FACE TO FACE
The Ficep Academy has six training rooms and two conference rooms. The Ficep KRONOS for thermal cutting and drilling of plates. that you do not need to buy the material twice. Then it is only the machinery functionality that you need to consider. If European manufacturers can do that, there will be new opportunities and new customised applications for them,” he continued.
He underlined to ISMR that manufacturers should aim to design products to be easily commissionable and‘ uninstallable’ when, for example, the leasing period is finished.
“ Customers are increasingly asking for‘ quick’ products when they need them so, the concept of Pay Per Use will apply for assets that can be installed, for example, in one week. Institutions that previously leased equipment are now gearing up for these types of services so machinery and equipment manufacturers will only be able to support these types of requests if they make products that can be easily installed, uninstalled, retrofitted or repaired to be used another time,” Colombo explained.
The ramifications of this design philosophy are huge. At the Schweissen and Schneiden trade show in Essen this September, Colombo highlighted a group of companies that were promoting this concept and the new products
The XBLADE for beam and pipe processing. that will have to be designed accordingly. He believes that this design approach can generate a lot of opportunities but may be an emotional‘ wrench’ for some manufacturers“ as it does not create stability in the industry.”
“ In my view, this is the only way to survive. If you put this practice together with AI, there could be tremendous opportunities but the challenges are huge and are coming at a massive pace that I have never seen before ….” he added.
AI in focus
“ AI, whether you use it personally or for business, has incredible power to reduce non-added value operations. However, real AI is currently in the hands of the few( Open AI, Mistral, Deep Seek in China, Gemini for Google etc.). China and the USA are pulling ahead while Europe is behind in AI investment, although I hope it will catch up. Agentic AI is becoming more important; it does not oblige you to use just one AI( you can use more than one AI platform). However, it is very important to define a solution or architecture that does not lock you into one of the big suppliers or AI subscription fees will climb dramatically, locking out some industries. More open-source solutions are coming out, so democratisation of AI will happen but, for the moment, you can only work with a few platforms and risk being locked in,” highlighted Christian Colombo.
“ I recommend that manufacturers spend more money doing a proper AI assessment on how to avoid being locked in with one platform / supplier. They then need to determine their investment priorities i. e. customer experience; service; sales; scheduling production / suppliers; product design; troubleshooting; predictive maintenance etc. Create a serious roadmap that does not lock you in with any one supplier,” he counselled.
Looking ahead
Despite current geopolitical tensions, Christian Colombo sees opportunities in specific industry sectors and regions over the coming years.
“ Next year, I believe that the U. S. market will suffer a considerable amount of imported inflation( despite modernisation efforts) so a new trade-off between controlling inflation and government spending will have to be managed carefully,” Colombo told ISMR.
“ In 2027, Europe could see incredible opportunities if investment levels are financed by Eurobonds( low interest rates) and the trend for countries to be defence-ready continues. The defence and aerospace markets are economic drivers with the highest multipliers. With European ideas on sustainability, AI and modularity, there should be incredible momentum for the future in Europe. The Italian market is booming; interest rates are coming down. Big projects are in the pipeline,” he continued.
“ Europe must take the right steps and profit from these opportunities,” concluded Christian Colombo. n
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