Press Releases

15 September 2017

MECSPE 2018: the challenges of Industry 4.0 and the opportunities for rubber-plastics compartment

The heart of Italian manufacturing: technology, efficiency and contained consumption for factories, now and in future

Business organisations reveal encouraging data for the rubber-plastics sector for the first quarter of this year. An increase, compared to the same period in 2016, by +15.3% for imports and +16.3% for imports, the latter related to almost all types of machinery, with the best performance for thermoforming machines. Positive results also for the first quarter of 2017 in terms of turnover and orders, both on the rise for about four companies out of ten. Over the last decade, the sector showed an average turnover increase by 0.9%, with an acceleration in the three years from 2014 to 2016 (+2.7%).

A trend indicative of the vital progress of the sector, the heart of Italian manufacturing, and to which MECSPE (Parma’s Exhibition Centre, from 22 to 24 March 2018), the leading trade fair for manufacturing 4.0 promoted by Senaf, will devote an entire exhibition area in Hall 6, where professionals will find new ideas to improve the performance and functionality of use of their manufacturing processes or finished products. A special focus will be placed on smart materials and the vast potential provided by composite materials, whose soft and sinuous design – created with an emphasis on lightness, tensile strength, resistance to shocks and corrosion – provides results that are difficult to achieve with materials commonly used. The focus will also include bioplastics, which allow for an optimised collection and management of waste, as well as a lower environmental impact, with significant advantages for the production-consumption-disposal cycle. Moreover, the topic of materials will be further examined in the “New room of non-ferrous materials and alloys” (aluminium, titanium, magnesium, composites and technologies). This is a new area that, through demos and theme-based conferences, will offer visitors interesting technological transfer ideas and new design and manufacturing solutions for light products.

To contribute to the definition of a competitive map for the manufacturing system of Italian SMEs, all the initiatives of the next edition of MECSPE will focus on enhancing flexibility, efficiency and containment of consumption in factories now and in future through the distinctive elements of the fourth industrial revolution. Namely, the topic of the “Digital factory 4.0” will be covered again by the trade event in an entire hall (Hall 4), where visitors will be able to see for themselves the progress of new “manufacturing made in Italy” and admire how the integration of enabling technologies leads to increasingly advanced and interconnected manufacturing.

Among the special initiatives in place, in the Additive Manufacturing 4.0 area devoted to professional 3D printing, there will be the chance to see the potential of additive manufacturing directly on the spot, checking the actual printing time, the resolution of the manufactured objects, the materials employed by touching the pieces just “churned out” by 3D printers.

Along with Parma, the story of an Italian alternative to the industry 4.0 model will be the centrepiece of 3 new stops to get closer to the “MECSPE laboratories – DIGITAL FACTORY, the Italian way to industry 4.0”, a tour of conferences to clarify and guide companies along the route towards digitalization launched by the Industry National Plan 4.0. Scheduled talks will involve entrepreneurs and associations, with the presentation of economic scenarios, models to interpret the phenomenon and outstanding innovation cases. The focus will be initially precisely on “Plastics and Automotive” in Modena, the heart of the automotive district of the Emilia-Romagna region, on 9 October. This will be followed by “Aluminium, Titanium, Magnesium and Motorsport” (Brescia, 13 November) and “Composite Materials and Aerospace” (Naples, 5 February).

The numbers of MECSPE 2017

45,817 visitors, 105,000 sqm of exhibiting area, 2,051 exhibitors, 10 squares of excellence, 58 demonstrative units and working isles, 7 thematic districts, 11 thematic shows, 75 technical conventions organized by businesses, universities and associations.

The shows of MECSPE

Macchine e Utensili – Machines Tools and Equipment; Fabbrica Digitale – Information Technologies for a Smart Factory Management; Motek Italy – Factory Automation; Power Drive – Systems, Components, Mechatronics; Control Italy – Metrology and Quality Control; Logistica – Systems for Logistics Management, Machines and Equipment; Subfornitura Meccanica – Third parties processing; Subfornitura Elettronica – Design, Electronics; Manufacturing, Components, Accessories; Eurostampi, Macchine e subfornitura plastica – Moulds and Moulding, Plastic Materials and Rubber Processing; Additive Manufacturing – Rapid Prototiping and 3D Printing; Trattamenti Superficiali – Machines and Plants for Surface Treatment and Finishing


For more information
MY PR
Paola Gianderico
mob: +39 331-7623732
tel: +39 02-54123452
fax: +39 02-54090230
e-mail: paola.gianderico@mypr.it
www.mypr.it