The idea of Xylexpo organizers is to restore the combination of technology and supplies for the furniture industry under one roof.
Those days are gone, of course. The “Zow-Sicam” tsunami has turned the semifinished materials industry upside down, and Sasmil – that’s the name of the Xylexpo “companion” many of you will remember – did not realize that the business of semifinished materials was no longer ancillary to furniture. That community of companies had taken over a significant portion of research and the capacity to innovate, produce, make business…
We all know what’s happened and we will not talk about it; we will discuss Xylexpo’s decision to approach an unconventional business that, in the meantime, it has become familiar with.
“For several decades, the Xylexpo-Sasmil combination was one of the highlights of the exhibition landscape”, said Dario Corbetta, playing a double role as the director of Acimall, the association of Italian technology manufacturers, and Xylexpo, the biennial exhibition that will be held at FieraMilano-Rho next May 26 to 29, 2020. “We believe that experience can be relaunched, obviously on a smaller scale. The global exhibition scenario offers very few international events where visitors can touch the latest innovations in technology, materials, components, hardware and decors. At Xylexpo, for some time now we have been hosting a few companies that are interested in this type of “marriage”, placing their booths among technology vendors and calling for more attention in an environment that increases their visibility.
That’s why we decided to create “Focus Components“: we believe this topic will enrich Xylexpo on one side, and on the other, offer an opportunity to exhibitors who want to be in Milan and present their solutions in a different setting, targeting a large audience of operators who are attracted by technology but also interested in materials and supplies, at least a large share of them.”
The scenario is really crowded with such offers…
“That’s not our business! I will make it clear that we do not want to start a competition with anyone: we know that market demand is covered by two events, Interzum and Sicam, which are essential for the industries they represent. We don’t want to, we cannot, we are not going to be their competitors; we don’t want to create another “semifinished materials exhibition”, but rather open up our exhibition space to anyone who believes this is a good opportunity.
We are very practical and we know that international technology exhibitions are becoming more and more complex: on one hand, the number of actors is shrinking due to concentration, on the other all major international markets have a reference event in their territory.
We have focused and are still focusing on the excellence of Italian technology, on the fact that our manufacturers play at home in Milan, although it is an international event that respects producers from across the border, coming to present their solutions in the world’s most important market.
For this and more reasons, this exhibition is not like it used to be in the golden years, but it is still the most important event in even-numbered years, boasting a high level of specialization in secondary operations and a lot of innovation. This approach is still successful, so we have decided to make it available to anyone who wants to take the opportunity.”
A bold challenge…
“This is not a challenge, but an invitation to figure out a showcase where machinery and components, edges and decorations, drllling-inserting machines and hardware are all integrated. This is what we are looking for, concepts that will not be apparent from the very first edition, but we have identified a direction for the future, an overall vision of what furniture manufacturers need, where maximum efficiency, flexibility and digitalization increasingly rely on the capacity to bring all elements together, the factors that a modern furniture industry needs. Will we succeed? We cannot be sure, but we are trying, although in this period companies tend to stick to their habits, due to the uncertain scenario.”
“Meanwhile, we have identified some priorities, such as “Focus Components” and its location in a prominent area of the exhibition center”, Corbetta added. “It will be at the entrance of hall 1, a very favorable position, a way to say thank you to the semifinished material companies that have always attended Xylexpo, maybe a bit inconspicuous, lost in the big sea of technology. So, as of next year, they will be in a totally different position, they will be part of a project we are investing in. For the others, we will give the occasion to meet an audience that is not exactly the same of supplier exhibitions, so they have the opportunity to open new channels, test new options. On one side, for many companies visiting Xylexpo, the person in charge for production methods is not the same as for hardware or semifinished materials provisioning, but on the other side, our exhibition hosts many companies that are small enough to have one purchasing department.”
As announced, there will also be a new phase of your collaboration with Made.
“In recent years, at Made and with Made, we set up a “Machinery Area” featuring technology exhibitors. Now we are returning their favor, entrusting them with the sales activities for “Focus Components”. We agreed that a different layout was required, a clearly visible and stimulating setting, so we engaged the Studio Aaahhhaaa in Milan, boasting several collaborations in different sectors, other than mechanical engineering, and we are confident that they will help us make this new initiative more visible; the event in May will be a sort of preview, after all.” (l.r.)
