MILAN (ITALPRESS) – “Excellence of Made in Italy – Strategic investments and competitive advantages for the international development of the supply chain”: this is the talk hosted at the Drafting Futures Arena, in Pavilion 14, by Intesa Sanpaolo, institutional partner for the eighth year consecutive edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano and the first Italian bank to provide financial support to the design sector and the Italian home system. The meeting sees the participation of illustrious entrepreneurs, designers and startups, for a debate on technological and digital innovation, geographical and generational repositioning as levers for growth in a medium-long term logic and which sees the final considerations of Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile.Milano.
After the presentation of the economic scenario of the furniture sector curated by Stefania Trenti, Head of Industry Research Studies and Research at Intesa Sanpaolo, a dialogue follows with the architects and designers Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palomba.
Their contemporary and innovative vision combined with a profound knowledge of the historical and cultural roots of the world of design opens the debate on the themes of innovation and tradition and sustainable good practices in which they take part together with Anna Roscio, Executive Director Sales & Marketing Enterprises Intesa Sanpaolo: Giorgio Castagno, CEO & Co founder of WAVE (https://www.wavesws.it/), a startup from Borgosesia (NO), included in Intesa Sanpaolo’s Up2Stars valorization process, proposes an IoT system for water management capable of reducing water consumption by up to 30% and energy consumption by 20%; Augusto Ciarrocchi President of Ceramica Flaminia (https://www.ceramicaflaminia.it/), a company from Civita Castellana (VT) active for seventy years in the production of ceramic sanitary ware and bathroom furnishing items, leader of Made in Italy and attentive to good eco-sustainable and circular resource practices; Stefania Lazzaroni, General Director of the Altagamma Foundation, committed to the growth and competitiveness of companies in the Italian cultural and creative industry.
From the meeting it emerges that green and energy transformation with consequent reduction of environmental impact must become increasingly strategic elements within the design and furniture supply chain, making it a driving force for the spread of eco-sustainability, technology and digitalisation and taking on an increasingly decisive role in the success of the company and the impact it generates on the local economy. Through the Supply Chain Development Programme, Intesa Sanpaolo has already activated around 40 supply chain contracts for the Home System, which correspond to 450 suppliers and around 3,200 employees and with a turnover of over 2 billion euros aimed at encouraging the creation of new processes of the supply chain and the qualitative strengthening of those in existence and facilitate access to credit even for smaller companies to support them in the relaunch and in the digitalisation and green transition processes.
“The furniture and furnishings sector finds one of its development levers in the supply chain system, unique in the international panorama and which has determined a distinctive positioning of the entire sector among the leading products of Made in Italy – states Anna Roscio, Executive Director Sales & Marketing Corporate Intesa Sanpaolo -. This quality and uniqueness must today be supported by investment strategies attentive to innovation and sustainability, a passport to foreign markets. In the three-year period 2020-2023 Intesa Sanpaolo played an important role in supporting import/export flows, supporting over 45,000 client companies in internationalization and export processes with around 4 billion euros in financing”.
Innovation, sustainable development together with the search for new markets are the three fundamental drivers for companies that look to the future and on which the new Intesa Sanpaolo program is based which makes 120 billion euros available until 2026 to accompany companies’ planning and encourage new investments for Italian competitiveness by accelerating the dynamics of good performance of the production system and ensuring the immediate activation of sustainable and long-term strategies.
A series of interventions that are part of the Group’s actions to support the achievement of the objectives set in the PNRR, for which a total of over 410 billion euros have been allocated, as announced by CEO Carlo Messina.
The Italian furniture industry, with around 15,000 companies and over 128,000 employees (3.3% of the total manufacturing), is among the leading sectors of Made in Italy and has been among the main drivers of the Italian post-Covid recovery, which in 2022 led the sector to overtake Germany as the main European producer by turnover. Also in 2023, Made in Italy furniture confirmed itself at the top in Europe, with a turnover of 25.8 billion euros, only slightly contracting (-3%) compared to a record 2022. The result was influenced by both a prudent approach to purchases on the domestic market and the physiological decline in demand on international markets.
In a global context of acceleration of trade in the second half of 2024, after a still weak first part of the year, the export propensity of the Italian furniture industry will grow further, placing itself just below 50% in the horizon of 2026, for an export value that could reach 13 billion euros. On the domestic front, the prospects see household consumption improving compared to the lows of 2023, thanks to the gradual easing of inflationary tensions and the recovery of disposable income.
The new challenges for the future of Italian furniture are many: the results of the periodic survey of Intesa Sanpaolo managers highlight how the uncertainty and complexity of the scenario are leading furniture companies to further increase the efficiency of processes (through organizational innovations and investments), including in logistics and warehouses, and push further on the energy front (with investments in self-production plants). The diversification of the outlet markets is also crucial, already higher than the main competitors, and clearly more felt than in other sectors, in particular in industrial districts.
The strategies on the “green” side, in addition to the push towards renewable sources, will be directed towards greater circularity, through separate waste collection, the use of secondary raw materials and the reduction of packaging. Important support in this direction could come from the push of large and medium-sized leading companies to support the transition of their supply chains.
– photo: Fotogramma Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
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