The Acimall ordinary general assembly was held in Monticelli Brusati, Franciacorta, last 27 June. The association gathers 223 Italian technology manufactures who – together – represent 90% of Italian production in the industry.
A quiet assembly which can be defined as “ordinary administration”, during which the balance was approved and the boards of auditors (for the next triennial term 2008-2011 Ferrante Pedroni, Giovanni Usuelli and Sergio Ziotti) and arbitrators (Attilio Griner, Alberto Villa and Marco Villani) were elected.
Beyond “formality”, the work of the assembly focused on the report of the President, Ambrogio Delachi, who – after thanking the Board for the work done – informed Acimall members on what had been done in the last 10 months.
The speech started from the economic situation and the remark – as we have already written – that “…2007 hasn’t unfortunately confirmed the growth rate of the previous year. Our production grew just by 2.7%, against 16.1% in 2006, hard to repeat. As usual export was extremely important, accounting for 82% of the whole production” .
“Examining the experience gathered in the past few years – continued the Acimall President – we see a general climate of uncertainty: short ups followed by sharp downs and negative signals. It’s high likely the current year will still be affected by the fluctuations of the past decade.. The best it could happen is that 2007 figures will be confirmed, but I doubt it”.
Dalachi commented the figures: “In the worldwide economic scenario some new protagonists have emerged, not really unexpected but certainly “not welcome”, i.e. the apparently relentless increase of energy costs as well as of raw materials and a noticeable rise in the cost of money, likely to increase in the future; a considerable increase of inflation; a dramatic fall of the US dollar rating together with the Us economic crisis due to the famous problem of subprime loans; and even stronger competition from Asia”.
Regarding public and working relations, Acimall President reminded of the commitment so that in Confindustria there will be more association representatives who, with their experience, could give a real contribution to a better and more effective organization of the many promotion activities towards international markets.
And he announced in advance a nice change, his appointment as general manager of Cfi, the Confindustria Fair Committee: “A very positive result which means that our association is becoming stronger and this positive result rewards our intense commitment in the past few years which – I’ll tell you – has increased the prestige of our association outside our industry”.
Delachi was satisfied with the collaboration with the other mechanical industry associations belonging to Federmacchine, the federation of the associations gathering the Italian industries producing instrumental goods, whereas once again he complained about the situation of the relationships with Federlegno-Arredo, “….we cannot go beyond periodical declarations of intent”. However, we will try to insist on joint initiatives, being confident more than ever that this federation is Acimall’s natural partner for new initiatives aimed at the development of our industries”.
“Better and fruitful – continued Delachi – the relationships with the Italian Ministry of International Trade and Ice, a collaboration which allowed us to carry out important projects for international promotion”.
Satisfaction comes from the close partnership with Eumabois, the European Federation of woodworking technology manufacturers’ associations , whose tasks have been expanded and diversified with the appointment of the new President, Franz Josef Buetfering of Homag Group, who will be in charge for the next 4 years. More than positive results were achieved in terms of exibition calendar rationalization and reduction of exhibition costs, as well as regarding the technical and standardization area. Thankful words for Franco Paviotti – President of Tool Group of Eumabois – and his commitment.
“It is worth pointing out the initiative for the creation of a new “Made in Europe” logo presenting the European industry as a whole – added Delachi -, together with the “Choose the original” pay-off, a campaign which promotes the product origins, against counterfeits”.
In the President’s report, the activity of the Study and Promotion Office was highlighted; market surveys and analysis are important tools for member companies and the promotion activity in general: more than 30 events every year (including participation in exhibitions, meetings and workshops) and the creation and management of training centers around the world. After India and Russia, Pakistan and probably Colombia will be next.
“As you see – said Delachi – day by day, through many difficulties and with your irreplaceable support, we are trying to create a global network of Italian schools for woodworking technology, so as to conquer the loyalty of a growing number of users in countries with potential high economic growth rates, although we should not forget the social effects of our initiatives, which are not irrelevant”.
The Acimall president summed up to the audience of entrepreneurs and their representatives the activity of the Technical Office, especially in terms of standardization and know-how transfer from research to industry.
Xylon and Xylon International, published by Cepra – Acimall’s operative branch – were also mentioned, but attention was focused on xylon.it, our online magazine, anticipating the development it could have in the future.
Delachi provided further information on the Xylexpo NEW edition just closed (see article on page 43, editor’s note) commenting on the results and confirming the commitment of the organization to create a strongly innovative project for the 2010 edition, a project which “…can support the trend towards excellence which has to be the driver of the world’s second largest exhibition.”
