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This organisation, which was launched on
4th June of this year, is aimed at streamlining the activity
that the Federation carries on for each production sector
(which feature rather different needs and problems), thus
making this activity more incisive.
Founded in 1948 by a group of cast-iron
foundry entrepreneurs, in 1974 Assofond also took on steel
foundries, in 1998 precision foundries and, in June 2001,
non-ferrous metal foundries.
The enterprises that currently belong to the Association manufacture
over 90% of the national production in the fields of cast-iron,
steel and precision castings and about 50% in the field of
non-ferrous castings.
The low level of representation in terms of foundries of non-ferrous
metals was due to the fact that this sector had decided to
join Assofond, as already stated, just over two years ago.
Assofond Services
The association system, structured as indicated
below,
ASSOFOND - Federazione delle Fonderie (formed by four different
Associations: Assofond - Cast Iron, Assofond - Steel, Assofond
- Precision, Assofond - Non-ferrous Metals).
Società Assofond Servizi srl
Fondercon (consortium for purchasing raw materials)
Assofond Energia (consortium for purchasing power)
provides member enterprises with the services indicated below
summarily for reasons of space:
Commercial assistance
The staff providing the service are familiar
with regulations governing management of models, they are
aware of the contract conditions applied by European Foundries,
their validity, their effectiveness and their correct use
as well as of their commercial customs and terms filed with
the Chambers of Commerce.
They are in a position to evaluate the economic and legal
aspects of customers' purchasing conditions and aware of the
rules that govern manufacturers' liability. They are also
able to give enterprises advice in relation to the use of
standard product liability policies.
Enterprise and market economy, studies
and research
The persons running this service are
aware of the tax provisions of interest for the sector and
the arrangements for low-interest loans, and are in a position
to identify the best opportunities for each single enterprise
for funding investments.
They are aware of public contracts and can help enterprises
to bid for tenders.
They know about procurement problems for materials used in
production and can suggest steps for optimising consumption,
purchase costs and energy-related decisions.
They receive up-do-date information on the cyclical trends
of the sector and inform the enterprises regularly, proposing
action when demanded by the situation.
They acquire and manage data relating to the sector on production,
imports and exports, and on domestic, European and world-wide
production-factor costs.
This information can be placed at the disposal of the enterprises
for studies and market research purposes.
They co-operate with Ministries, Confindustria (the Italian
Manufacturers' Association) and the organisations responsible
for defending the sector.
They monitor progress of the main components of production
factors and develop indexes of the evolution of the production
costs for the various categories of castings.
Promotional Activity
The staff are in charge of participation
by the Association and its Member Foundries in fairs and shows
abroad, selected each year by the Foundries.
If required, they can organise trips to Italy for potential
foreign customers and work together with the ICE (Italian
Foreign Trade Institute) offices for the areas of greatest
interest for the activity of the sector.
Process, Product, Environment
The staff are familiar with regulations
concerning manufacturers' liability, general technical regulations,
technical product regulations, quality regulations and certification
regulations.
As far as concerns environmental protection, the service is
structured for providing enterprises with assistance for procedures
concerning air pollution, the discharge of water, waste disposal
and re-cycling, problems relating to noise pollution, cleaning
up of polluted sites, risks of serious accidents and integrated
pollution prevention and control (IPPC Directive).
They maintain contacts with ANPA (the Italian National Agency
for Environmental Protection) and ARPA (the Regional Agency
for Prevention and Environment).
As far as concerns health and safety at the workplace, they
are aware of the relevant regulations as well as of those
concerning accident and fire prevention. They manage relations
with the control and prevention bodies.
Training Activity
The staff can provide enterprises with assistance
for defining in-house training plans. They propose and co-operate
in the development of the Association's own training plan
with periodic and systematic surveys of the Enterprises' training
requirements.
They take care of organising training activities, relations
with the teaching staff and applications for funding and,
in the case of training activities for which funding is available,
manage reimbursements to the enterprises.
At the moment, fifteen courses are held.
International Activity
The personnel in charge manage, each in
his own field of responsibility, the activity of Assofond
in the 10 working groups of the Committee of European Foundry
Associations (CAEF) and co-ordinate Assofond's contribution
in relation to problems of interest for the sector.
The "Industria Fusoria" Magazine
The staff in charge are able to evaluate
the level of interest of articles or news items. They draft
and propose the editorial plan of the magazine, take care
of publication of the articles, collect and process news concerning
events of interest and keep up contacts with authors, with
the printers and with the advertising agents.
Information system
Within the Netfond column, the system is
organised in the form of centralised records for use by Member
Foundries. The information is classed under the following
topics: News, Circulars, Economic, Environment and Safety,
Organisation, Jobs, Professional Training, Standardization,
Services provided by Società Assofond Servizi (S.A.S.).
There is a specific "Library" column containing
a vast review of reference material published in the most
important trade publications and in technical literature.
Services for Enterprises
Società Assofond Servizi is structured
for providing Member Foundries with a range of services in
the fields of environment, health and safety and of development
of quality management systems.
Legal Assistance
The legal department is familiar with the specific problems
of the sector and is capable of assisting members with regard
to issues of general and specific interest. A legal consultant
is present at the Association's premises two days a week.
Purchasing Consortium
Two consortiums are operational in the framework
of the association: Fondercon, a consortium for purchasing
raw materials, and Assofond Energia, a consortium for purchasing
power, methane and other consortium activities.
Technical Assistance
The agreement with ISML (Istituto Sperimentale
Metalli Leggeri) enables non-ferrous metal foundries belonging
to the Association to resort to the advice of the Institute
for tackling technical problems rapidly and for obtaining
technical documentation available from the structures of the
Institute.
Ferrous-metal foundries are assisted by the Centro Studi Fonderia.
Assistance for Accident-prevention Issues
The person in charge of this service is able to analyse insurance
relations with INAIL and to define possible corrective action.
Secretaries of the Associations
They are familiar with the technology
and problems of the sector. They carry on the activities defined
by the Chairman and by the Foundries belonging to the Association,
they receive information on the needs of the enterprises,
processing and investigating them and proposing suitable solutions.
They participate at national and international level in activities
of interest for the sector and within the Federation in common
activities.
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