The second edition of the supply chain event organised by the Italian Rotogravure Group brings together over 100 people in Florence to talk about sustainability and ecological transition.
An entire day dedicated to rotogravure: Roto4All went live on Friday 22nd October, with a first edition that brought together over 100 people in Florence. After the 2020 streaming edition, which reached 500 people, a quarter of which international, Roto4All 2021 was a precious opportunity to put in connection the entire gravure community, conveying the experiences and projects of different industry players.
Moderated by Andrea Briganti, Director of Acimga, Roto4All saw the stage of the Odeon Cinema become the centre of rotogravure technology: to Daniele Barbui, President of Acimga, the honour of an institutional opening, while Gianmatteo Maggioni, Head of the Rotogravure Group by Acimga, provided an overview of the Group’s future activities, presenting the next training course dedicated to Sustainability.
During the course of the day there were contributions from technology manufacturers, printers, brand owners, representatives of Italian and international associations, marketing experts, and representatives from consortia, to create a moment of continuous constructive dialogue within a printing technology that still proves to be extremely lively and with a strong innovative drive.
This is demonstrated by the case histories presented, virtuous examples of innovation in the rotogravure field and collaboration between different interlocutors: Sacchital Group and Terre Ducali presented a take away tray in recyclable paper designed according to the principles of ecodesign; BOBST, Ticinoplast and Sunchemical talked about the ambitious R&D work, underlining the value of partnership, for the creation of a BOPE monomaterial packaging; Kaspar Walter and Rossini brought onstage innovative alternative solutions to the use of hexavalent chromium, further testifying to the vitality of the gravure world, which looks to the future in the development of new possible directions. There was an abundance of direct testimonies from the supply chain industries towards specific approaches to sustainability: Gualapack, Di Mauro Group, SIT Group, but also UTECO Group, BOBST, ICR and Inci-flex, which together with Italo Vailati, Director of Giflex, and Anna Paola Cavanna, President of Fondazione Carta Etica del Packaging illustrated a vast and interesting panorama in continuous development. Giulia Picerno, from the Study Center for Circular Economy of CONAI showed how packaging adapts to the needs of the evolving society, enriching its functions and must consequently be rethought in a circular perspective, while Giuseppe Stigliano, Global CEO of Spring Studios, Professor of Retail Marketing and co-author of “Retail 4.0: 10 Guiding Principles for the Digital Age” with the guru Philip Kotler, gave new inputs on digitalization, according to the principles of invisibility, utility and sustainability. GAA, Gravure Aimcal Alliance, closed the day by illustrating trends and evolutions in the gravure sector directly from the US market.
«The Italian rotogravure sector remains an international benchmark for excellence and technological know-how, a model for printing quality, for the characteristics of the offered product and for the performance of the machinery itself, and these qualities are recognized by the market, where for twenty years Italian machines have been positioned in a medium to high price range. The return to pre-Covid export levels, however, unfortunately remains distant – explains Andrea Briganti, Director of Acimga. – The world market for rotogravure technology is worth 189 million euros: without a doubt, 2020 has been seriously affected by the pandemic, so much so that global trade went down by almost 20%. Despite this, the global forecasts for the next three years give positive signals that give us hope».
After Roto4All, the activities of the Italian Rotogravure Group by Acimga will not stop and the aggregative approach continues along the entire industrial community, also in the training field. A course dedicated to Sustainability in Rotogravure will be launched shortly, with a vision aimed at continuing to oversee the peculiar production, cultural, organizational, and technical characteristics that Italy has in the rotogravure world for packaging production.
