ANICA at Interlift 2011

A recap of ANICA (Italian elevator compo-nents association)’s presence and presenta-tion at Interlift 2011, held in October in Augsburg, Germany

“It is estimated that in Europe, we have some four-and-a-half million lifts. Some 900,000 of these are in Italy. This means that our country has about 20% of the European lift market share. Italy is also one of the largest, if not the largest, lift maintenance and repair markets, with more than 10,000 workers and more than 1,500 companies. ANICA (the Italian elevator components association), is more than 70 companies [strong], representing about 75% of the Italian sector production, which is worth some EUR1.3 billion (US$1.71 billion) a year. The question we asked ourselves is, ‘How [might] we Italians continue to strengthen – or at least defend – such a position?’”

With these words, Fabrizio Nicoli, president of ANICA, began his speech at the Interlift 2011 opening ceremony in Augsburg, Germany, on October 18-21, 2011 (ELEVATOR WORLD, January 2012). ANICA was the only foreign association with the honor of presenting a speech on the occasion. The answer to Nicoli’s rhetorical question lay in the Italian Pavilion, the joint stand that Italian lift component manufacturers set up in Augsburg for the first time.

The idea was born to reach four different objectives: promote the excellence of the Italian lift industry, strengthen the “Made in Italy” quality mark of the national companies, diffuse a strong ANICA image, and be a stimulus and support ANICA member companies in one of the most important lift exhibitions in the world. Interlift 2011 had a very strong Italian connotation: nearly one-fifth of exhibitors were Italian, and among these, many were ANICA members (see sidebar).

The general scenario shows a mostly difficult situation, with many sectors (including the vertical-transportation industry) recording slowdowns, sometimes heavy ones. Specifically, the lift industry is facing two different situations: on one side, we have a heavy contraction of the building-construction industry as the new lift market is facing the consequential effects (at the time of this printing, forecasted at -30 to -35% by the end of 2011). On the other hand, the maintenance market (probably the largest in the world) is not able to take off for various reasons; among these are families/owners not keen on spending money on lift refurbishment and the fact that EN 81-80 principles are not compulsory.

In such a scenario, the idea and creation of the Italian Pavilion were meant to send a signal to the Italian lift industry. As Nicoli clearly said in his speech:

“If we have a look at macro figures, we see that Italian lift component manufacturers have some 14% of world export market shares. So, export is to [help] make our member companies survive or develop. Then, we understood that ANICA had the duty to stand up. We felt that we had to develop an internationalization project in order to support our member companies in this effort. The name of the single company [is not important]. What really matters is providing our sector a common identity and a common visibility!”

Going further, the base philosophy of the joint participation is to react to a difficult situation, also at a global level, Nicoli continued in the opening speech:

“By 2050, the world population is expected to reach 10 billion. Presumably, two-thirds of these [people] will live in metropolitan areas. Europeans will represent only 3-4% of [the] total population. Then, it would be appropriate and interesting to consider these data and their possible fallout. But most of all, what we Europeans must well understand is that the Old Continent manufacturers will face new, big challenges [more and more]. Such challenges will be even harder for the small and medium-sized [enterprises] (SMEs), as the world is changing too rapidly for them. The answer is cooperation among the SMEs. I think we will have to develop a new form of cooperation between different companies, with our neighbors, even across country borders. European manufacturers must commit themselves to protect their leadership in the global market. In the present scenario, I think ANICA, [the] German VFA and other national associations should play a key role in this respect!”

ANICA hosted a reception at the end of Interlift 2011’s official opening ceremony and tour. All authorities, international and national association presidents, trade press and honored guest Oliver Kahn, former goalkeeper of the German national soccer team, visited the stands of companies exhibiting in the Italian Pavilion. All guests also had the opportunity to taste typical Italian wines and specialties offered in the pavilion common area. The area was also ideal for the official presentation of How It Works 2 – A Practical Guide to Lift/Wie es Funkioniert 2 – Pratische Anleitung für Aufzüge” (the German/English version). This project was conceived and published by Elevatori with the collaboration of ANICA experts.

During the organization stage, ANICA’s steering committee declared that were the pavilion successful in such an important event, it would continue this type of effort, even in other events, to help its member companies enter additional markets. In hindsight, the Italian Pavilion seemed to work well. Of course, there’s a lot that can be done and many things that might be improved. However, ANICA has reached some important goals in terms of strength, compactness, cooperation and visibility. To use Nicoli’s words, “The Italian Pavilion is there to demonstrate the times have changed!”

ANICA Italian Pavilion Exhibitors

• Costruzioni Meccaniche
  Mezzago S.r.l. of Mezzago
• Dapa SRL of Rome
• Donati of Cernusco sul Naviglio
• Elevatori of Vignate
• Eltec of Ronchi dei Legionari
• Mastech of Baranzate
• Mover of Ronco Briantino
• Movilift of Castellammare di Stabia
• Nova of Palata Pepoli and Crevalcore
• Pelazza Peppino of Cernusco sul Naviglio
• Robertelli A. of Isola del Cantone
• Sicme Motori of Torino
• Teledif Italia of Torino
• Vicini & C. SRL of Concorezza
• Vetreria F.lli Paci – Seregno