Despite a decrease in the 3^rd quarter, the industry is expected to close the year with a strong recovery compared to 2020, in line with 2019 results 2021 confirms to be an extremely positive year for the companies of Acimga, the Italian manufacturers Association of machinery for the graphic, converting and paper industry within Confindustria.

According to the Association’s research office, the year will close with a turnover of 2.7 billion euros for the sector in total (+13.2% on 2020), with exports growing by 19% on the previous year, going up to 1.6 billion. Those numbers are in line with the 2019 data (when turnover reached 2.8 billion), confirming a return to pre-Covid performance levels, despite a decline in orders and turnover in the third quarter of 2021, which amounted respectively to -11.3% and -12% (575 million euros) compared to the same period of 2020: specifically, the reduction is strong in international orders (-29.8%), balanced by growth in the domestic market (+21.4%) «The first half of 2021, characterized by a boom in machinery orders (+67% on the first six months of 2020), allowed us to reach the complete production lines capacity for 2022 well in advance – says Andrea Briganti, general manager of Acimga – Only the current, exceptional market conditions haven’t allowed us to exceed pre-Covid levels: the third quarter was marked by strong concerns about the increase in energy prices and the supply of raw materials and components, which could also have a significant impact not only on machines deliveries, but on the productivity of the entire industry».

Despite the economic situation and the worsening of the pandemic scenario, Acimga looks at 2022 as a year for further consolidation of exports, for which it is essential to enhance all activities related to internationalization. Activities that Acimga hasn’t interrupted, continuing along the path started in 2020 and reacting to change in a strategic perspective. ACIMGA’S 2021 In June 2021, Daniele Barbui, CEO of ACE Electrostatic, was unanimously elected to lead the association’s General Council until 2025. Barbui becomes new President of Acimga after a four-year period that has seen a growth in the strength of the association, also thanks to a boast towards internationalization activities.

«The main goal for next year is to improve the excellent results achieved at Print4All 2018 – says Daniele Barbui – Looking at internationalization, the collaboration between the associative and the publishing world ITALIAN MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF MACHINERY FOR THE GRAPHIC, CONVERTING AND PAPER INDUSTRY Piazza Castello 28, 20121 Milano – Tel. +39 022481262 – Fax +39 02 22479581 – C.F. 80079370153 – info@acimga.it – www.acimga.it at global level will be important for the definition of the key themes of the new exhibition, confirming Print4All’s vocation as a “home for content”.

With five months to the opening, the market has already renewed confidence in the project, with the confirmation of numerous leading brands, highly representative of each specific sector. The associative approach for Print4All 2022 is oriented towards a new concept of “building trade fairs”». To allow our members a better and broader understanding of the global socio-economic dynamics, both in relation to the sector and for the entire supply chain, information and communication have continued to be primary factors in which Acimga strongly believes and invests. The website’s analytics confirm this strategy. Acimga’s website www.acimga.it recorded 30,000 unique visitors and 85,000 page views, with peaks in the second half of the year, due to the increase in marketing and internationalization activities in relation to Future Factory in September and Roto4All in October.

Website’s visitors are by 40% Italian and 60% international, from the USA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Germany. Since January 2021, the Acimga newsletter has reached over 120,000 contacts, while the 2021 events and webinars gathered 620 foreign operators and about 50 international trade magazines. Since the first months of the year Acimga also worked for the organisation of informative webinars on the ongoing transformations, looking for example at the US macroeconomic framework in the new Biden era, deepening the overview of the market exchange between Italy and the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit context and outlining dedicated paths along Federazione Carta e Grafica in collaboration with Confindustria on circular economy, digitisation, and lobbying activities towards the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Acimga’s efforts have been catalysed to further strengthen collaborations with other players in the supply chain; in this context, a training partnership with Istituto Italiano Imballaggio was established to create PRINT PACKAGING EXPERT, a training course designed to provide an overall view of the whole package printing process through the precious know-how of industry experts. As for the previous year, in 2021, Acimga’s internationalization services resulted in a roadmap of events in a path towards Print4All of 3-6 May 2022. The first appointment of 2021 was the Future Factory Streaming Roadshow in Russia, where industry companies lead a discussion on the key issues of sustainability and industry 4.0, in a virtual meeting between the wide communities of local associations and industry players, including printers, converters and brand owners.

