WAI President James York and Executive Director Steve Fetteroll recently attended a meeting of ACIMAF, where the Italian wire machinery manufacturers association celebrated its 35th anniversary, heard a presentation by York (see p. 62) and discussed plans for a return to Italy for a technical conference in 2023.

The meeting included a presentation by Gabriele Campo, commercial and business development manager at BCUBE. She specializes in advanced logistics services, and her report was on “International logistics and shipments - State of the art - Possible scenarios and new solutions.” She focused on the transition from product centricity to customer centricity. She talked about how the evolution requires a supplier of logistics services to serve as a partner.

Also speaking was Alessia Bianchi of ITA/ICE, who shifted the focus to the Agency’s initiatives to support promotion abroad, and the internationalization of Italian companies. In her speech, she disclosed that Italian SMEs are leaders in international markets, and that those who export (over 123,000 throughout Italy) are larger in size and perform better in terms of turnover per employee and productivity, since competing internationally requires a company to be well structured and efficient.

Promos Italia, a national agency that supports Italian companies, was represented by Silvia Lambertini, who presented the services that are offered, such as training, business matching, digital export solutions and projects to attract foreign investment and territorial development. Promis Italia had been a partner of ACIMAF previously when it held Wire & Cable in Verona in 2019. That event attracted 250 delegates from 27 countries. He gave a taste of what the 2023 staging of the conference would be like.

ACIMAF President Ferruccio Bellina, Fetteroll and York spoke about plans for the return to Italy, this time in Milano. Observed Fetteroll, “There is a collaboration by WAI with ACIMAF that has lasted for 20 years, and we are pleased to contribute to this event because it is so well in line with the technical focus of our association.”
The date of Oct. 16, 2023, has been set for the technical conference, and more details will follow in future issues