Page 60 - Sustainability Report 2019

CHAPTER 5 | Ratti, adding value to the community and the region
At the same time, Made in Italy fashion exports increasingly to Africa. Over the next few years the increase in sales of our products to South Africa should reach 33%, and even 40% in Nigeria and 52% in Angola. An exchange that moves in more than one direction, and involves creative inspiration that affects the production of raw materials.
Around 40 African countries are, in fact, specialised in the cultivation and manufacturing of cotton, with Kenya and Ethiopia in pole position. However, investment
in partnership with the African continent also has a humanitarian aspect, in that it helps the local population in terms of practical gestures – such as the building of
a health clinic and a well, with 10 litres of drinking water guaranteed to each person per week.
A partnership in innovation
As a strong believer in the talent and ideas of everyone who wishes to “improve reality”, once again Ratti took part as a sponsor of TEDxLakeComo, encouraging interested employees to participate.
TEDxLakeComo, now in its tenth edition, represents an unmissable opportunity for those seeking to challenge themselves and open themselves up to highly stimulating themes in order to rethink the world in which we live. Thirteen/fourteen speakers make presentations on topics that vary, ranging from science to technology to society. The eleventh edition of TEDxLakeComo
was held on Saturday 9 November 2019 in the
splendid Centro Internazionale Congressi (international conference centre) of Villa Erba at Cernobbio. The theme was “US (Sapiens), THE PROGRESS”.
Ratti is also a partner of COM ON, a project launched
in 2008 thanks to the passion of a group of Como entrepreneurs who, with the support of Unindustria Como, gave life to a true “European creativity hub” in order to foster the dissemination of “creative ideas”,
not only by bringing the most talented graduates from the most prestigious design schools to companies in
the business region of Como, but also by promoting
an interaction between various entrepreneurial organisations, universities, training schools, young students and professionals – testimonials and authorities – in a permanent training and fusion laboratory. Every year Ratti hosts talented young interns, giving form to the interaction between entrepreneurial organisations and training schools, in an intersection of creativity, experience and feelings.
As a part of the DIGITAL FOAM experimental development project, financed by the Lombardy Region through the “Smart Fashion and Design” tender (DDUO 3169/2016), Ratti participates as an end user
in a partnership whose leading players are a research centre (Innovhub - Stazione Sperimentale della Seta),
a chemicals company, a textiles machinery company and two end users. The project derives from a need to improve the sustainability of digital printing and seeks to develop, within an existing production line, integrated machinery for the preparation and functionalisation of the fabric substrates of various fibres destined for inkjet printing, thanks to experimentation with innovative technologies that have a lower environmental impact.
The project ended in October 2019 with the completion of a prototype for new machinery. The project may be viewed at: www.digitalfoam.it.
Conceptualised by the working group “Smart Manufacturing” of AFIL, the SMART4CPPS (Smart Solutions for Cyberphysical Production Systems) project is a partnership financed by the Lombardy Region (Call Agreements for research and innovation POR FESR 2014- 2020, Project ID 236789). The players are companies and research organisations (Milan Politecnico, University of Bergamo, University of Brescia).
The project sets out the paradigms that underpin Industria 4.0., according to which ICTs not only support production processes, but are also integrated into components, machines and environments that thus become CPS (Cyber – Physical Systems) that are intercommunicating and intelligent. The development
of this working programme involves industrial research,
Ratti at the
World Manufacturing Forum 2019
Cernobbio, September 2019 – After the success of the previous editions, Ratti chose to be a technical partner of the World Manufacturing Forum which, for the second time, took place in Lombardy.
During the two working days, the international speakers who took to
the stage included leaders from the manufacturing and digital industry, representatives of institutions, policymakers and experts in the sector, mapping out new routes for the transformations and future challenges faced by the world of manufacturing. Ratti chose to be among the speakers because, right from the beginning
of its journey, it has always focused
on concepts such as innovation and quality of work, because it is not always possible to rest on the laurels of results already achieved. Fashion is an industry that is continuously changing, so Ratti needs to be able to read trends and data, interpreting them and being ready to satisfy requests arriving from the
market. To do all this, it is also necessary to pay attention to the smallest details, to encourage the welcoming of new specialisations and talents that can
be amalgamated with the Group’s experience, always seeking to reach perfection. The other factor is quality, not only of the product but also of work: this is an element in which Ratti profoundly believes, because it represents without doubt the basis on which it can build and grow.
The Ratti Group attended the World Manufacturing Forum with the primary aim of contributing to the diffusion of the culture and innovation of Italian manufacturing, in order to trigger significant transformations and to enable the sector to make a leap in quality.
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