In the third quarter 2024, the index of machine tool orders compiled by
Ucimu-Sistemi per Produrre — the Italian machine tool manufacturers’ association — recorded a 7.9% increase compared to the period July-September 2023. The absolute value of the index was 52.7 (base year 2021=100). Overseas orders recorded a 10.7% increase compared with Q3 2023 for an absolute index value of 94.4. Domestic orders saw a 4.3% rise for an absolute index value of 13.7.
Riccardo Rosa, Ucimu’s president, said: “The return of the order index to a positive sign after six consecutive quarters of decline is welcome news, because it interrupts a trend that has accompanied the sector for too long. Despite this, the situation remains complicated for at least two reasons.
“The first is that ‘the plus sign’ is the result of a comparison with one of the quarters characterised by the weakest order intake ever — the period July-September 2023, which, in absolute terms, is only slightly higher than that recorded in the same quarter of 2020, the year that was plagued by the pandemic. Therefore, we are still at a very low level.
“The second reason is revealed by observing this quarterly outcome in more detail, namely that a sharp separation appears between the performance of the sector of sheet metal forming and sheet metal processing machines and that of metal-cutting machines.
“Never before has it been so evident that the sector represented by Ucimu is moving at two speeds. On one hand, the metal-forming companies can work in many markets and meet the demand of many differing sectors, while the metal-cutting companies are facing particularly complicated contextual problems. These include the strong foreign competition, mainly from Asia, and the great uncertainty of the automotive industry that has paralysed investment in new production technologies, as proven — among other things — by the crisis that the entire German economy is experiencing.”
“We think it is essential that our government authorities appreciate the need to develop policies that support the industrial transition, particularly regarding automotive. We should devise instruments that can accompany the reorganisation of the European manufacturing industry so that, while respecting the criteria of ‘green manufacturing’, it can continue to guarantee activity and employment in the countries of the Union.”