At Mimit (Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy), players of the Italian white goods supply chain met Minister Adolfo Urso with the aim of relaunching this important sector of Made in Italy. Mauro Barchiesi, President of Confapi Industria Ancona, spoke on behalf of Confapi (Italian Confederation of Small and Medium Private Industry), presenting to the Minister the state of the art of the supply chain, the Confederation’s proposals and highlighting “the need that, at the industrial policy level, the strategic nature of the white goods industry is recognized, considering employment, know-how and consequent economic implications”. Besides, Barchiesi underlined the importance “of the small and medium private industry, which constitutes a backbone in the white goods supply chain, with subcontractors of excellence who over the years have contributed significantly to the sector growth”. The Italian SMEs that manufacture components for the household appliance sector, in addition to occupying the top places for exports at an international level, are innovators in terms of products, processes and patents. For this reason, “it is important to underline – Barchiesi added – the proactive capacity of SMEs in this industry, so their involvement in projects cannot be ignored: often the industrialization phase is delegated by the larger companies to suppliers who are today skilled in interpreting the idea of development to translate the virtual prototyping into industrialization according to an efficient process”. Confapi believes that on the one hand it is important to protect the companies of the white goods supply chain, on the other it is necessary to implement economic and industrial policy actions that allow the sector to be relaunched in the name of sustainability, through the creation of an ecosystem in which SMEs are protagonists together with the large players, to start creating value again. “The white goods industry – Barchiesi said – was a driving force of the Italian economic ‘miracle’ and, unlike other sectors, it did not benefit from specific policies or particular protections, remaining competitive”.
