Despite the slowdown recorded in the fourth quarter of last year, for the Italian manufacturers of automatic packaging and wrapping machines, 2021 ended with a record turnover of 8.2 billion and an increase of 5% compared to 2020. The 73 Piedmontese companies in the sector – which in 2020 represented 11.5% of the national figure, with a turnover of 550.2 million and 3,024 employees – were no less, recording results in line with the national figure, and in some cases got even better. This is the case of Cavanna Spa of Prato Sesia (Novara), world leader in the flowpack packaging sector, which closed 2021 with a record turnover of 80 million. The president Riccardo Cavanna is also vice president of Ucima (Union of Italian manufacturers of automatic packaging and packaging machines) and president designated for the two-year period 2022-2024.
“In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to participate in various international trade fairs in Cologne, Moscow and Dubai and to meet numerous operators and customers: the sentiment I have encountered is generally very positive – explains Cavanna -. For 2022, the prospects remain positive, at least for the first half of the year, in consideration of the record increase in orders recorded at the end of 2021, + 9.3% compared to the previous year at the national level. Even in Piedmont, the conditions exist for a very consistent growth in the order book, which for our company we estimate at 10%, but the real problem is that of deliveries.
We are in a condition of “perfect storm”: our sector could make an even more important turnover, but the decline in the supply of electronic components worldwide is creating a situation of enormous concern. We risk having delivery delays. The companies, faced with the electronics that do not arrive, have opted to carry out programmed purchases, but with the risk of buying material that will not be used and of “engulfing themselves”; on the other hand there is the fear of not arriving in time for deliveries and therefore we are faced with a vicious circle ».
One of the ways out to overcome these problems is the search for collaboration between companies. «At the Piedmontese level, and beyond, we are creating working groups and also some“ osmosis ”between companies: if one needs a component and cannot find it, they try to help each other. We can say that this situation has created a change of mentality: competition begins when we go to deliver, not in the supply chain ».
Among other initiatives, there is also an observatory on the prices of materials: «We are trying to create collaboration between competitors in certain phases, by sharing information; it is a good thing, which has created more cooperation and more openness. A small result in a situation that caught us sensationally unprepared: it is embarrassing to see that the world has become jammed with tiny objects like chips, risking falling into a buying panic ».