The values of ink

Eston Chimica is a young Italian concern, with its core business in waterbased flexo inks. The successful running of the company, based on the two pillars of listening and commitment, has led to a double digit growth, a sustainable way of relating to the market, a lively and proactive R&D that formulates quality products. And now the company is looking further afield.

Humble in listening and being open to change, excellent because mediocrity can be fatal; but also rigorous and disciplined so that procedures enable them to work better and fulfil their commitments (the ISO 9000, 140000 and 18000 certificates are not simple pieces of paper but true and proper “pieces of the heart”). And also careful in keeping up the dialogue without, and within aboveall between the “sales force”, that speaks to the customers and understands their needs, and the laboratory technicians, that have to be able to turn the needs of today into innovatory proposals.
This, in short, is the philosophy of Eston Chimica (Cadoneghe, PD), producers of mainly waterbased flexo varnishes and inks.
Set up fifteen years ago, based on a preceding experience, the Veneto based company has gone into top gear, registering a turnover for 2012 of +22% (10 million euro) with a further bounce ahead of 32% already in April 2013.
The company presented itself at Converflex with a large stand, well-groomed graphics and its best products, with the prime objective of meeting its Italian customers (80% of its business is made on the domestic market) and consolidating relations started up at Drupa, in view of the growth in the process of internationalisation.«A process that is now impelling – underlines company AD and entrepreneur Nicola Mellon – because we are growing well in Italy and we have built an excellent network of relations, and if we want to found our future on a solid basis we must get more involved with markets abroad, where we reckon on doubling shares by 2015».

Products…
The projects for expansion have been prepared with care, rigorously formulating each element that contributes to the life of a company. This has entailed work on the structure – «that has to be well-organised and autonomous, a bit “German” in respecting rules and procedures, and a bit “Italian” in terms of flexibility and inventiveness» – as well as on product design: «we have more lab technicians than workers in our facilities».
Eston’s product range includes waterbased flexo inks – both standard and special, gloss and matt – for various types of substrates and applications, inks and solvents and a diversified range of UV and waterbased overprinting inks.
Mellon explains how they won a place for themselves on the market offering quality products at the right price:«We buy the raw material, that in this sector constitutes the main expense, from trustworthy quality suppliers. We choose them with care to also serve the most demanding users, like those in the food segment, with all the rigour needed in terms of ingredients, traceability and respect of the international food packaging norms. And if our having to compete with the big players means we can never afford to slacken, our structure, light and flexible, enables us to also be competitive in price. As far as creativity is concerned, as well as demands from customer for which we devise products made to measure, interesting stimuli often reach us from markets abroad and niche applications, as occurred for example in North Africa, where the use of bags made of woven PP instead of paper incited us into creating a line of waterbased inks for plastic substrates with all the necessary characteristic in terms of grip, drying, scuff resistance etc.».

… and projects
The quality of the products, as well as the punctuality of the service, endorse the Veneto based company among the certified supplier of the large packaging producers – whether flat board cartons, paper bags, corrugated board etc, which stands as an excellent calling card on the international markets and hence supports the plan for expanding abroad. Here Eston is investing growing resources, with a particular attention to the nearby expanding areas (North Africa, the Near East, Eastern Europe) but without neglecting mature but important markets like the US.
«An adequate international presence aboveall demands the “right” distributor, but not only that, we are heavily investing in updating our sales and assistance force in the various countries, to which we dedicate training at regular intervals both at our headquarters as well as at the representatives, and we support the promotion of our products ie by way of taking part in local trade fairs. As well as that we are working to consolidate a shared approach with trade partners – both technical and service, on the large lots as well as small ones inclufinh contracts on demand – because we want our customers to be attended to with the same precision and passion the world over. But it is aboveall on the habit of the exchange of information that we base our relations with the sales network so that our R&D office can work on the basis of information gathered in the field. The guidelines are clear: formulate ever safer and more eco-compatible, more concentrated, low viscosity inks, capable hence of ensuring excellent print quality and reducing consumption while offering all the guarantees in terms of food suitability and migration limits».
The results? The projects that Eston is investing intensely in aboveall regard food packaging, where new UV varnishes for food packaging and inks with a high concentration rate are under study. Meanwhile, they continue to work at all levels of the company towards a variety of set objectives, because you need to be cutting edge throughout».