Let’s go back to Acimall Outlook

Until January 2011 – so referring to 2009 financial results – we relied on an external partner, Databank, which was entrusted with the market analysis. It was a profitable collaboration, which strengthened the reputation of our magazines and showed our commitment to offering a reliable and accurate service to readers.

This year, instead, in the latest Xylon issue we decided to use our internal resources, leveraging the competence and experience of our Studies Office. Acimall – the Confindustria member association that represents Italian manufacturers of woodworking technology and, through Cepra srl, organizes Xylexpo and published Xylon and Italianwoodtech – can rely on an efficient and qualified team that carries out market analysis and research, to the benefit of member companies.

This time, we used their expertise also for Xylon, to draft the rankings of our outlook within Acimall.

We can say, without fear of contradiction, that the job was well done, and the merit goes to the patient and accurate work by Carlo Alberto Strada.

But inevitably, such a huge and comprehensive work always includes some mistakes (actually due to “inaccuracies” in the figures supplied by the databank we turned to, rather than to our work), so it urged some companies to let us know about their opinions, doubts and complaints.

 

We want to point out that complaints were much less than in the past, witnessing to the effectiveness of our decision to carry out the analysis internally, complementing hard figures with our industry-specific experience and knowledge. However, there are some mistakes, some disputes, and we are proud to present them in these pages, together with an updated version of the ranking we are most involved in (woodworking technology production), with some corrections we considered appropriate.

The following are the remarks submitted by our member companies, for which we are thankful.

 

WORKING PROCESS

The most “detailed” remark came from Working Process (www.working-process.com) from Settima di Gossolengo, near Piacenza, expressing strong disappointment for the analysis method of our ranking. Stefano Schegginetti, co-owner, complained that the company ranking was not based on the value that most effectively indicates the real size of a company, i.e. production value.

The parameter we adopted – sales revenues – is not “objective” and exhaustive, he maintained. In other words, the reader cannot perceive the real “weight” of a company: in this respect, revenues/turnover are inadequate.

In detail: in 2010, Working Process had 7.935 million Euro revenues, but 9.592 million Euro production value. We also have to say that the report by Databank published in issue 1 of Xylon in 2011 contained a wrong figure for 2009 sales revenues: in that ranking, Working Process had 10.511 million Euros, while the correct value specified in their 2009 balance sheet was 12.415 million Euros.

Having clarified this, Mr. Schegginetti and our readers can be assured that we will take this into consideration in the future; however, it should be noticed that the summary report by Bureau Van Dijk – the company that collects balance sheets, which we refer to through Federmacchine – indicates sales revenues as the first index, a “standard” we adopted and that seems to be used by many, including survey companies and magazines that are much more popular and widespread than Xylon, in much bigger industries.

 

SCM GROUP

Another remark came from Scm Group in Rimini (www.scmgroup.com). The figures we present are taken from the non-consolidated balance of single companies. A consolidate balance sheet describes the assets and business trend of a group of companies controlled by a holding that drafts the final balance sheet.

For the sake of completeness, we report that Scm Group (i.e. all the “brands” acquired at the date of balance sheet presentation) had the following sales revenues in 2010: 414.962 million Euros consolidated revenues, 265.221 million Euros non-consolidated revenues for Scm alone.

 

MAGGI ENGINEERING AND PUTSCH-MENICONI

In the ranking we published, we did not list Maggi Engineering and Putsch-Meniconi by mistake.

We can tell you why. as to Maggi Engineering (www.maggi-engineering.com), the reason is that there were no balance sheets for this company in the Aida databank. In the updated ranking published here, we reported the financial results provided by the company itself.

As to Putsch-Meniconi (www.putschmeniconi.com) from Poggibonsi, near Siena, the reason is that, in the database we refer to, the company is associated to Ateco code 289300: “Production of machinery for food, beverage and tobacco industries (including parts and accessories), therefore it was left out unnoticed. Now you can find it at No. 34.

 

PAGANONI IMPORTLEGNO

Moving on to the other rankings published in the January-February issue of Xylon, we specify that Paganoni Importlegno (www.paganoniimportlegno.it) is associated to Ateco code 161000 (“Wood cutting and planing”), while the company identifies its core business in the category: “Wood and furniture trade”. Based on this remark, we inform you that Paganoni Importlegno has net revenues of 28.322 million Euros, standing at number 8 in the relevant ranking.

 

 

THE MEANING OF “MAKING AN EXHIBITION” FOR THE NEXT XYLEXPO

 

The Acimall offices (Assago, Milano) hosted the second training course addressed to Xylexpo exhibitors, illustrating the best approach to the exhibition.

The workshop, called “Making an exhibition, what to do and what not”, enabled participants to discuss significant topics related to an exhibition, such as pre-event communications, technical and logistic organization of the stand, and evaluation of the results achieved.

The workshop was held by Alberto Biffi, professor of statistics at the Bocconi University in Milan, and Massimo Foletti, marketing and communication expert. The meeting encouraged an intensive exchange of information and opinions, with a strong networking approach that allowed participants to collect useful information in view of the upcoming biennial exhibition in Milan, scheduled from 8 to 12 May.