Even Associations Get Old… If they do not Change!

by Fabrizio Cattaneo and Marco Ferrara, FEDERTEC co-directors

Who hasn’t come into contact with a FaceApp photo recently?
Thanks to this new craze, thousands of virtual images are flying around the web showing how time can alter a person’s face, whether it be full of wrinkles or thinning hair, they are a shockingly vivid version of our future selves….
The same kind of thing has been going on at ASSIOT and ASSOFLUID as the respective board members got together to discuss how best to represent the sector moving into the future.
In so doing, it quickly became clear that future features of the association, following a half century of accompanying Italian industry toward success, were no in no better shape than those being created by the app mentioned above.
To remedy this, it was evidently not possible to leave things just as they are. Firstly, the context associations are operating in has greatly changed. Today, companies possess such excessive quantities of data that its accuracy can no longer be taken for granted, thus, associations need more than ever to be authoritative, reliable and make their voice heard in the digital age.
Secondly, while membership proposals are more than easy to find, none of these strikes a chord with genuine representation. There is an excessive number of micro-associations, each one representing a tiny section of the made in Italy excellence (with an overall value in excess of €40bn). Every association has a scope inevitably limited by their often reduced resources, meaning no one really has a strong or united voice. The result being a void in substance.
What can be done to escape such undeniable and inevitable consequences?
After a long debate and much round table discussion, it became clear that widening operative range was the answer. Taking example from how products are being manufactured, the focus would have to be centered on the fusion of all technologies being implemented in motion and power transmission systems, meaning all phases of the technological and skill sets that make the sector the hot-bed of innovation that it is, are fully represented.
This was the stem for the ASSIOT and ASSOFLUID fusion into FEDERTEC. A body truly able to offer companies the single voice they deserve as the industry evolves and aims to go even higher than the €40bn it is already worth today. A grouping of resources leading to much more interesting projects and a standing that strengthens the loyalty of those already a member and attracts those yet to join.
On September 12th, the FEDERETC associates will be called to elect the team that will guide the association over the coming years with the concrete hope that – thanks to this epochal transformation – very different results can be achieved from those being predicted not so long ago. Results much more in line, in fact, with the inspiring adverts that are now accompanying the renovation of Linate airport in Milan.