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Italian Association of the Automotive Industry Supply Chain  

We chose to join ANFIA for one clear reason: to connect with those who, like us, work every day to improve industrial processes. The automotive supply chain is one of the most demanding sectors in terms of quality, safety, and sustainability. These are precisely the three areas where our products deliver their full potential: from paint strippers to stripping systems, from masking to surface conversion treatments. Being part of ANFIA allows us to contribute our experience within a structured, dynamic, and innovation-driven network, a space where data, expertise, and long-term vision are shared. But above all, it’s a concrete way to engage with those who use our solutions, understand emerging needs, and anticipate changes in the industry.  

And who better than ANFIA to talk about the evolution, value, and real challenges of the Italian automotive supply chain? Let’s hear it from them. 

ANFIA: CREATING VALUE FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE AND THE MOBILITY WORLD 

Founded in Turin in 1912, ANFIA, the Italian Association of the Automotive Industry, for over 110 years has aimed to represent and offer services to the sector companies in order to support and strengthen their competitiveness, their growth on foreign markets and their integration in mobility systems, through: 

– Relations with national and international institutions: creation, development and consolidation of relations with key decision and opinion makers, representing and protecting the interests of the automotive supply chain in dealing with institutions and actively contributing to the public decision-making process on industry regulations 

– Networking activities, participation to technical-regulatory committees, sector studies and analysis, consultancy and training 

The topical issues, toward which the supply chain represented by ANFIA directs the greatest attention and on which ANFIA actively intervenes, concern the macro areas of mobility, safety, environment, energy, research and internationalization. 

THE ASSOCIATION STRUCTURE 

ANFIA, which now has more than 520 member companies, is structured in three product-based Groups, each one chaired by a President: 

· Components: motor vehicle parts and components manufacturers; 

· Car Design and Engineering: companies working in the sector of design, engineering and style of motor vehicles and/or parts and components for the automotive sector; 

· Motor vehicles: motor vehicles manufacturers in general, including trucks, trailers, camper vans, special means of transport. 

Within the Components Group is the Aftermarket Section, which encompasses all association activities related to the world of automotive spare parts and includes 80 companies that share the values of product quality and safety, technological advancement and consumer service, and, transversally to the 3 Groups, the Motorsport Section, which brings together some of the main entities operating in the sector and is dedicated to participation in trade fairs, collection and sharing of statistical data, and examination of technical regulations. 

THE NUMBERS OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN REPRESENTED BY ANFIA 

The automotive manufacturing supply chain represented by ANFIA in Italy has 5,451 companies and 273,000 employees (direct and indirect). The total turnover is about 113.3 billion euros, equivalent to 9 percent of manufacturing turnover in Italy and 5.8 percent of Italian GDP (ANFIA elaborations on Istat data). It is the industrial sector with the highest value-added multiplier and makes an annual contribution to the Treasury of more than 70 billion euros in tax revenue (motor vehicle tax burden). Adding the automotive-related services sector to the production 

chain, as a whole, the universe considered has 1.02 million direct and indirect workers employed, for a total turnover of 380.1 billion euros, about 19.5 percent of Italian GDP. 

STUDIES AND STATISTICS AREA 

The ANFIA Studies and Statistics Area prepares outlooks and updated statistics on the dynamics of the Italian and international automotive production chain. 

L’area studi e statistiche di ANFIA offre un’ampia panoramica di elaborazioni statistiche per informarsi e tenersi aggiornati sulle dinamiche della filiera automotive italiana e internazionale. Available tools include: 

– Statistical portals: a consultation and data processing service useful for learning about different markets and their main characteristics, with a user-friendly and interactive interface, thanks to the Microsoft Power BI Business Intelligence platform. ANFIA processes new registrations and respective homologations of passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses and towed vehicles. For trucks and towed vehicles over 3.5 tons, an up-to-date snapshot of the fleet is also available. 

