Editorial Magazine 2023/3
HOW TO SHAPE THE FUTURE
THE FUTURE IS NOW, BUT NOT EVERYONE CAN SEE IT
In recent years, scientific research has made huge steps forwards in our world of extrusion, foundry and aluminium surface treatment; I’d even say, in my opinion, that the technological leap of the last five years has been greater than that of the previous twenty years. The reasons are many and can be so summarized:
a) Digitalization has made its impactful entrance in our field too, alongside automation and robotics (industry 4.0);
b) Topics like ecology and environmental protection have had a huge echo and consequently pushed forward new technological developments;
c) Workers’ health and safety have become the object of great awareness and attention, especially in the last years, and the demand for technologies aiming to reduce or eliminate work-related accidents and illnesses is constantly rising;
d) The ever-increasing need for competitivity has caused the introduction of high-productivity and high-output-quality machinery;
e) The same need for competitivity is also responsible for the research and introduction on the market (now more demanding and alert to trends than ever) of innovative products capable of meet the increasing demands of clients; hence the appearance, for example, of so many new finishes for both coated and anodised aluminium.
I’d like to focus your attention right on this new and exciting technology, officially presented at Aluminium Two Thousand World Congress in Bologna, Italy, by which anodised aluminium becomes an artistic, designer product for either outside or in; with unlimited design possibilities and special visual and tactile effects, they’re only now possible because of the combination with digital graphic technologies.
In this day, businessmen need only choose how to change and modernize their company and how to get in line with the present, but they must do so with the future already in mind. If businessmen, or whoever I’m talking with, appear to be perplexed or undecided, I say to them: “You know what you want, you’re just scared to admit it because new things can be scary. You’re scared to say what you want because then you will have to act and make things happen, or you will have to make up excuses about why you’re not trying or why it isn’t happening already.”
To end with a quote from Einstein: “We can't expect things to change, if we continue doing the same things”.
The 12th Aluminium Two Thousand World Congress, with all the novelties presented*, is a great opportunity for important innovations and for shaping the future of our business and our companies.
Walter Dalla Barba,
Editor, Chairman of Aluminium Two Thousand World Congress
*For information on how to access the papers presented at the Aluminium Two Thousand World Congress, please contact the technical secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
