Five French manufacturers of equipment dedicated to adhesive label and flexible packaging markets – Codimag, GIC, MGI, Serame and SMAG – have decided to join forces by creating a Club to promote their technologies to label printers and converters.
On Friday 29th May 2020, Benoît Demol (Codimag), Bruno Vitali (GIC), Victor Abergel (MGI), Charles Dernoncourt (Serame), and Stéphane Rateau (SMAG), as the representatives of 5 printing and converting equipments French manufacturers, gave birth to the Label French Tech Club, a unique initiative in the industry.
Through this Alliance, the Fives wish to highlight French technological innovation in the market, represented by the richness and relevance of their offers to printers and converters.
Codimag, GIC, MGI, Serame and SMAG have their R&D Departments and Manufacturing Plants in France, and export worldwide their solutions.
Innovate in the marketing relationship
For Victor Abergel, VP of MGI, the creation of the Label French Tech Club is obvious in the current context: “Drupa has been postponed of one year” he says, “ and with the absence of any major exhibitions this year in the world of labels and flexible packaging, and finally the two months of business stoppage due to Covid 19, has clearly led us to rethink and reinvent our customer outreach”.
Differentiation and added value
In this context, innovation in the marketing approach is essential for Stéphane Rateau, CEO of Smag: “The appetite of printers and converters for value-added innovations remains. In a competitive market, it is more than ever necessary to differentiate oneself, and the Label French Tech Club is intended to facilitate the presentation of French technological innovations to the players on the label market”.
Technological innovation
This initiative is very important, as Made in France is very popular in the self-adhesive label and flexible packaging market, explains Benoît Demol, CEO of Codimag: “Each of our 5 companies generates the majority of our turnover from export sales, either in Europe, and Asian and American continents. This position is showing the excellence of French technologies on the Label and Flexible Packaging Industry. Our approach aims to spread our know-how beyond our borders, under a common label”.
Proximity and adaptation
By joining forces within the Label French Tech Club, Codimag, GIC, MGI, Serame and SMAG are sending a strong message to printers and converters, says Bruno Vitali, CEO of GIC: “The Covid crisis has highlighted a problem of technological dependency and distant sourcing, which is a big issue for European label and flexible packaging manufacturers. Through the Club, we want to show them that there is an innovative, high value-added French technological offer, close to their factories and responsive”.
Service and responsiveness
In their common approach, the Fives wish to emphasize their proximity to their customers’ plants and the responsiveness of their service, an essential aspect, concludes Charles Dernoncourt, CEO of Serame: “Assist label manufacturers on a daily basis in their industrial differentiation strategy requires great proximity and strong responsiveness: a true service focus. Control locally the design, manufacturing and marketing of our technologies, makes us more capable to adapt to the daily needs of our customers”.
The first action of the Label French Tech Club is the organization of an event, the Label French Tech Expo 2020, with demonstrations of equipment proposed by the 5 companies and the organization of workshops.
An extensive program will be unveiled in the coming weeks…
About MGI :
Founded in 1982, MGI Digital Technology is the world leader in the digital embellishment market, with a range of 7 JETvarnish 3D sheet-fed and roll to roll presses. Listed on Alternext since 2006, with 4 production sites located in France and Germany, MGI devotes nearly 20% of its annual turnover to R&D, generating 80% of this turnover from exports. MGI addresses the packaging, self-adhesive label, commercial printing, publishing and printed electronics markets.
About Codimag :
For more than 40 years, Codimag has designed, manufactured and sold printing presses with high
added-value at its facilities in Bondoufle, France. Today, it is the world leader in intermittent
waterless offset label and packaging printing. Codimag offers solutions tailored to label printers’
needs with a high level of innovation, both in terms in technology and application, making its presses
productive and cost-effective for many different markets.
About GIC :
GIC, a French manufacturer, offers a wide range of industrial equipment dedicate to digital finishing,
control solutions and RFID complexing, as well as a whole range of equipment for IML die-cutting and
Transpromo applications. Our 25 years’ experience has allowed our customers to benefit from our know-how, and for our design department to apprehend a multitude of projects in a sector of activity where the capacity to innovate and to develop remains a fundamental point of our activity.
About Serame :
In 50 years SERAME has established itself as a specialist in non-stop unwinders and rewinders for printing professionals, especially labels’ printers. Designer and manufacturer, we can adapt and have dedicated offer to all your needs and that could be with in-line printing or offline. We bring productivity to your printing process.
About Smag :
Based in the south of Paris (France), SMAG Graphique, a SRAMAG division, is specialized in the following solution engineering and manufacturing: Printing, Converting, and Inspection of PS Labels / Post digital printing Finishing and Added Value / Flexible Packaging Finishing / Inserting, Control, Encoding of RFID/NFC tags UHF and HF / Printed electronics. Since the beginning in 1980, the core business has been the Added Value creation, modularity and durability. SMAG Graphique innovation has always grown around those principles.
