There were almost 400 Italian exhibitors registered for K 2022, including over 250 manufacturers of machinery, equipment, auxiliaries, and molds. More than half of them are members of AMAPLAST, the Italian Plastics and Rubber Processing Machinery and Moulds Manufacturers’ Association.

In the onsite interview with Adsale Plastics Network (AdsaleCPRJ.com), Mario Maggiani, General Manager at AMAPLAST, emphasized that the Italian recycling machinery manufacturers had been performing well in the past months and also at K 2022.

However, the general manager of the Italian association also mentioned that the Italian plastics machinery industry awaits the mitigation of heavy impact of component shortage.

He expects the supply chain disruption will continue at least for the first six months of next year, but it can also last throughout the whole year.

“Obviously if the demand of machinery would decrease, the situation in terms of supply of components would be improved, as less production means more components available in the market,” he added.  

Regarding the trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, Mario Maggiani commented that the Italian exhibitors were satisfied. He pointed out that, in addition to sustainability, solutions to save energy and materials, as well as technologies related to Industry 4.0, were the hot topics of greatest interest to the visitors.

“At least in Europe, we have really high increases in price of gas and electricity, so people want to have machinery with lower consumption of energy,” he explained.