iT’s Tissue, the very successful event organized by the major Italian tissue technology suppliers, was held in Italy in late June, and more specifically in Lucca from 22 to 30 June.
Perini Journal
It was, as it was advertised, “Nine days of technological innovation, culture and entertainment to discover Italian excellence in tissue”.
As anticipated in the previous issue (PJL 40, pg. 92) it was a joint effort organized by 12 tissue technology providers to call attention to the tissue district by promoting Italian excellence and level of quality in the field. The idea was to bring tissue makers and converters from around the world to attend open houses at some or all of these companies that for one week hosted guests and displayed their machinery in a production, converting and packaging environment. A combination of business, culture and entertainment through numerous events created to illustrate the best of Italian culture: music and art, food and wine, sport and relaxation. Lucca was for all intents and purposes the capital of the iT’s Tissue events, and the starting point to reach Bologna and Lecco, the other two key demonstration venues. The 12 companies that organized iT’s Tissue are: A.Celli Paper, Elettric 80, Fabio Perini, Futura, Gambini, MTC, OMET, PCMC, Pulsar, Recard, TMC, Toscotec.
700 attendees from 70 countries. All indications are that the first edition of iT’s Tissue was a success with the events attracting over 700 participants from 317 companies coming from 70 countries of all five continents. Over 50% were European with a particularly strong presence from Italy, Turkey, England and Germany, followed by Latin American countries (mostly from Brazil and Mexico) and North America. Numerous participants also came from African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa. The UAE, Japan, China and Polynesia were represented as well.
Speaking for the organizers Mr. Matteo Gentili, President of the Tissue Italy Network, conveyed his happiness with the results of these first edition and announced that the next edition will take place in 2015. “iT’s Tissue was a great success”, said Gentili, “thanks to an innovative formula that succeeded in combining the interests of the companies of the Tissue Italy Network and of the local community hosting us. It was a great opportunity to communicate the excellence that Made-In-Italy can offer. Our guests left Italy with the awareness that the Tissue district is an excellent economic system as well as a wonderful place to vacation.”
Among the novelties: Fabio Perini introduces “glue-free” era. Fabio Perini S.p.A., which has an extremely long and deep experience with holding open houses for the tissue business, put on a great show by introducing the revolutionary new MILE 7.2 converting line shown to guests every day in the course of 3 demonstrations. The major revolution represented by this new technology is that no glue is necessary for binding the web to the core, nor is it necessary for the tail tie. This offers big advantages both with respect to the environment, the operation, and the housekeeping around a converting line, where the glue unit can often be a messy bottleneck. Some of the other numerous advances introduced with the MILE 7.2 technology include monitoring in terms of energy consumption, as well as air consumption, on a real-time basis and a fully-automated unwinder which reduces changeover downtime to an absolute minimum.
World-class converting equipment on display. The event constituted an occasion to breathe in a dynamic climate of great ferment where each company illustrated its technology directly by opening its doors. Comments from the tissue makers and converters that we interviewed at several of the sites were very positive with most of them saying that the opportunity to see new converting machinery in action is unbeatable. Many commented that this was the main reason for attending iT’s Tissue as it allowed them the opportunity to evaluate equipment on a side-by-side basis, which is invaluable information when it is time for making an investment decision.
A good start. The Forum organized half way through the week saw the interaction of guests the likes of Luigi Nicolais, president of the CNR Italian National Research Council, Andrew Crosthwaite, brand planner and strategist. Freddy Paul Grunert, philosopher and anthropologist, conceptual designer, curator of ZKM – Zentrumfür Kunst und Medientechnologie – in Karlsruhe, Paolo Nespoli, astronaut and engineer. Eugenio Occorsio, journalist expert in international economy and finance. Altamir Tojal, journalist expert in corporate communication.
The entertainment and cultural part of the program was certainly appreciated by visitors with a wide variety of things to be done. As Lucca is the hometown of the world-famous opera composer Giacomo Puccini, his works and history was certainly on display during iT’s Tissue. There was also a weeklong Jazz Festival taking place in the extremely charming amphitheater of Lucca where one could listen to world-class jazz and eat wonderful cuisine at the same time in the beautiful setting of a Roman amphitheater. All in all, the first-ever iT’s Tissue event provided a great opportunity to combine a review of top-level tissue making and converting technology, with the warm hospitality and the cultural treasures that Italy is world famous for. *