1.5 INVESTMENTS

During the year, the Group invested 33.9 million euros in tangible and intangible fixed assets acquired from third parties, net of internal capitalizations and excluding the impact of the IFRS 16 accounting standard.

During fiscal year 2022, two new horizontal machining centers for the cast iron flow and a gear hobbing machining center came on line at the Italian plant in Reggiolo. Also as part of the multi-year plan to renew and upgrade the machine inventory, two additional horizontal machining centers for cast iron flow and a new robot cell for gear processing flow were purchased. The latter is equipped with an anthropomorphic robot and a numerically controlled lubricant-free gear cutting machine, confirming the choice of environmentally friendly technologies for working steel. These latter assets will come into operation in Q2 2023.

Additional Industry 4.0 investments were also made to optimize production processes and logistics flows at the assembly and painting plant. Specifically, a new semiautomatic assembly line equipped with cyber-physical systems went into operation, and new vertical automated warehouses fully interconnected with factory logistics systems were purchased.

With regard to the Italian plant in Monguelfo, two automated machining centers for processing steel components have come into operation.

Also worth mentioning is the green, sustainable investment in the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charging stations. The columns were installed in the last quarter of 2022 in plants in the northern and southern parts of Italy.

During FY 2022, the German plants in Sohland and Lohmar underwent several investments in production. Specifically, the former saw the arrival of an automated machining center for working steel components, the latter the commissioning of a complex robotic cell, and the purchase of two special process plants that will come on line during the next fiscal year.

In 2022 in the Jiaxing plant in China, investments were made involving masonry works and general plant engineering related to the production building. In the manufacturing area, semiautomatic assembly lines for the production of industrial axles and agricultural gearboxes and a new vertical warehouse were also purchased and installed.

A new production plant was built in India during 2022, and therefore investments were made concerning masonry and general plant works related to process industrialization.