The accelerated demand for online sales and home delivery caused by the global pandemic allowed the packaging sector to record high growth during the period.With a manufacturing site with state-of-the-art equipment and a presence in the market for more than 30 years, Malires Gráfica was able to take advantage of this peak.
The Brazilian printing company had made a significant discovery in early 2019; Wagner Linares, CEO, explains, “In 2019 I had a surprise. I thought packaging for us was just one of the several minor segments in our portfolio. But in May of that year, we found that our largest revenue was coming from packaging, so from that day on, we started to look at it differently.”
The increased focus on packaging meant that Malires began to invest more in new equipment and technology to boost the agility, quality, and competitiveness of the operation. The most recent of these is the acquisition of a NOVAFOLD 110 folder-gluer, with crash-lock module, the first sold in Brazil by BOBST.
The choice of machine was based on a series of recommendations, says Wagner. He was already aware of Bobst as a key supplier in the market, but the deciding factor was the advice he received during conversations about his investment plans. “I know several printers that serve the biggest companies in the country, and they told me that major packaging printers all over the world use Bobst machines. Reflecting on this and wishing to continue differentiating our company in this sector, to be among the best, we chose Bobst,” he said.
This was first investment with Bobst for Malires, and Wagner says they have been pleasantly surprised. In addition to the already expected high quality of the machine, the quality of the technical support and professionalism during installation and the technical training and support in general, were much higher than expected. Wagner adds, “During the two weeks of installation, we experienced something that we have never experienced before when buying equipment – real professionalism. Everything happened as scheduled. The technician arrived on time and the whole process unfolded just as we had been informed it would, far exceeding our expectations.”
The CEO also said that this positive experience started even before the actual purchase of the folder-gluer. “Since the day I first went to visit Bobst in Itatiba-SP, I was surprised. The warm welcome, the attention, and the negotiations – everything was really outstanding.”
Bright future
With the acquisition of the Novafold 110, Wagner has high expectations of Malires’ growth in the packaging sector. “Even during the testing phase, at the end of the installation, we were producing real customer jobs on the machine, so we were able to see right away how much capacity we had added to our operation with this investment. It was clear from the start that with the new gluer, we have opened up a new world of possibilities!”
Malires is reaping the benefits of the Bobst technical team, who in addition to installing the machine and leaving it ready for the daily operation, will carry out process optimisation analysis and offer instructions on how to extract the highest productivity from the machine.
Following this great experience and having high expectations of the new folder-gluer, the company, which already has a strong presence in the label sector, commercial print, and visual communication, has significantly strengthened its packaging operation. Unsurprisingly, Wagner has already started to consider future investment in both equipment for the folding carton line and in Bobst’s recently launched digital label presses.
“Malires is always looking to invest and we already have an eye on a digital printing press to give more flexibility to our label operation. The excellent experience with the acquisition of Novafold 110 has made our team carefully analyse recent Bobst launches in this area,” he concluded.
