IMT-Italian Manufacturing Technologies, the first business network of machine tools manufacturers among Ucimu member companies in Vietnam, was officially launched on 20 July. Seven companies, including Buffoli Transfer, Ficep, Gerardi, Innse Berardi, Losma, Prima Industrie and Rettificatrici Ghiringhelli, joined the network at its launch.
The IMT initiative was developed to help the companies organised in the Italian association Ucimu to increase their presence and market penetration in Vietnam, a rapidly developing Asian market that also serves as a gateway to the ASEAN region. The network will be based in Ho Chi Minh City, with local experts working together on various promotional activities. These will include organising visits by potential user companies, participating in industry exhibitions and organising seminars and networking meetings with local Vietnamese operators.
Barbara Colombo, president of Ucimu, said: “I am very satisfied with the creation of IMT, which comes after two years of intense work and a careful analysis of the market situation“. The works also included studies of Vietnam’s key sectors and the publication of a country-specific monograph.
IMT is an operational tool for the internationalisation of companies in the sector interested in working in the South-East Asian region. Based on the processing of Cecimo and Gartner data by the Ucimu Economic Studies Department & Business Culture Centre, the ASEAN countries saw their consumption of machine tools grow by around 20% in 2022, continuing the positive trend seen in 2021. With specific reference to Vietnam, consumption is expected to remain almost flat in 2023 (+2 percent) after growing by 34 percent in 2022. According to Ucimu forecasts based on Oxford data, demand for machine tools should then increase significantly in 2024 (+13 percent), 2025 (+12 percent) and 2026 (+11 percent).
The IMT initiative is the second network of Ucimu member companies. It complements ITC India, a network that has been operating since 2012. ITC India was created thanks to the support of Ucimu for its member companies and was then opened to the participation of the member companies of Amaplast and Acimga, which are part of the initiative, even though they do not currently have any companies represented in the network.