Technologies project,” explains Sandro Salmoiraghi. “ITMA has always been the place where the greatest innovations in the sector are presented. This is why it is absolutely fitting that our manufacturers have chosen it as the ideal location and opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to maintaining their undisputed technological leadership, which is recognized the world over.”

Both Italy's participation at ITMA and the Sustainable Technologies project are supported by the Italian Government through the Ministry of Economic Development, which has inserted this project among the initiatives to be promoted, convinced of the important role Italy's textile machinery sector plays for the nation's economy.

ACIMIT represents an industrial sector comprising around 300 companies (employing close to 13,000 people) and producing machinery for an overall value of 2.4 billion Euros, with exports amounting to 79% of total sales. The high number of countries in which Italian machinery is sold evidences the quality of Italian textile technology: around 130 countries worldwide. 50% of total machinery exports are destined for the Asian continent, followed by Europe (31%). The primary export markets for Italian machinery manufacturers are China, Turkey and India.
Creativity, technology, reliability and quality are the characteristics, which have made Italy a global leader in the manufacturing of textile machinery.

ACIMIT is present at ITMA 2011 (Stand H4-4UL5) to provide visitors with all thethe necessary information to promote grater awareness of Italian textile machinery manufacturers.

ACIMIT