ASSOMAC, the Association of manufacturers of footwear, leather-goods and tanning technologies, met on Friday 28 June for what its President Gabriella Marchioni Bocca described as an interim Meeting– her mandate and that of the Board of Director having been extended by a year to allow the membership reorganisation process to be completed.
In her report, the President focused on the future, referencing what the Confindustria had sought to stress at its annual meeting with a video positing the scenario of a country with positive growth and development prospects for the next generations.
President Marchioni Bocca explained that, in the face of a far from encouraging picture and without denying the difficulties of the economic situation, “We must actively introduce corporate sustainability measures that do not translate into eco-friendly industrial processes and products alone. We have to start from inhouse organisational policies centred on welfare and a company’s economic and financial management.”
The President then proceeded to reiterate ASSOMAC’s commitment to topics of global importance:
Sustainability
Direct and indirect relations with global luxury brands dictate new rules on the multiple topics of sustainability, traceability and transparency in the use of resources and polluting products – all this for the good of the planet!
Familiar with leather-sector processes, ASSOMAC members are determined and ready to manufacture machinery that complies with sustainable-production protocols, and embrace a proactive Circular Economy mindset.
This is the general framework behind the “Supplier of Sustainable Technologies®” project and its ASSOMAC-driven “Green Label” proposal is attracting a good degree of interest from both technology producers and clients – the brands – eager for easily sourced solutions that comply with water/energy saving and safety requirements.
Industry 4.0
Plant digitalisation is changing the nature of production systems but the real enabling factor of Industry 4.0 is not technology – which is easily sourced – but the human factor.
Industry 4.0 is an industrial and production paradigm that is spreading outside European borders, propelled by demand from countries that adopt Italian technology.
Given the challenges our world must face in the coming years, research, innovation, debate and a fusion of ideas are all great allies that will help us develop increasingly virtuous and sustainable models.
In industrial terms, this means shifting our focus from traditional automation to a new production concept that is more flexible and efficient; in other words, smarter and capable of interacting with the outside environment.
A willingness to change and embrace 4.0 is essential if we are to be a credible point of reference for clients and the market.
Training
The Association knowns that investing in human resource development is strategic and key. With this in mind, ASSOMAC serves as a training platform that can be extended to all company levels – from technical operators to management.
It has fundamentally created and promoted repeated training programmes at all levels, major opportunities for aggregation, debate and fusion. The Association has held courses on safety in the work environment as part of Supplier Audit programmes and training programmes centred on improving soft skills.
The efforts of the New Generation group must also be highlighted, a project driven by the President with the Association’s backing to grow new capable and sensitive entrepreneurs with a focus on the human factor, which is the trump card of Italian companies and production.
Only with ongoing commitment and upgrading can we be ready for the future.
The international promotion work that has always been a part of ASSOMAC’s approach to supporting its members has made ASSOMAC a reliable and credible interlocutor with national institutions and those (public and private) of other countries. A major current achievement are the technology centres being introduced in some countries for permanent promotion.
The macroeconomic situation of the international markets makes us realise that we need to break with the past. It is increasingly important to consolidate the sense of working together as a sector, with members speaking the same language.
Systematising the whole leather chain is a challenge that must turn ASSOMAC into the “TECHNOLOGY CENTRE 4.0” of the leather-footwear industry.
