Digital sovereignty, artificial intelligence, and the future of Italian manufacturing. We speak with Andrea Picozzi, Global Engineering Director at Campari Group, a manager with an international vision on the management of production plants and supply chain.
[The original interview was conducted in Italian. You can read the original version here]
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Melodie Bertoli: I’d start with a general question connected to your role as Global Engineering Director at Campari Group. You deal with production plants and a supply chain spanning multiple countries internationally. From your perspective, how real — and how underestimated (or overestimated) — is the risk of technological dependence on non-European vendors in operations management?
Andrea Picozzi: In my view, it is widely underestimated. Large companies like Campari manage these concerns through tools such as Business Continuity Plans, but the fabric of Italian SMEs underestimates this aspect, as they do with cybersecurity issues — where Italy statistically suffers a very high number of attacks with negative outcomes.
Starting from this data, talking about digital sovereignty is yet another leap.
After the Brescia meeting*, I brought the topic to my global Manufacturing Engineering team and found both surprise and concern. We asked ourselves what would happen if the American administration were to compel US big tech companies to restrict access to overseas data centers. Part of our infrastructure is on-premise and would continue to operate, but other parts, running entirely on the cloud, would create critical issues. If we consider that even a medium-to-large company like ours has a degree of underestimation, we must acknowledge that the bulk of Italian industry largely ignores the issue entirely.
(*reference to the MIPU event “Inside The Factory”, ed.)
MB: It’s interesting that even large companies feel the need to explore this topic more deeply, but for SMEs it is an even more pressing problem. Linking back to the comparison between Europe and Big Tech (from both the far West and far East), is it realistically possible to reduce dependence on these large foreign platforms in today’s manufacturing sector?
AP: It is realistic, but it’s a matter of time and capital.
We must consider that players like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon together have an economic weight equivalent to 50 states. Having the investment capacity to achieve independence quickly is difficult given current European priorities, but geopolitical problems are accelerating these decisions.
There are, in fact, accelerated plans at the European level for independence in data centers, energy, and possibly AI engines as well. There are European players who could enter this game. We also have realities like Anthropic that could lead to a new model, though we don’t know how truly independent they are from American institutions.
MB: On Anthropic, it is said they have denied the American government the use of their systems for military purposes, but total independence from material suppliers seems difficult.
AP:
True, but since they were founded by people of European origin who have reached the highest levels, they are challenging certain dogmas — such as absolute compliance when you are a Pentagon supplier. A certain cultural fertility is taking root.
MB: Talking about AI applied to industry — predictive maintenance, quality control — what is the common gap between companies’ ambitions and what is actually put into production?
AP: The biggest gap is competence. I still see both total skepticism and blind reliance without any critical capacity.
There is an adaptation curve: a fast start, then a slowdown when people realize not everything that glitters is gold — due to hallucinations and false positives. Some get burned and give up; others understand that a critical approach is needed, weighing and verifying results.
The lack of competence is also reflected in the inability to distinguish that not all AIs are equal — not all have the same level of quality for the same task. Using a generic tool for everything is a choice driven by not knowing that the underlying algorithms are developed for different purposes.
MB: Absolutely — AI is a tool that needs to be studied and applied in context with competence and awareness. We see this every day in the companies we work with, both in consulting and training.
AP: Surprisingly, “digital natives” are more discerning — they know when to trust and when not to — while my generation sometimes tends to accept any result uncritically. It really is a matter of culture and sensitivity in the relationship with technology.
MB: Regarding new technologies, do those working in production and those in IT manage to communicate effectively, or is there still work to be done?
AP: In my experience, the distance between IT and manufacturing is still large — it’s a matter of different cultures. We often witness a “dialogue of the deaf”: IT proposes solutions while looking for a problem to solve, without understanding the real problem as explained by operators. On the other side, so-called “production” is looking for magic wands to solve whatever difficulty they’re facing.
What’s needed is the construction of a bridge: dedicated functions are required, people who understand IT jargon but also grasp the practical needs of the factory floor.
Se ci sono tre soggetti – l’utilizzatore, il ponte e il propositore IT – allora la cosa funziona. Il dualismo semplice non l’ho visto funzionare.
MB: Looking ahead to 2026, what are the biggest challenges for your function?
AP: Campari went through a phase of explosive production capacity growth from Covid to today, investing nearly one billion euros over four years to double or triple output. That phase of rapid expansion is now over. The current challenge is making those investments as efficient as possible.
We need to move from installation to optimization, productivity, and waste reduction. This is the moment for Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence.
Anche i project manager del mio team devono trasformarsi: non più esperti di installazione, ma di ottimizzazione. In questa trasformazione, le tecnologie digitali e i dati diventano fondamentali per capire i trend e migliorare le performance.
MB: Sarà uno switch interessante passare dall’aumento di capacità produttiva all’aumento di efficienza su un panorama così variegato di impianti e di prodotti. Abbiamo parlato di dipendenza tecnologica, di gap di competenza, di ponti da costruire tra IT e fabbrica. Tutti problemi che esistono da anni, ma che oggi richiedono attenzione con sempre più urgenza.
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The words of Andrea Picozzi paint an honest and nuanced picture: an industry that has invested boldly in recent years, but that is now called to a more subtle challenge — one of efficiency, digital culture, and strategic awareness.
Technological self-determination is a concrete issue that reaches the factory floor. And artificial intelligence is not a magic wand, but a tool that requires critical competence to be truly useful.
At a moment when Europe is searching for its own course, voices from industry — such as that of Andrea Picozzi and a brand that is both Italian and global like Campari — help us understand where to begin.
