In 2010 the production of Italian construction equipment, according to Unacea's provisional assessment, totally gained about 5 percentage points for a total amount of nearly 2 billion euros, 53% of which destined to the production of earthmoving machines and 47% to other construction machines. The Italian production of earthmoving machines, after being halved in 2009, regained about 16 percentage points in 2010, while the other construction machines registered a negative trend. These data were made known during Unacea's press conference on 2 March at Samoter 2011, the International triennial earthmoving and building machinery exhibition. The quantity of exported products was particularly relevant, arriving at 65% in 2010, compared to 55% in 2009. The number of firms of the sector remains constant, i.e. around 140 units. "While the home market is stagnant and halved compared to 2007 – declared Enrico Santini, Unacea president – the growth of exports towards new industrial economies seems to be at the basis of the increase in orders and production volumes that we expect in 2011. From this point of view, what worries us is the current political crisis in many North African countries, where numerous infrastructural works had been started and we hope that they will be continued, without creating any dramatic repercussion on the market and on the investments." Franco Invernizzi (New Holland Construction – Fiat Industrial), Unacea vicepresident, added that "the current situation of convalescence of the European and Italian market should definitively convince the European Union's parliament to approve, without distorting it, the proposal to extend the flexibility criteria concerning the emissions directive."
Great is the commitment of construction equipment firms to promote a culture of safety, as testified by FOR-SAFETY, a series of free training courses on the use in safety of machines organised by Unacea in collaboration with Eco Certificazioni, Cifa, Imer Group, Komatsu and New Holland Construction. Participants were around 200 (firefighters, people in charge of machines in the building yard, owners of building firms). "Thanks to initiatives like FOR-SAFETY – declared Alessandro Rossi (Komatsu Italia), Unacea councillor – now the trade fair also becomes a space for training, for the creation of a culture of safety, for technical and civic commitment." Alfonso Sciandra, sales manager of Imer Group, added: "Our company's mission is to build more and more efficient, safe and environmentally compatible machines. This is an undertaking we want to carry out also by making our technical know-how directly available to building firms and users."