– Automobile in Figures: is ANFIA’s statistical yearbook, a valuable wealth of data, clearly describing the Italian and international automotive supply chain, with several tables on key issues in the sector (transport modes, fuel prices, road accidents, etc.). The yearbook is built from data collected over decades by the Association and allows all stakeholders to access information on registrations and vehicles on the road regarding the passenger car and light and heavy commercial vehicle segments, in Italy and worldwide. 

ANFIA SERVICE: TRAINING AND CONSULTING SERVICES 

ANFIA Service was established in 1996 as a Service Company of ANFIA and operates in several areas of activity, the main ones being training, auditing, conferences and technical publications in the areas of Quality, Environment, Safety and Ethics. In the perspective of an economic scenario that imposes strategies aimed at increasing the level of competitiveness of companies and facing difficulties and changes in a timely manner, the incessant updating of personnel skills, which can only be achieved with the support of continuous, qualified and effective training, remains one of the winning elements to achieve these objectives, aimed at innovation and progress. 

Sometimes you just need to pause, breathe, and recharge. We’ll be taking a break from August 11 to 24. Back on Monday the 25th, full of new energy and ready to start fresh together.

Enjoy your holidays, wherever they take you!

Once again, this year, we’re proud to support Verona Volley as an official sponsor. 
But our commitment goes far beyond a logo on a jersey; it’s a choice rooted in shared values and a deep connection to our territory. 

Verona is the city where we were born, where we grew up, and where we continue to build our future, day after day. 
Supporting the city’s top volleyball team also means giving back to a community that has given us so much. It means believing in a project that combines sports passion with real, tangible growth, on and off the court. 

Like business, volleyball thrives on consistency, teamwork, and the drive to improve. 
That’s why this partnership feels so natural to us: because we see in sport the same values that inspire our work every single day. 

And then there’s the most exciting part: sharing the thrill of each match with the people who believe in us. 
Every season, we reserve seats in the stands for our clients and partners, to enjoy, together, the energy of a stadium that comes alive at every point. 

In 2024, internalizing paint stripping becomes viable. But, how to choose the right technology, and what are the benefits? This article explores these questions through a case study.

For many companies involved in painting operations, having an in-house chemical paint stripping system can be essential. It can be used to reclaim defective parts and to strip hooks and frames used for hanging the components. In both cases, the ability to perform these operations internally provides significant advantages. For instance, the in-house paint-stripping of parts with surface defects is quicker, allowing for prompt reprocessing and avoiding delivery delays. Similarly, the in-house chemical paint-stripping of hooks instead of relying on external contractors, brings about clear benefits. The turnover of hooks becomes more regular and consistent, resulting in a better paint quality, and avoids the typical damages associated with thermal or mechanical stripping.

ALIT TECHNOLOGIES SpA, a leading provider of chemical paint stripping products and systems for metals, has introduced the comprehensive FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK system to meet the growing demand for internal paint stripping. The system includes a chemical stripping tank from the T5 series and a set of modular accessories tailored to the customer’s specific needs. With FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK, parts to be stripped can be loaded into specially designed baskets, lifted with the overhead crane, and effortlessly transferred to the FASTRIP T5 stripping tank. The stripped material is then moved to the rinse tank, where, if necessary, a final spray rinse can be performed using the ALIT mobile pump.

At this point, the basket containing the stripped and rinsed material is transferred, again with the overhead crane, to the loading and unloading tank, where any final dripping is collected. For a complete and detailed description of the FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK system, please refer to issue 3 of the ALIT ACADEMY Magazine. In this article, we present a new case study featuring a major client which has been stripping in-house frames for approximately 9 months (since April 2023) using the FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK system in conjunction with ALIT Technologies’ chemical products. The company has transitioned from an outsourced pyrolytic stripping process to an internal chemical stripping process, with the external process now limited to rare oversized hooks.

We asked Claudio Puppi, ALIT’s sales technician, to introduce the company involved in our case study.

