Fabio Tarozzi is Acimac's new chairman

Fabio Tarozzi (Siti B&T Group) is the new chairman of Acimac (Italian Ceramic Machinery and Equipment Manufacturers' Association). The appointment was formalised during the annual meeting on 12 June, when the newly elected chairman, taking over from Pietro Cassani (Sacmi), outlined to representatives of member companies the programme he intends to follow during his four-year term in office.

Fabio Tarozzi was born in Formigine (Modena) 47 years ago and began his career in 1993 working for the family-owned company. Four years later, he was appointed sales manager and then in January 2003 general manager. In July 2007, following the merger between Gruppo Barbieri & Tarozzi Spa and Siti Spa, he took over as managing director. He is also chairman of the companies in the Projecta Engineering Group (Fiorano Modenese) and Foshan B&T Pioneer Ceramic Machinery Co (China) and a member of the board of Sir Spa.

Boosting support for exports will be one of the first aims of his term in office. "Export markets offer the greatest potential for our technologies," Tarozzi argued, and for this reason "we must seek to strengthen relations with our international customers' trade associations, intensify the analyses conducted by our Studies Centre and forge closer links with the institutions involved in supporting internationalisation, such as ICE, Sace and Simest, which we hope will complete the structural reforms in progress at the earliest opportunity."

"Through Confindustria Chairman Giorgio Squinzi, we have also informed the Minister of Economic Development Corrado Passera of our opposition to the abolition of law 1083, which has provided valuable financial contributions to initiatives for international promotion of our sector."

Another point in the new Chairman's programme is credit support, for which purpose Acimac will be liaising continuously with banks and public and private institutions, especially at an international level. For this purpose, one of the goals is to align the credit ratings of the ceramic machinery manufacturers with those of other strongly export-oriented sectors, thereby freeing the industry from the cyclic nature of the Italian building industry. Tarozzi will also continue to promote an awareness of the importance of dimensional growth of companies, which is the real weakness faced by small and medium-sized companies wishing to pursue international development.

Obtaining funding for research and innovation and liaising with schools and universities with a view to finding the best professional profiles will be further goals during his term in office.