The trade show as seen from the Lake

by Matteo Grazzini

The Como district is not traditionally one of the areas devoted to the production of textile machinery, but it is home to companies which have made the history of this industry: companies that specialize in printing, but work with the rest of the textile chain suppliers as well.

The local Confindustria association does not have a section devoted to textile machinery builders, but they are somehow represented at the national management level by Marco Salvadè, the president of the family-run company and member of Acimit’s board. He takes us inside the Como district and through the ITMA show as seen from the Lake’s shores. What does this trade show mean to Como?

I don’t know exactly how many companies will be attending the show, but I’m sure that no one will want to miss this event, which promises to be memorable because of the record attendance at the Rho center. Our textile machinery industry will be represented just like the Italian one.

What are the Como producers’ main markets and, in particular, Salvadé’s?

We deal with finishing and the geographical spectrum is wideranging. We have recently discovered the Uzbekistan market, which has always grown cotton, but now they decided also to process it before selling. We were not involved in the beginning, because it was only a matter of spinning and weaving, but now that the finishing phase has begun, the country has opened up as a new market for us and the business is quite good. In Asia, we have China -although it has its problems now- Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, India, which is giving us the most positive feedback at the moment, Bangladesh and Pakistan which is, however, politically at a standstill, for the use of letters of credit and the free flow of capital towards foreign countries are not allowed. Companies would like to buy, but the government does not allow them to. As for the domestic market, up to 2022, the 4.0 Industry Plan and the state aid have been very helpful. Now that we have reached 20% and the crisis has hit the printing sector, there has been a slowdown, although there are companies that keep buying. Anyway, our sales in Italy range from 10 to 20% and, since we have customers based close to our headquarters, we are able to better develop the products, for they can see first-hand how the machinery works at the plant. 2019 to 2023, a difficult time for everyone. How did you manage the situation?

Those have been four very strange years. Paradoxically, the Covid pandemic allowed us to deliver all the machines previously sold and, in 2020, we had a 10% decrease in sales which, however, was ascribed to 2019, the company’s record year of all times. Instead, 2021 was unimaginable, with a 40% increase as compared to the previous year. In 2022, we had a 10% decrease again because of the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy costs, which forced us to postpone the delivery of 9 machines to 2023. I’m more worried about the future, considering the

Il distretto di Como, per numeri, tradizione e tipologia di lavorazioni non è tra quelli più dediti al meccanotessile ma ospita sul territorio eccellenze che hanno fatto la storia di questo settore: aziende che guardano alla stampa come ambito primario ma espressamente ai costruttori di macchinari per il tessile ma è in qualche modo rappresentata ai vertici nazionali da Marco Salvadè, presidente della azienda di famiglia e membro del con-

Cosa rappresenta per Como questo salone?

Non ho un conteggio preciso di quante saranno le aziende ma tempo si preannuncia come quella del record per gli spazi occu- solo coltivato il cotone adesso ha deciso anche di lavorarlo prima alla nostra sede abbiamo la possibilità di sviluppare meglio il

Quali sono i mercati di riferimento per i produttori di Como e per la Salvadè in particolare?

Come lo avete gestito?

Sono stati quattro anni molto strani, paradossalmente il Covid ci ha permesso di portare a consegna tutte le macchine vendute elections in Turkey, which represents 30-40% of our sales and is at a standstill right now. We have already seen a drop in sales, but it has been amortized in other countries. Instead China has disappeared: we have sold and installed a few machines by doing video-conferences, but we are far from reaching the sales numbers we expect from that country. In November, ITMA Asia will be held in Shanghai and we will be going back there after four years, but they have the same energy cost problems we have right now. previste in Turchia, che al momento è ferma e che rappresenta il montato qualche macchina grazie alla possibilità di fare videoconferenze ma siamo lontano dalle percentuali di mercato che Shanghai, dove torneremo dopo quattro anni e dove al momento Anche a Como c’è un problema di carenza di go, che preferiscono vivere da frontalieri andando a lavorare là, dove gli stipendi sono più bassi, tornare la sera in Italia, dove aveva fatto un buon lavoro con la carta-benzina e gli sconti, remo a Milano sono importanti ed io ci credo moltissimo, quindi non dobbiamo essere frenati da una partecipazione bassa di

Is Como suffering from a shortage of qualified staff too?

We have an even greater problem, that is, Como is located at just 15 kilometers from the Swiss border and is, thus, less attractive for the local young people who prefer to be cross-border commuters by working in Switzerland, where the salaries are lower, and living in Italy where life is cheaper. It’s a problem of taxation: Lombardy did a good job with fuel cards and discounts, but I don’t know if they can also do something about taxes in the manufacturing industry. It’s hard to find drivers, mechanics and electricians, not to mention more qualified staff. We have trouble even finding something willing to sit down to a job interview; young people go to university, but not everyone can be a lawyer or do an office job. We have moved some employees, who have working experience in the machine shop, to the technicians’ department, but now we are understaffed in the machine shop.

What are expectations and hopes for this ITMA show?

I hope everyone will have a positive attitude. The new developments we are going to introduce in Milan are big and I’m very optimistic about them, so let’s not be held back by the customers’ low attendance which, however, seems impossible considering the initial response in terms of pre-registration and booking. Therefore, we can be certain that there are going to be a lot of people at the show, whether they are willing to spend money I’m not so sure.

Quali sono le aspettative e i desideri per questa ITMA?