Italy second in the world for production and exports of sheet metal forming machines fieramilano Rho, 6 May 2025. Today saw the opening of the twenty-third edition of LAMIERA, the international exhibition of sheet metal cutting, forming and processing machine tools and related technologies, on stage at fieramilano Rho until Friday, 9 May. Promoted by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, the Italian machine tools, robots and automation systems manufacturers’ association, LAMIERA is organised by CEU-CENTRO ESPOSIZIONI UCIMU. The official opening took place with the Opening Ceremony this morning. The meeting, chaired by Riccardo Rosa, president of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, included speeches by: Raffaele Cattaneo, undersecretary to the Presidency of the Lombardy Region; Carlo Bonomi, president of Fiera Milano. The meeting also hosted the presentation of the study carried out by CEU in cooperation with PwC, “The metal forming machine sector: trends, challenges and opportunities”, whose results were illustrated by Sandro Bicocchi, PwC partner, Studies and Institutional Relations Office, and by Ivan Lavatelli, PwC partner, Core Operation leader. A roundtable followed on “The point of view of customer sectors”, moderated by Fabrizio Garnero, editorial director of TecnoLamiera, with Andrea Bianchi, head of Manufacturing Engineering – Transmissions & Mechanical Parts, Leonardo; Fabio Giuliani, chief operating officer, Mermec; Riccardo Moretto, Business Development manager, Moretto Group. The discussion highlighted the state-of-the -art and medium-term plans for some players from the most important destination sectors in the world of metal forming. With over 400 exhibiting companies – including confirmations, important returns and interesting new entries – for 40,000 square metres of total exhibition area occupied, LAMIERA’s area is sold out in its halls 13-15 completely set up for the event. With regard to foreign exhibiting companies, 31% are from abroad. Twenty-three countries are represented among the exhibitors: in addition to Italy, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, People’s Republic of China, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey. The comprehensive product offerings on show and the increased presence of international exhibitors will be elements of great appeal to visitors. The networking among Italian exhibitors and visitors is also fostered by the initiative promoted by the Association, in cooperation with MAECI-Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ICE-Italian Trade Agency, which consists in inviting about thirty qualified end-users, selected within the target sectors of the technologies on show, representing Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Serbia, Turkey, Hungary and Vietnam. For this 23rd edition, the trade show has significant exhibitor attendance for all the sectors included in the repertoire. Over 500 machines will be exhibited in operation. In particular: sheet metal cutting and forming machines; bar, profile and tube processing machines; presses; welding systems; robotics; software; surface treatments and finishing and, for the first time, also a proposal of Revamping & Retrofitting technologies. After all, LAMIERA 2025 is a sustainable event, managed and organised according to the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability, with ICIM ISO 20121:2024. Beside the wide product offerings on display, LAMIERA combines the exhibition dimension with that of thematic cultural insight, thanks to a programme of meetings hosted within the arena of LAMIALAMIERA (Hall 13 A00), promoted by UCIMU FOUNDATION, with the contribution of the Lombardy Region, the sponsorship of BPER Banca and the patronage of TecnoLamiera. A remarkable work has also been devoted to encouraging dialogue between the world of the sector industry and that of education, which translates into free and guided visits, dedicated to young students. These visits have been organised within UCIMU Academy (Hall 13 D00), which is ready to welcome students (over 900 accreditations), with the aim of introducing young people to the world of machine tools. Riccardo Rosa, president of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, said: “With these figures and this content, LAMIERA is confirmed as one of the most important exhibitions focused on the sector worldwide, a sector in which Italy excels, occupying the top positions in the world sector ranking, where, again in 2024, it ranked second for production and exports and third for consumption”. According to the data processed by the Economic Studies Department & Business Culture Centre of UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, despite the downturn recorded over 2023 (-14.5%), the Italian metal forming industry maintained its second position in the world ranking of production in 2024, with 2.9 billion euro, after China and ahead of Germany. The same positioning was also highlighted in the export ranking. With 1.8 billion euro (+1.1%) of sales overseas, the Italian manufacturers of the sector strengthened their second place behind China and before Germany. With regard to consumption, with 1.3 billion euro, despite a 32.7% drop , Italy kept its third position behind China and the United States, again ahead of Germany. “The year 2024 was really difficult – added the president of UCIMU – but 2025 should be better. This is also confirmed by the index regarding the order intake for machine tools in the first quarter of the year, up by 8.5% compared to the same period last year. However, better does not mean brilliant. Indeed, – went on Riccardo Rosa – we are observing an interesting recovery in the domestic market, which regained momentum, also thanks to the clarification concerning the measure 5.0. Nevertheless, an increase of 71.5% in the domestic market is contrasted with a clear slowdown in exports (-18.2%), due to the general instability”. “The recently obtained simplifications 5.0 have borne fruit and now Italian companies are making numerous requests even for large orders. The problem is that there is very little time to produce and deliver by the currently set deadline of 31 December 2025. Considering the dynamism of domestic demand, – added Riccardo Rosa – therefore, we think that the extension of the deadline of the measure by four months to April 2026, which is being discussed over the last weeks, is the appropriate and necessary decision to enable the Italian manufacturing industry to take advantage of the resources made available by the measure linked to the funds […]