Extrusion International 6-2019

16 Extrusion International 6/2019 INDUSTRY NEWS Once again, the mid-year figures show a drop in Italy’s imports and exports of plastic and rubber machinery, though the reduc- tion is less marked than for previous months. In fact, in com- parison with the first six months of 2018, imports for the period January to June 2019 showed a drop of about 17% (with respect to the figure of -20% in March), while exports slowed down by about 5% (-8% in March). As a result, the positive balance of trade showed improvement, thoughminimal. This in summary is the situation revealed by the Amaplast Studies Center in its analysis of the foreign trade statistics published by ISTAT. An important factor shown by the statistics is the contraction in trade with Italy’s principal and historic business partner, namely Germany: the supply of Italian-built plant to German processing companies suffered a 26% slump, and the purchase of German technology by Italian companies fell by a third. In actual fact, this comes as no surprise, as it is an accurate reflection of Germany’s economic slowdown, and in particular that of its industrial sector. Moreover, exports by our German competitors also shrank. Even before the publication of official mid-year statistics, the respec- tive trade association had revised the figures for 2018 and fore- casts for 2019, announcing that it expected a 10% reduction in turnover, caused primarily by the crisis in the automotive sector and the difficulties linked to plastic’s public image. Italian compa- nies are having to come to terms with the same situation. Overall, over the first six months of 2019, Italian processing com- panies imported less machinery from their major European sup- pliers – Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland – to the benefit of Asian suppliers, above all China, and Japan though to a lesser degree in terms of total value. As mentioned above, exports revealed a reduction in overall val- ue, but an improvement for some specific export categories, with respect to previous months. Amaplast www.amaplast.org/en In a context of instability, negatively affected by the all-too-familiar cli- mate of political and eco-nomic tur- bulence, the views that Amaplast collected after the summer break from companies op-erating in this sector revealed a less than optimistic outlook. Overall, there is concern for the ten-dency towards a postponement or reduction in orders by customers. “Current market conditions are not encouraging,” declared Dario Previero, president of Amaplast, “but the companies in the sector have great hopes for the next important event for the sec- tor: the trade fair K, to be held at Düsseldorf from 16 to 23 Octo- ber, where there will be many Italian exporters.” “The event’s international standing,” continued Dario Previero, “will enable companies to meet consolidated clients and poten- tial new customers fromall over theworld in order to present the latest technological innovations that they havedeveloped – state- of-the-art equipment in terms of performance, energy consump- tion and above all sustainability – that could be of fundamental im-portance in attaining the objectives of the framework being developed in light of the move to-wards the Circular Economy.” Italy is the second-largest exhibiting nation at the show, behind just the host country, with almost 400 companies of which about 330 are machinery and plant manufacturers. Amaplast, which has implemented a powerful campaign in sup- port of Italian exhibitors, presented at K with an institutional stand providing information on its industrial sector, distributing themagazineMacPlas andprovidingadvance informationon the showPLAST 2021 (Milan, 4-7May 2021), for which organizational and promotional activities will move into top gear after the show in Germany. Moving to Part-Time Role There is no such thing as retirement for an industry legend like Duane Smith. After 47 accomplished years, Smith recently an- nounced he’ll be transitioning into a part-time role from his cur- rent position of process manager, web handling and specialty winding at Davis-Standard. Even with a reduced schedule, Smith will continue to support Davis-Standard’s technical leadership, deliver technical presentations and training classes, and continue his consulting work on web handling and winding. “I find great joy in making new discoveries and sharing knowl- edge,” said Smith. “I am passionate about our industry and grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to work with somany out- Davis-Standard, LLC davis-standard.com standing colleagues and peers over the years.” He added, “Even though I am pulling back into semi-retirement, I look forward to continued collaboration in advancingweb handling andwinding techniques to improve processes.” “Duane Smith is an enthusiastic and motivated innovator who has worked tirelessly to advance web handling and winding best practices worldwide,” said JimMurphy, Davis-Standard President and CEO. “We congratulate him on going part-time, and are grateful to continue to have himas resource in the years to come. We know his work is far fromfinished!” Doubts and Hopes for ItalianManufacturers of Plastics and Rubber ProcessingMachinery