ACIMIT member companies are displaying latest Italian textile machinery at ITMA 2019. The 18th edition of the leading textile and garment technology exhibition is being held from June 20-26, 2019, at Barcelona, Spain. ACIMIT is the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers, representing an industrial sector, comprising around 300 manufacturers. Visitors at the world’s primary textile machinery trade fair are being provided a first-hand look at the high quality of the technology proposals of roughly 360 exhibiting Italian machinery manufacturers. The overall surface area occupied by Italian exhibitors, nearly 30,000 square metres (fully 26 per cent of the total surface area), confirms Italy’s leading role among exhibiting nations, according to ACIMIT. Sustainability and digitisation are the buzzwords at this edition of ITMA. The textile sector is having to face up to new trends in which the end consumer is increasingly at the centre of the buying process. Focusing on process and product sustainability and greater digitalisation within manufacturing businesses is essential in order to allow textile companies to remain competitive at a global level. Italian textile machinery manufacturers have long been committed to providing sustainable technological solutions both from an environmental and economic standpoint, capable of effectively reducing consumption and production costs. “At this year’s ITMA, we are be attributing to two of these 40 manufacturers the Italian Green Label Award, a recognition placed on those companies that have been more virtuous over the past few years, reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of their machines to an even greater extent,” Alessandro Zucchi, president of ACIMIT said. Rina Group, the official certifying body that has cooperated with ACIMIT in the Green Label project in recent years, is responsible for verifying the necessary requirements of each manufacturer in attributing the award. The digitalisation of production processes in the textile sector is an indispensable response to new trends requiring faster time-to-market and just-in-time production. There are numerous examples of these types of technologies in Italian machinery offerings on display at ITMA Barcelona. Among these, are the use of intelligent management platforms, on-board machine sensors for data acquisition allowing the monitoring of both the machine and products, predictive maintenance, for a reduction in costs obtained through less downtime, and augmented reality applications supporting the operator in the various production phases. At ITMA Barcelona. Italy’s textile machinery sector has once again been able to rely on the support provided by the Italian Government, through the Ministry of Economic Development and Italian Trade Agency for the promotion abroad and internationalisation of Italian companies. “This year’s ITMA trade fair exhibit in Barcelona is once again an essential international showcase for Italy’s textile machinery industry. Textile machinery represents the excellence of Made in Italy industrial technology, with an acute propensity for internationalisation in its entrepreneurial fabric, requiring innovative, global and high level outlets to consolidate its business. For this reason, we have lent our support to the entire textile machinery chain with a significant investment in the promotional programme and, in collaboration with ACIMIT, supporting all companies exhibiting at the trade fair with a structured activity plan, aimed at enhancing the keywords of the 2019 edition: sustainability, digitalisation, and technology,” Roberto Luongo, general director of Italian Trade Agency said. Among the various initiatives supporting the participation of Italian textile machinery manufacturers at ITMA is an intense communication campaign in industry specific magazines and portals, as well as the organisation of a press conference during the fair.
