What does BI-MU represent for you and, compared to the past edition of 2022, what are your considerations?
As historical exhibitors of BI-MU, we cannot but highlight the significant role that this trade show plays in the sector. Even today, it is still the most important event in Italy for mechanical machining with machine tools and participating is crucial for us. The last edition gave us much satisfaction: as usual, we met with many customers, driven to the exhibition by the quality offered on show, the attractiveness of the location and the internationality of the event. With them, we had the opportunity to have a direct exchange of views about the industry, our products and their needs.
What do you expect from 34.BI-MU? Are you confident about your participation?
At 34.BI-MU, we will exhibit to promote both our divisions: forging and structural steel fabrication. It is always difficult to make accurate predictions about how the exhibition will go, but I expect a good turnout. After all, there are no signs that might suggest otherwise; among our customers we observe a certain dynamism, with workloads ensuring good business for the coming years. As far as structural steel fabrication is concerned, important plans supported by the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) are revamping infrastructure in a remarkable way. All this is indicative of a healthy economy and will positively influence our participation in the event next October.
How will your exhibition stand look like and what will you exhibit?
Robotic tending of operating machines will be the main theme of our stand display. Indeed, for our structural steel fabrication division, we will present a traditional machine for mechanical processing and thermal cutting with robot tending for automated unloading of parts. For our forging division, we will show a robotic press. At our stand, the topic of automation will also be addressed through a presentation of the developments in our “Industrial Internet of Things” programme, a project that has been active for more than a year. We will illustrate in detail all the services that we can connect to our machines before sale, such as solutions for plant monitoring and all the systems for a complete servitization of a product.
| “… among our customers we observe a certain dynamism and important plans supported by the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) are revamping infrastructure in a remarkable way. The international scenario remains positive and the data make me optimistic also for 2024! …” |
Talking about the market, how do you see the current economic situation? What are the most dynamic areas?
At the moment, the worldwide macroeconomic situation is seeing much higher interest rates than those we were used to seeing in the past. While this situation in no way affects our big clients, and large enterprises in general, which however manage to invest in multi-year projects, it instead concerns the world of small companies that is now slower in terms of new investments. Despite this, we do not expect any crisis or recession in the sector shortly, but, at most, a normal slowdown compared to the extreme dynamism experienced over the last few years. The international scenario remains positive and the data make me optimistic also for 2024! Besides Europe – with the exception of Germany decreasing slightly – the most dynamic areas include the United States and North America, Mexico, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, India and the Far East countries – in particular Japan, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines.
Are you confident about the future of FICEP? What will most influence your activity?
We are a company with a strong spirit of innovation, always at the fore front and able to maintain good control over the offer value of market demands. That is why, if there are no major crises that are not easily foreseeable, we are very confident about our future. The demands for turnkey plants and fully automated production processes are among the demands that are most driving our production. In particular, in the structural steel fabrication division, a real revolution has occurred in the field of welding processing, in terms of integration of intelligent and robotic solutions, which makes an activity faster and more efficient. We will also focus more and more on the market segment of renewable energy, a new reality compared to our traditional business. Indeed, we are receiving a high demand for production from the wind power world, which will become increasingly substantial in the years to come and which, we are sure, will bring us great results!
Interview released in February 2024.
