premium Italian products
But one company that did is Omet Srl (Lecco, Italy; www.
omet.it). It opened a location in Des Plaines, Illinois in 2013 for service, installation, spare parts, and sales support for its North American agent, Matik Inc (West Hartford, CT;
www.matik.com). Omet, which has 50 installations in NAFTA countries, is banking on its new North American location to help the company grow, says Massimo Bellingardi, marketing coordinator. One of its installations is a Flexy FX 255 label press at QSX Label Company in Boston (
www.qsxlabels.com). “We really like the quality of the machine. It really holds a tight
registration compared with other machines,” says Robert Karess, owner of QSX. “Registration,” a printing term, indicates precise alignment of multiple layers of color. Karess welcomed news of the Illinois location and the promise of better support for his 5-year-old Omet press. Omet is also advancing its technology. It now offers a hybrid
press for flexible packaging, and a new automatic machine for napkin production, which allows for changes in size and the type of fold directly from the control console, without mechanical operator intervention.
Flow Control
Since the days of the Roman aqueducts, Italian know-how has been used to control the flow of water. That engineering acumen has carried forward to present day pneumatics and hydraulics. “The made-in-Italy fluid power is an industrial sector well known for its competitiveness, quality, reliability and performance,” says Marco Ferrara, director of the Italian Association of Manufacturing and Trading Companies in Fluid Power Equipment and Components (ASSOFLUID) (
www.assofluid.it). The 190 member companies of ASSOFLUID have exports of $2.5 billion, or 64% of their total $3.8 billion yearly production. Exports to NAFTA countries are stable, says Ferrara, and
These napkins were printed and folded on Omet (
www.omet.it) machines.
and rotogravure (etched plates) technology production are Italian,” says Andrea Briganti, vice-director of the 35-member Italian Manufacturers Association of Machinery for the Graphic, Converting and Paper Industry (ACIMGA) (
www.acimga.it). Exports to Mexico and the United States are increasing
modestly, he says. In 2013, with an industry-wide production of $2.8 billion and exports of $2.3 billion, sales to Mexico and the United States were $332 million, about the same as 2012 and slightly more than 2011’s $326 million.
The challenge they all face with overseas markets is having
offices local to their customers to provide after-sales service. “Not all the Italian companies have the economic power to do that,” Briganti says.
account for about 17 percent of all exports, or $410 million. Of NAFTA exports, 1% is to Mexico, 9% to Canada and 90% to the United States.
Meanwhile, global competition from companies in China,
Germany, Japan and the United States keeps the Italian companies on their game.
“The Italian companies have to face globalization,” says Ferrara. “So they have to constantly improve the quality and performance of their products and systems.”
One of the ASSOFLUID member companies that focused on building global markets early is Camozzi Group SpA (Brescia, Italy;
www.camozzigroup.it), says David Kitzmiller, managing director for Camozzi’s pneumatics business in McKinney, Texas. Camozzi is a parent to businesses that manufacture machine tools and textile machinery, as well as pneumatics components used to control the flow of air or liquids.
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