Figure 1: Sabiana SpA, manufacturer of environmental conditioning devices

“Sabiana SpA (fig. 1) (www.sabiana.it) is an Italian company that conceives, designs, and manufactures devices for environmental conditioning of workplaces and living spaces. It builds equipment and systems for heating and cooling various spaces such as factories, offices, hotels, hospitals, shopping centers, and houses, all based on the most natural element: water. Sabiana’s product range includes air heaters, radiant panels, fan coils, air handling units, recovery units, electronic filters, evaporative coolers, and radiant systems. Established in 1929, Sabiana has grown in terms of business, article quality, and global presence. In 2014, Sabiana became part of AFG (Arbonia-Forster Holding AG), now Arbonia AG, an international technological leader in construction materials. Sabiana SpA has an in-house powder coating facility for applying epoxy-polyester coatings. This coating line produces a significant quantity of coating hooks that need regular stripping. In the past, Sabiana Spa used to rely on an external stripping service for this activity, with hooks collected in special boxes and regularly sent to the external provider.

Claudio Puppi continues saying that ALIT was contacted by the client which was interested in an alternative to pyrolysis. Tests on Sabiana Spa’s hooks were conducted in ALIT’s laboratories, revealing that stripping them with METALSTRIP 2011 at 80°C was feasible. Consequently, ALIT proposed the initial design of the FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK stripping system. This technical proposal was later refined to fit the client’s space, the geometries of the overhead crane, basket, and lifting system, with valuable input from Engineer Vincenzo Denti, Sabiana’s director, who prepared the work area. In April 2023, the FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK system was installed, and the client began internally performing regular chemical stripping of hooks. The management of this process was entrusted to Dr. Marco Colombo, a chemist at Sabiana SpA.

We asked Claudio Puppi for details on the process, and he specified that Sabiana SpA strips about 3 baskets of hooks per week, with variable cycle times ranging from a minimum of about 2 hours to a maximum of about 7 hours for hooks with very thick paint layers (fig. 2). The product used is METALSTRIP 2011 by ALIT TECHNOLOGIES Spa, maintained at a temperature of 80°C.

Figure 2: Sabiana hooks painted with very thick paint layers

After the stripping tank, the basket is transferred from the overhead crane to the rinse tank, where first immersion and then spray rinsing are performed using the ALIT mobile pump or a small pressure washer connected to the same rinse tank (fig. 3).

Figure 3: Spray rinsing of stripped hooks in the client’s facility

This minimizes water consumption, estimated at about 3000 litres per year. Despite stripping about 5000 kg of hooks annually, the consumption of stripping agent is low, approximately 1500 kg per year.” Claudio Puppi continues stating that these numbers have fully satisfied the client, who can now internally carry out stripping operations without:

• Managing the logistics of shipping and receiving hooks to the external stripping service, as was done previously.

• Worrying about the risk of thermal embrittlement of hooks, which was inherent in the previous pyrolytic process.

Following the introduction of FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK, the client has experienced the following benefits:

• Improved stripping quality.

• Fewer coating defects on final products.

• Hooks no longer damaged by the thermal stress generated by the pyrolytic process.

• Certification of hooks and their load-bearing capacity no longer deteriorates, as it did with the previous pyrolytic technology.

• Overall savings in the stripping process in terms of time and money.

Paint stripping product	Metalstrip 2011
Activator	Aktivator 2550
Temperature	75-80 °C
Treated parts	Epoxy-polyester powder coated hooks
Average basket load	approx. 40 kg of frames/basket
Average paint stripping time	7 hours
No. basket/week	2-3
Estimated total annual paint stripper consumption	Approx. 1500 kg of product/year
Amount of waste water/year	Approx. 3000 kg of water/year

Claudio Puppi emphasizes that this case study is another confirmation of the effectiveness of the FASTRIP T5 MULTITANK system and ALIT’s approach to the customer. When faced with an initial technical request, we conduct laboratory tests and work together with the client to design the best customized system solution (fig. 4). Precise, fast assembly is then carried out as ergonomically as possible, concluding with regular supplies of ALIT chemical products and a consistent service for analysing the stripping baths. Following this approach precisely, ALIT has achieved customer satisfaction with Sabiana SpA and is now ready for the next case study.

Figure 5: Complete FASTRIP T5 MULTI TANK System installed at Sabiana SpA