PMI 4.0: between human factors and exports, the transformation of the Tricolor company
The human factor makes the difference. Even today, in the face of the technological revolution, it is the skills that workers have and that some think should be monitored at a local level, that are the heart of the company. This is the irrefutable fact that emerges from a study by the Polytechnic University of Milan, according to which mere investment in technology is not enough to switch to an intelligent factory. A plan for retraining human resources is also needed.
However, Italian companies, especially SMEs, are a long way from this new organizational development model and cannot adapt to the need to start the 4.0 revolution from the bottom up, involving those who will need to upgrade their skills in the light of new tasks. Instead, in the majority of cases, they impose it top down, implementing design solutions without sharing them first.
Only 6.8% of HR managers are involved in the management of automation projects and the number remains almost unchanged in the case of technicians and department operators (7.8%), the driving force of the evolution towards 4.0. Italian SMEs are still tied to old organizational models and are not adapting their structure to the needs imposed by the New that is steadily advancing.
While SMEs have to face this new crucial challenge in terms of retraining human resources and adapting their organizational model, at the same time they can seize all the opportunities that Made in Italy offers when it comes to exports. The eastern frontier – with a Russia that is no longer aiming to connect only on the basis of the dichotomy “Russian raw materials versus a developed Italian production system” in its relationship with Italy – is becoming an interesting market.
On the transport front in particular, a 17,000 km stretch of railway will soon be built out of a total of 95,000 km. Not to mention the new highway that will go as far as the border with Belarus and Kazakhstan. An interesting development prospect for an Italian company, which is conditioned though by the removal of European and American duties against the Soviet country and the corresponding abatement of the Russian counterdaziums/countervailing duties of 2014.
In terms of export-related development, it is also important to highlight the enormous potential of the Near East. This cannot be ignored by Made in Italy SMEs, given that they are increasingly in control of the products that the Middle East market seemingly cannot do without. Not even when they come with duties and heavy taxes.
