pianoro, bologna in a rather unstable economic context, that of 2014, the results of the marchesini group went totally against the flow and especially against the trends of the manufacturing market. the consolidated turnover of the group including its foreign branches, which manufactures packaging plants for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, rose from 222 million in 2013 to 247 million, hence an 11 increase.the growth in turnover recorded during a year that was not exactly a flourishing one for the italian economy whose gdp was still showing a negative figure of 0,4, is also due to the trend of the italian pharmaceutical market still awaiting the official figures of 2014, those published by italy&rsquos office for national statistics and the bank of italy have highlighted that pharmaceutical enterprises are in the top position of italian manufacturing in terms of competitiveness, productivity, r&s intensity and exports. in 2013, italian exports grew by 14 and by 64 over the last five years as opposed to the 7 of the manufacturing average and the 29 of the pharmaceutical average within the european union.the group&rsquos growth in turnover matches its excellent performance in gathering orders, with a rise to 217 million compared with the 189 million of two years ago 15. the rise in the number of customer orders is thanks above all to the increased demand for aseptic packaging machinery for anticancer drugs, which is one of the fastest growing sectors of recent years 900 million was the turnover of 2011, 1.5 billion is that expected for 2018 according to survey carried out by marketsandmarkets, thanks to contracts received especially from russia, eastern countries and china.in this specific sector requiring ongoing investments in r&s, the marchesini group boasts its partner corima, the branch in tuscany specialising in the design and construction of automatic packaging machines for aseptic pharmaceuticals used especially to treat cancer. last october, the aseptic live show held in monteriggioni siena offered an opportunity to show experts how corima actually works and it was announced that the factory is about to be extended even further the present 6 thousand square meters will be extended to 10 thousand following an investment of 3.5 million euro and this will provide workplaces for another 50 employees in addition to the 100 people presently working there.2014 was a fruitful year also for neri, the branch in barberino del mugello fiorence specialising in the production of machinery that applies selfadhesive labels and of pharmaceutical traceability systems. the performance of neri was confirmed to be very satisfactory and will lead to an increase in employment opportunities.in the meantime, building work continues in carpi where the group&rsquos production division of machines for blister packaging and deepdraw thermoforming is located. this project will create the biggest thermoforming centre in italy, covering 12 thousand square meters thanks to an investment worth 15 million euro.the ceo of the marchesini group and chairman of the italian industrial federation of emiliaromagna, maurizio marchesini commented «we are delighted with these results because our expectations of growth for 2014 were exact and also because the future looks thriving. a business leader could be halted by fear in a critical historical time, as is the present one, but the best way out is toexplore new markets and to invest in people, in their personal and professional growth. these are the challenges we want to be ready for».
