Daniele Barbui is the new president of Acimga, the Association inside Confindustria representing Italian manufacturers of machinery for the graphic, converting and paper industries. The association’s shareholders’ meeting, which gathered virtually on June 30th, unanimously elected the CEO of ACE Electrostatic to lead the Association’s General Council for the next four years. To assist the new president, a team composed of four vice presidents: Giulia Rossini, for institutional activities in support of the President and relations with other associations; Matteo Cardinotti, working on associative and institutional relations with the main machine manufacturers; Emilio Della Torre, for relations with the association’s members; Giorgio Petratto, with responsibilities towards the development of the collaboration with ARGI and the digital world.

Born in 1968, Daniele Barbui joined the family business in 1994, leading the company’s transformation in a just a few years to become a global renown excellence for electrostatic and dust collection systems. Today he takes the reins of Acimga at the end of four years where the association grew stronger, also thanks to an increasing drive towards internationalization activities.

The 82 associated companies, representing more than 60% of the total turnover for the Italian industry of paper, converting and printing machinery, and 70% of export turnover, currently hold a 10% share in the world markets, ranking at third place among the largest exporters, behind Germany and China. During 2020, a year marked by Covid pandemic, companies in the industry were included among the list of priority activities and therefore went into production continuity, closing the year with a turnover of 2.36 billion, with a negative score of -16.7% compared to 2019 (according to Federmacchine, the Italian instrumental mechanics industry recorded -27%) and exports at 1.45 billion, (-14.4% compared to 2019). The first 2021 quarter saw a strong start: orders recorded a significant increase (+89.6%) compared to the same period of the previous year, boosting with a growth both on foreign markets (+96.4%), and on national market (+74.8%), while turnover, with an increase of + 9.2% compared to the same period of 2020, was recorded at 604 million euros.

“My main goal is to consolidate the association’s results of the recent years, pushing further on new members and strengthening the involvement of historical ones. – says Daniele Barbui – The approach will be that of an active presidency, coherent with our entrepreneurial extraction, which surely favours the development of Acimga’s sectors, establishing new Specialisation Groups, Tissue, Nonwoven, Converting and Flexo, along with the existing Rotogravure and Corrugated Cardboard Groups, to further represent the real needs of our associates. I will also personally commit to promote the dialogue with all other associations in the printing, converting, and packaging industry generally, through specific work platforms created at Confindustrial level. We will continue the experience of the International Roadshows on global markets, enhancing the technological know-how of the association and of our companies. Future Factory, the next important association’s event, an international conference to be held in Milan on 15-16 September with the participation of national and international speakers of high standing and the involvement of the entire package printing community, will represent a fundamental step towards Print4All 2022, for a new trade fair concept.”

Barbui succeeds Aldo Peretti, president and CEO of UTECO Group, who led Acimga in the four-year period 2017-2021. “I want to thank the whole team, with whom we have achieved important results. – say Peretti – Acimga has worked very hard to consolidate its role in the supply chain to which it belongs, contributing to the foundation (together with Assografici and Assocarta) of Federazione Carta e Grafica, the first and only example of vertical supply chain representation within Confindustria. Acimga also managed to enhance companies’ presence on international markets through innovative events, such as Print4All, the trade fair launched in 2018. Those important initiatives have allowed us to be among the six associations (out of over 200) awarded by Confindustria as Best Association of 2019 and to become representative for ITA (Italian Trade Agency) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for the internationalization of the supply chain.”