The Italian 33.BI-MU trade show opened its doors in mid-October this year. There were 700 exhibiting companies, 37% of them from overseas. A floorspace of 65,000 square metres was filled into four halls over four days.
AMTIL was invited along to witness the 33.BI-MU show in Milan at the famous Fiera Milano Rho trade show buildings in October. This Italian exhibition was dedicated to the manufacturing industry of machine tools, robotics, automation systems, additive manufacturing and subcontracting. Promoted by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Italian machine tools, robots and automation systems manufacturers’ association.
Barbara Colombo is the President of the UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE and she spoke of the momentum showing in the halls. “Although this slowdown has a physiological effect and the level of orders is still high, the fall is to be considered in light of those major factors of destabilisation,” she told AMT. “The context of the rise in price of raw materials, hard-to-source electrical and electronic components, and the energy crisis, the health of manufacturing in this part of Italy is showing the third best for improvements, from 2020 to 2021, behind China and Germany.”
The 33.BI-MU showed some of the best international products in the sector, some not ever seen in Australia, showing the wares of over 700 companies exhibiting, in a total area of 65,000 square metres with four full halls set up for the event. As an aside, there were many companies on the trade show floor, interested in opening the way for Australian distributors of their machines.
There were five exhibition areas of 33.BI-MU, covering separate technological themes. These covered BI-MU Digital, an area focused solely on digital technologies. This area hosted the leading players in the field of software, ICT, sensors and technologies data management and safety, INDUSTRY 4.0 applications and the like.
ROBOTHEART was the newest exhibition area, sponsored by SIRI, the Italian Robotics and Automation Association. They invited ABB, Fanuc, and various other players to show their best, most independent, and most autonomous robots.
piuAdditive was the area dedicated to machines, materials and software. Sponsored by AITA, they completed the exhibition with demonstrations and presentations on how the technology complemented and added to the momentum in the manufacturing industry in Italy.
Another area crowded out during the sessions was the METROLOGY and TESTING, filled with measuring instruments, testing machines, examples of artificial vision, non-destructive quality control as well as the many certification services available for many of the emerging technology areas in manufacturing today.
Among the visitors to 33.BI-MU were over 100 end-users, trade delegates, and journalists from all over the world, flown in as part of a business mission organised by UCIMU in cooperation with the ICE-Italian Trade Agency. Also welcomed in to experience the 33.BI-MU show was over 3,500 accredited students, of course visiting the show guided by their teachers and tutors of the Association. I’d like to thank the ICE-Italian Trade Agency for inviting me to this event.
After an exceptional 2021, the industrial momentum of 2022 shows a positive trend. Production is estimated to grow to over 7 billion euros. Exports are tuned to peak at 3.6 billion euros and consumption will attain the value of 5.7 billion euros. These figures, as well as those figures recently brought forward by Oxford Economics, attest to the overall healthy condition of the Italian manufacturing industry considering what has been occurring on the world stage generally.
Orders collected by Italian manufacturers in the third quarter of 2022 show a 14.3% downturn compared to the same time last year. There is of course hope Italy will be in a good position by the end of 2022, better than fourth place in regards to production, exports and consumption. Year on year, the trend of orders coming in from abroad have increased by a small 3.2%. Barbara Colombo has again asked the new government to consider a structural provision of incentives to help replace obsolete equipment and the introduction of Technologies 4.0 training beyond 2025. “These technologies will also make the decrease of energy consumption easier,” she added, “and will also make far easier, the optimised management of resources into the future.”
The 33.BI-MU opened its doors mid October this year and was a massive turnout for the industry. There were 700 exhibiting companies, 37% of them from overseas. Over 42,000 professional operators registered at the turnstiles, with 5% coming in from abroad. A floorspace of 65,000 square metres was filled in four halls over four days. The biennial 34.BI-MU will next open its doors 9 to 12 October 2024.