The structural characteristics

The structural characteristics of the Italian machine tool, robot and automation manufacturing industry are the same as those of the national manufacturing system: small-sized companies, strong propensity to export and high-quality product offering.

Machine tools

According to the survey conducted by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE, in 2021 (the year to which the latest data are referred), 55.7% of machine tool manufacturing enterprises invoiced less than 12,5 million euro; 68.6% of them had less than 100 employees.

However, the most structured companies provided the highest contribution to production and exports: those with more than 100 employees, representing only 31.4% of the total number of units operating in Italy, manufactured 78.2% and exported 82.9% of the total.

Analogously, the enterprises that invoiced more than 25 million euro (accounting for 24.5% of the total number) manufactured 76.1% of production and covered 79.4% of Italian machine tool exports.

The geographic distribution of the sector was consistent with that of the Italian production system, proving that it is essential for machine tool manufacturers to be located close to the enterprises of their customers and suppliers: the largest part of the sector production facilities are in Lombardy (44.6%), Triveneto (20.5%), Emilia Romagna (19.3%) and Piedmont (12%).

To the total turnover, Lombardy contributed by 44.8%, Triveneto by 18.8%, Piedmont by 18.7% and Emilia Romagna by 16.5%. The enterprises from Emilia Romagna showed the highest propensity to export (corresponding to 53.4% versus a sector average of 51.8%).

The main user industry of machine tools was that of metal products - which includes subcontractors, building and construction components and other products different from machinery (35.8%) - followed by the automotive industry (19.2%).

Robotics

In 2021, the percentage breakdown between large-sized enterprises (turnover higher than 5 million euro) and small/medium-sized enterprises (turnover up to 5 million euro) confirmed the presence of large-sized enterprises (84.6%).

Lombardy and Piedmont are the regions with the highest density of companies operating in the robotics market, respectively with 44.3% and 30.8% of the enterprises.

Again, Piedmont had the highest turnover percentage (52.4%) and the highest number of employees (67.6%).