A vision and a mission: top-quality printing, without compromise and growth through acquisitions of strategic companies in various sectors of printing and converting. This is how Faenza Group, by the will of its CEO Claudio Rossi, has structured itself in recent years, becoming with its divisions a point of reference for the market. With the newly formed Couture division, Faenza also aims to grow in the market of rigid boxes for the luxury sector
The watchword is quality without compromise! Faenza Group has been in the printing sector for over 47 years, even if it was born over 60 years ago as a publishing group specialized in the printing of magazines and prestigious publications for the world of designers, architects, and art. It was more difficult than today to find printers capable of providing an excellent product, so the owners decided to establish Litografica Faenza and satisfy first the internal printing needs, then also opening to the market as a supplier of high-quality printed products. This has always been the guiding principle of the Group, which today has a turnover of €15 million, boasts a staff of 80 collaborators, has three divisions: “Faenza Printing” for high-end editorial printing, “Faenza Packaging” for the paper industry and the newly formed “Couture” for the market of covered boxes and luxury packaging. Today, the packaging share is worth 40% of the turnover, exports 50% and an annual growth rate of 20%, constant over the last three years.
The protagonist of this extraordinary adventure born in the publishing world and continued in printing and converting is Claudio Rossi, CEO of the Group, who has always been in the company, since the days of the publishing house founded by his father together with his partner at the time, who was able to shape the company, anticipating market trends, and in fact positioning Faenza Group in that market segment of little interest for the big printers, but unattainable for the smaller ones. A medium segment, which filled a gap and represented the springboard towards the success of this Italian Group that also boasts a branch in Paris and one in the United States.
Quality without compromise
“I have always thought that our product stood out on the market compared to the average of the competition, and we have always sought that famous ‘wow’ effect that is so fashionable today, but which in Faenza Group has represented the essential standard that has always been recognized by industry insiders but also by those who knew nothing about printing and could not help but be amazed by our work”, Claudio Rossi tells us – “in 2010 we decided to create Faenza Group, a company able to offer aggregate products and services for communication focused on printing aimed at medium-high segment customers”.
Our thoughts obviously go to the big fashion and luxury brands, which represent the perfect target for the idea of Faenza Group, but also to all those companies and industries in any sector that commissioned catalogs and printed materials of great value for their work, strongly believing in off-line communication.
Investments in technology and acquisitions to grow on the market
The company has invested in new technologies on the one hand and has structured itself with a new sales force capable of scanning the market and evaluating every type of opportunity useful to marry with the business plan prepared by Claudio Rossi and the management team which also foresaw a growth through acquisitions of strategic companies already well positioned in their reference markets.
“The business model we had set up was probably a little too high-performing for the market at the time, but I must say that after the 2008 crisis, when the market began to recover, we enjoyed a structural competitive advantage that made the difference in our growth path”, continues the CEO, also telling us about the 9 strategic acquisitions of companies, including paper converting companies, to be able to expand the service to the packaging market, but still being able to count on skills present in the new acquired companies.
“I remember that we had the Heidelberg Speedmaster CD, a very versatile machine that could print from paper for the publishing sector to cardboard for packaging, and in times of slump in work we tried to acquire orders for that sector. The problem is that having the technology is not enough to be considered a supplier for a new sector. Packaging includes converting and finishing processes, and if not managed internally, they risk emptying the margins, which is why we understood that it would have been decidedly more efficient to include already established paper processing companies in the group”, adds Rossi.
Digital printing: HP is a reference partner for Faenza Group, also for packaging
The philosophy of Faenza Group has always been the pursuit of the best, in every field, and it has also been so regarding digital printing, where HP has been a reference partner for over 15 years.
There is no model launched by HP for commercial printing that has not passed through Faenza Group. The latest arrival is a brand new 15K, installed in the Printing Up factory in Milan, the division of the Group that deals with digital printing and markets its products also through a web-to-print showcase developed internally and extremely customized for One-to-One market.
“We have tested every type of digital printing machine, and even today HP is one step ahead from all points of view. With this machine we print art books with a quality that could be compared to a Led-UV offset press, which we also use, and with a guarantee of quality maintained from copy to copy”, Claudio Rossi tells us. But that’s not all, in fact thanks to this new investment the share of digitally printed packaging has increased, from a single copy to 4-5 thousand copies, with an average range of 2-3 thousand copies for multiple references and with the possibility of customization. The great versatility of this machine, which was created for high-quality commercial and editorial printing, but does not disdain cardboard packaging processing at all, has allowed Faenza Group to divert most small packaging orders in different references just on the latest HP 15K.
Cosmetics, food, nutraceuticals and a remaining share dedicated to various industrial sectors are the main markets where the Faenza Packaging division operates, with solutions ranging from boxes to counter displays and window signs.
“Service is our strong point, trying to have a production process that is as complete from a technological point of view as possible so as to keep as many processes as possible in-house, and inserting extra services, from postal services managed for the customer, as well as the management of logistics aspects on behalf of the customer all over the world”, adds Rossi.
HP guarantees a 360° support
The HP 15K installed at Faenza Group is a 5-color printing machine, configured with four-color plus white, a feature that has been particularly appreciated by Faenza Group and its customers. “The white that this machine can print is something extraordinary and has far exceeded our expectations; furthermore, thanks to the latest technological innovations, the start-up time has been further reduced, we are talking about a very flexible and extremely productive technology”, adds Rossi.
As for the software equipment, in particular HP’s Mosaic, Faenza Group is developing projects in such a way as to make them attractive to customers, guiding them in a decision-making process that can make them understand the added value of one solution rather than another.
HP has invested heavily in customer service and is supporting customers like Faenza precisely to increase awareness and the value in the use of these tools and thus allow the sales force to be able to transfer the potential to the end customer and make more use of these auxiliary tools to the printing machine, but very important for differentiating on the market.
“We are really appreciating HP’s support also in its consultancy phase and in the knowledge of all its solutions, not only the machine part, which is important, but it is not everything. They are supporting us in meetings with our sales force to know the software in depth and this is a very important aspect for us that will allow us to grow further and improve our services to customers”, concludes Claudio Rossi.
Sustainability: a value also in the search for different products
Among the many aspects of sustainability, which in Faenza Group is certainly a value to pursue, and there are many concrete actions implemented to reduce the impact of its activity as much as possible (photovoltaic panels, elimination of alcohol in offset printing, various environmental certifications) a recent project that involved the packaging division deserves to be told. For a leading brand in the nutraceutical sector, Faenza Packaging created a cardboard POP display, delivered to all pharmacies in Italy, with the unique feature of the wheels and pins of the display made of wood instead of plastic or metal. This simple measure, which however required considerable effort in the design phase, allowed the Group to beat the competition and win the order.
