7th Acimac Meeting on digital technologies a big success

The 7th Acimac Annual Meeting on digital ceramic tile glazing and decoration technologies, held on Wednesday 25 November in Teatro Astoria in Fiorano (MO), was attended by more than 400 professionals from the Italian ceramic industry.

Organised in partnership with the magazine Ceramic World Review and sponsored by Tecnargilla (which hosts the conference in even years), the annual Acimac Meeting has become one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the Sassuolo ceramic cluster's conference calendar. Thanks to the wide-ranging and in-depth analysis provided by leading companies in the sector, the conference offered a unique insight into this constantly evolving area of technology and discussed potential future developments.

Following the welcome remarks made by Acimac director Paolo Gambuli, eight technical presentations were made by leading companies in the sector, moderated by Prof. Paolo Zannini from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia:

• "State of the art of full digital" (Rita Cagnoli, System)
• "Digital effects, digital materials: new developments for digitalisation of the ceramic process" (Alessandro Ferrari, Esmalglass-Itaca)
• "Innovative line for decorating large sizes" (Dante Biserni, Sacmi)
• "Colorobbia Digital Space: a step towards the future of ceramics" (Angelo Onorato, Colorobbia)
• "Digital printing on demand: only when needed" (Angelo Montalti and Vincenzo Palumbo, Projecta Engineering, Siti B&T Group)
• "Ceramics: a strategic sector for Durst and the state of the art" (Norbert von Aufschnaiter, Durst Phototechnik)
• "Art for creating, technology for reproducing" (Antonio Maccari, KeraOne by Macs Tech)
• "The advantages of EFI Ecosystem for the ceramic tile industry" (Natalia Martinez, Efi Cretaprint).

The conference was concluded with a Panel Discussion on Digital, Creativity and Design with the participation of Paolo Lamberti (Tecnografica and Acimac Vice Chairman), Stefano Giordani (Director of marketing and product development, Coop. Ceramica d'Imola), Massimo Mantovani (R&D director, Cotto D'Este) and Andrea Corghi (Head of Research, ABK Group). The discussion also focused on the key role played by design firms in providing creative support and helping to make ceramic products truly unique.

The presentations will be published in full as part of a special section on Digital Decoration in Ceramic World Review no. 115 and in the 2016 edition of the Acimac Technical Handbook due to come out in January.