Flexible converting solutions Comexi

FLEXIBLE CONVERTING SOLUTIONS

As a leading global supplier of converting solutions to the flexible packaging industry, the family-owned Spanish company Comexi is on a constant quest for excellence. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to Business managing director Albert Negre to find out more.

Located in Girona in northern Spain, flexible packaging machinery supplier Comexi is a 100 per cent family-owned business with a successful history that reaches back more than 50 years. This status gives Comexi, and its holding company Comexi Group, the unique position it enjoys in the market.

Business managing director Albert Negre is clear about how this translates on a dayto-day basis: “We have long been focused on providing solutions for our customers and our company history gives us a solid foundation from which we continue to grow. As a family company we can be nimble, flexible and totally reliable in providing answers to our customers’ requests.”

With its broad range of machine manufacturing capabilities for the flexible packaging industry, Comexi’s core business is flexographic presses, with laminators and slitters also available for its predominately flexographic converter customers. Mr Negre continued, “Our business is to sell confidence to our customers, so we are not simply a supplier, but rather a flexible packaging partner as we help them to earn money by using our equipment. Consequently, it is imperative that we provide excellent advice on what Comexi machinery to use, how to use it and how to maximise the machinery’s potential. By meeting these demands, we will continue to grow and achieve in line with our core values.” Focus on family

The core values of Comexi certainly reflect its family-owned status, with a clear focus on maintaining mutually-beneficial customer relationships. With reliability, simplicity, high technology, fidelity and leadership in converting all playing an important role in Comexi’s daily activities, it seems as though that ‘selling confidence’ promise is justified. Furthermore, these values have allowed Comexi to grow with its most valued customers as it follows them to new markets in order to maintain their flexographic machinery requirements as they expand.

As a machinery supplier, Comexi has built up its reputation as a trusted partner and continues to develop its strategy as a

global supplier, so this strategy of following the customer has long proved successful. Mr Negre said, “The global recession did see our market freeze for a while as most customers decided not to invest in new equipment. We noticed that customers reduced stocks and filled their production capacities with their existing equipment. However, since the second half of 2009, confidence has returned and access to funding is more available, therefore we are finding that movement across the flexible packaging industry is increasing too. We see this translating to greater requirements across our client base, both in new and existing markets, and as always we are ready to provide solutions to our converting clients worldwide.”

New and improved

In order to maintain this answer-driven position, Comexi invests a great deal in product innovation, around three per cent of its annual revenue, and employs a strong team of engineers and developers. Being at the technical forefront of the flexible packaging machinery industry is also part of the company’s strategy, so investment in new technology is a must. One recent product development that is already making waves in the industry is Comexi’s flexo printing with electron beam. Offering an environmentally friendly way to print without solvents, the FlexoEB innovation, developed along with its partners, will continue to be promoted in the market over the coming years.

The latest product presented from the Comexi R&D team is an upgraded flexo press that is perfectly suited to short runs, making it a cost-effective solution that perfectly complements customers’ existing set-ups. Mr Negre explained, “We launched this flexo press in the summer of 2010 and it is already proving to add value by reducing production costs for our customers. It’s still an eight colour flexo press mainly driven by the concepts of mid-web, short run, quick changeover, small repeat, operator friendly and completely tool-less.”

Comexi’s core business is in flexographic printing machines, but it also offers the manufacture of some gravure machines, laminators and slitters, and these areas have been steadily growing in recent months. In particular, Comexi’s partnership with Indian manufacturer Pelican, who have gained the licence to produce Comexi’s smallest laminator model, the Nexus One, purely for the increasingly-successful Indian market.

Ready for anything

As Comexi continues to build its business in its European heartland and enjoys the Pelican partnership, the company also expects to see continued growth in the rest of the world. Asia and the Middle East is an interesting market for its flexographic printing machinery, with Russia and the former Soviet countries seeing strong growth over the past two years. Even though India and China are predominantly gravure markets, Comexi is able to provide gravure solutions but is also well-positioned to take advantage of the expected trend for flexographic printing presses.

Mr Negre concluded, “We are already the leader in the Brazilian market, where we have our own plant with 70 people to complement our 400-strong workforce in Girona. We have also recently purchased ACOM, an Italian company that specialises in gravure manufacturing which will further enhance our offer in this area. Our dedication to responsible, customer-focused growth is clearly evident, and our product diversification is an illustration of our long-term goal to offer the right product for each segment in every global market where we see potential value.” n