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LABELS&LABELING |105<br />
(L-R) Fabian Silva of Etiquetas Anro and Hugo Cruz of Coflemex<br />
MEXICAN CONVERTERS IN JOINT<br />
VENTURE WITH XEIKON PRESS<br />
FABIAN SILVA of Etiquetas Anro and Hugo Cruz of Coflemex, both label<br />
converters based in Mexico, have formed a joint venture based around<br />
the installation of the country’s first Xeikon digital label press<br />
The joint venture is to be named Innovo<br />
F&H. The Xeikon 3300 press, equipped<br />
with finishing equipment from GM, is<br />
due to be installed in May in a dedicated<br />
facility on the outskirts of Mexico<br />
City. The operation will also boast a<br />
specialized service center.<br />
The new operation – the brainchild of<br />
Silva and Cruz themselves rather than<br />
any partnership between their respective<br />
companies – will focus on selling to<br />
label converters in Mexico and Central<br />
America, as opposed to end users.<br />
‘There are converters in the region<br />
who might not be able to invest in digital<br />
printing equipment themselves, or who<br />
might want to test the market before<br />
making that investment,’ said Fabian<br />
Silva.<br />
‘We can help them. We offer them<br />
an option for their short run work. This<br />
approach is well established in other<br />
parts of the world, such as the UK and<br />
Australia, for example. We want to<br />
offer the same solution to the Mexican<br />
and Central American market. We are<br />
breaking paradigms and want to offer<br />
something that doesn’t currently exist in<br />
our local market.’<br />
The pair will appoint a manager and<br />
operators at Innovo F&H and will play<br />
the role of directors rather than being<br />
involved in day to day operations.<br />
Hugo Cruz and Fabian Silva were<br />
among the founding members of Ametiq,<br />
the Mexican label association. A key<br />
characteristic of the young organization<br />
has been its promotion of cooperation<br />
and dialogue between members, and<br />
Cruz and Silva credit it with bringing<br />
them together. ‘We don’t see ourselves<br />
as competitors, rather as partners. And<br />
we felt this way before the deal,’ said<br />
Hugo Cruz.<br />
‘We wanted to take advantage of the<br />
synergy that exists between us,’ echoed<br />
Silva. ‘We have many objectives and<br />
philosophies in common, and we were<br />
both keen to do something different in<br />
the market.<br />
‘Our experience with the association<br />
also helps to give us a panoramic view of<br />
what is happening in the industry.’<br />
With a large installation base of HP<br />
Indigo digital label presses in Mexico,<br />
Cruz and Silva opted for Xeikon ‘as<br />
we wanted something that would<br />
differentiate us but that also offered the<br />
very high quality, flexibility and reliability<br />
that only Xeikon can deliver’.<br />
Hugo Cruz emphasized the need<br />
for transparency. ‘We made a public<br />
announcement about the move during<br />
Label Summit Latin America because<br />
we want to be upfront about what we<br />
are doing. The deal allows us to form a<br />
specialized company that will benefit the<br />
industry.’<br />