On September 15 and 16, Future Factory 2021, anticipated by a streaming preview in April, took place in phygital mode, with more than 150 live attendees and 700 connected in streaming, making light on the global ITALIAN MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF MACHINERY FOR THE GRAPHIC, CONVERTING AND PAPER INDUSTRY Piazza Castello 28, 20121 Milano – Tel. +39 022481262 – Fax +39 02 22479581 – C.F. 80079370153 – info@acimga.it – www.acimga.it directives orienting the markets – sustainability, digitalization, servitization – and which will be the leitmotif of the Prin4All 2022 exhibition programme.

The two-day event brought together the entire printing, converting, and packaging community, offering an opportunity for in-depth analysis with important national and international guests and with round tables which collected the points of view of the main industry players, verticalizing the contents in dedicated moments between technology manufacturers, brand owners, printers, retailers. Future Factory 2021 also saw the participation of Nouriel Roubini, world-renowned economist, bringing a precious analysis of the global economic context and food for thought on the importance of an industrial reorganization heading to a more sustainable future where production, product and service are always closely interconnected.

This year Acimga had the privilege of being the first trade association involved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and Undersecretary Manlio di Stefano in the bilateral sectoral meetings between Italy and Germany for the promotion of an increasingly collaborative approach, aimed at creating privileged dialogue opportunities between Italian and German industries in the context of specific trade fairs. The project was launched during virtual.drupa in April and then continued during Future Factory 2021 with the institutional opening speech of Undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano for the round table between Acimga and VDMA’s board. Roto4All took place on October 22^nd, with a first live edition that brought together over 100 people in Florence and proved to be a precious opportunity to finally connect the entire gravure printing community live, conveying the experiences and projects of the different players in the sector through direct testimonies and virtuous case histories in the field.

Also, always with the target of strengthening collaboration between different actors, in 2021 Acimga, through the Italian Rotogravure Group, became a partner of the Gravure AIMCAL Alliance (formerly Gravure Association of the Americas) for the promotion of the Golden Cylinder Awards, a precious international prize rewarding the best gravure printing products and the ones with the highest quality and creativity produced by the various gravure operators all over the world. Continuing the verticalization of its activities along the different printing technologies and the different segments that characterize them, Acimga launched the Italian Corrugated Cardboard Group, bringing together the most important machine manufacturing companies in the sector with the aim of promoting this printing technology with all the supply chain operators. In addition to consolidating the existing Specialisation Groups, the creation of the Tissue, Nonwoven, Converting and Flexo Groups is also planned.

As part of Federazione Carta e Grafica, we proceeded with the lobbying activities with institutional stakeholders and made further steps for the Industry 4.0 project and the Sustainability Tool established in collaboration with BDO and Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile. ITALIAN MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF MACHINERY FOR THE GRAPHIC, CONVERTING AND PAPER INDUSTRY Piazza Castello 28, 20121 Milano – Tel. +39 022481262 – Fax +39 02 22479581 – C.F. 80079370153 – info@acimga.it – www.acimga.it «In May we’ll be hosting Print4All, the trade fair that, overcoming the traditional segmentations of the commercial, editorial, and industrial printing market, offers an important meeting opportunity for the entire supply chain – continues Briganti – Acting within the supply chain, on the other hand, is key for the competitiveness of our companies on the international markets, which today see competitors such as China, in advantage due to the control of raw materials’ prices. We continue carrying out the dialogue with the institutions, specifically with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to develop a shared promotional strategy for our industrial production, alongside the main European players. In this scenario, Print4All represents a strategic event, which will take place in compliance with the very effective health protocols already in place for visitors and exhibitors».