Award presented in the ‘Emilia Romagna Regional Export Champions’ category. The internationalization begun way back in the 1960s now sees SACMI generate 85% of revenues abroad, yet the Group’s technological and production roots remain firmly planted in Italy.
Imola, 5th November 2026. SACMI has been named an ‘Export Champion 2026’ by Forbes Italia and SACE (the Italian Export Credit Agency owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance); these awards recognize companies that leverage their internationalization to drive growth, innovation and competitiveness. The Imola-based Group won in the ‘Emilia-Romagna Regional Export Champions’ category, which acknowledges businesses that have successfully established themselves on international markets while maintaining strong ties to their home region.
The award was presented at the inaugural edition of ‘Export Champions 2026’ during a live broadcast from the Sky studios. Organized by SACE and Forbes Italia, this initiative honored 58 Italian companies across six categories, alongside three special Deal of the Year awards in recognition of major export transactions.
For SACMI - founded in Imola in 1919 - this award celebrates an international development journey begun more than sixty years ago. Indeed, by 1963 exports already accounted for more than half the company’s revenues. The 1960s also saw the company open its first foreign branches in Spain and Brazil, laying the foundations for an international network that has since expanded across all five continents.
From its earliest technologies for the ceramics and packaging industries to today’s cutting-edge solutions for automation, digitalization and industrial process sustainability, SACMI has steadily expanded into new markets and industries, strengthening its technological leadership and role as an international standard-setter in its core businesses.
Today, SACMI is a global industrial group. It has over 70 production, distribution and service companies in 25 countries; 85% of revenues are generated abroad. This international success stems from the company’s ability to provide close customer support on all the world’s major markets. What’s more, our internationalization model has kept the Group’s technological and production core firmly in Italy, where the majority of its manufacturing operations, research and development facilities, and strategic governance functions are concentrated.
“This award honors a crucial part of our history and our identity”, points out Paolo Mongardi, President of SACMI. “We began working beyond Italy over sixty years ago, growing in parallel with Italy’s ceramics and packaging sectors. Since then, we’ve gone truly global by investing in the facilities, services and expertise needed to keep us ever-closer to our customers. The strength of our model is its capacity to grow globally yet retain the core of our technological and industrial expertise in Italy: all while continuing to invest in innovation and tap into the excellence that permeates our home region.”