A simple ceremony, a meeting opportunity, a recognition for companies that, in recent years, have been keen on innovation, despite the difficult period. Innovation not only for specific products or technical solutions, but more generally, for courage, determination and entrepreneurial spirit.

Briefly stated, this is the meaning of the awards assigned today, Wednesday, May 14, at the end of the second day of Xylexpo, the biennial exhibition of technology and supplies for the wood and furniture industry.

The awards, assigned by registered media representatives to exhibiting companies, included two categories. First, “Innovation”, i.e. the capacity to innovate products, with special reference to green economy and impact on the production processes of customers. Second, “Communication”, i.e. the commitment to communicate a way of “being an enterprise”, which can include online and offline activities, specific focus on social media, highly effective advertising campaigns, attention and consistent approach to media representatives.

Each journalist could indicate up to three nominees in each category, with secret vote, optionally adding a short explanation for his/her choice.

All Xylexpo exhibitors were eligible candidates, but a few of them were proactive in informing journalists in their database about their participation in the contest. Their action was supplemented by a dedicated section on www.xylexpo.com, where they could publish materials and documents to promote their entries.

Obviously, the level of activity by companies had an impact on final results.

Last May 6, a committee scrutinized the voting cards and counted all votes, informing the winning companies and inviting them to the ceremony on May 14, without revealing their exact ranking or the category where they had been voted.

As a result, suspense was tangible on Wednesday evening, when Acimall President Lorenzo Primultini, Eumabois President Ambrogio Delachi and Acimall Director Dario Corbetta opened the envelopes and gave the plaques to the award winners.

THE WINNERS

Here are the names of winners, at last.

In the “Innovation” category, the first prize went to Homag Group (8 votes), followed by Biesse Group (7 votes) and Cefla Group (6 votes). The top-three companies fought for the first place until the very last vote, ending up with minimum gaps.

Other votes went to Ima and Salvador (three), Greda, Wde Maspell and Weinig (two); Baumer, Buerkle, Cehisa, Cmc Texpan, Essetre, Finiture, Hans Weber, Holz-Her, Hsd, Instalmec, Lamello, Leitz, Siempelkamp, Superfici-Elmag, Uniteam and Vitap (one).

In the “Communication” category, the first place was conquered by Salvador with as many as 17 votes, followed by Homag Group (10) and Biesse Group at number three (9).

Three nominations each for Cefla Group and Weinig, and one for Angelo Cremona, Cursal, Felder, Finiture, Ima, Leitz, Ormamacchine and Storti.

Summing up, four companies took six awards available, with two of them (Homag Group and Biesse Group) achieving one of the top-three positions in both rankings.

In the “Innovation” category, 24 companies obtained at least one nomination, including 13 Italian and 11 international exhibitors. The situation is completely different in the “Communication” category, with “only” 13 companies, 8 of which are Italian and 5 from abroad.

While in the "Innovation" category the gap between the top scorers and the other nominees is very narrow, in "Communication" the distance that separates the top-three from the platoon is much wider.

REASONS

The following are the reasons given at the awarding ceremony, basically a summary of the reasons expressed by voting journalists.

“INNOVATION” CATEGORY

Homag Group, first place

For their capacity to innovate both big “batch one” lines and “standalone” machines, for the implementation of revolutionary technology (such as laser edgebanding), while ensuring utmost user friendliness and great attention to “green economy” topics.

Biesse Group, second place

For their constant commitment to working center innovation, characterized by some significant steps, such as the invention of “multicenter” for window production, or more recently, the “AirForce” hot-air edgebanding method.

Cefla Finishing, third place

A route that has led Cefla Finishing Group to the top of the global painting and finishing industry, proving excellent capacity to apply innovation in digital printing processes and "poor" surface finishing, with the "Inert coating” and “Fusion coating” technology.

“COMMUNICATION” CATEGORY

Salvador, first place

For their instinctive capacity to leverage all communication tools with an emotional, personal, involving and direct approach; such capacity is not limited to advertising campaigns, but supports all business initiatives, whereby the company always pays great attention to its counterparts.

Homag Group, second place

Powerful, accurate, clear and exhaustive communication, deployed across all channels, with growing attention to the web and visual tools, supported by in-house events and major exhibitions around the world, offering significant meeting opportunities with operators, customers, resellers, communication people.

Biesse Group, third place

Among Italian companies, Biesse Group has always been standing out for their strong focus on all types of communications: from the organization of “Biesse Inside”, which has become a reference for any open-house event, to the creation of a strong, distinctive, never banal corporate image.

VOTERS

Votes were given by 25 journalists, only 5 from Italy. This is a good result if you consider that Xia-Xylexpo Innovation Awards were launched this year and there are no more than one hundred journalists all around the world that we can consider “close” to the wood industry. It's a new formula that probably did not find companies and media ready to test it; however, the result has already offered useful hints to organizers for the 2016 edition.

Each voter could give up to three nominations, but this opportunity was not taken by everyone. Many journalists actually nominated a smaller number of companies or voted only for one category.

Source: Xylexpo