Over 50 years of history behind it, ups and downs as happens to all companies during their history, then in 2022 the turning point with the entry into the printing department of a new 10-color Heidelberg machine that turns the spotlight on the Venetian company. From there only successes and satisfactions for L’Artegrafica, which decided last April to purchase a new Heidelberg KH 82-P folding machine to replicate, also in binding, the successes achieved in printing
Entering the company, one cannot fail to notice the 2022 Oscar della Stampa award that L’Artegrafica won in the Best Publishing & Commercial Printer category, which effectively sanctioned the entry of this family-run Venetian company among the excellences of the Italian graphics sector.
An award that was given to L’Artegrafica for the resilience demonstrated in the difficult period linked to the pandemic, during which the Zaia family company made the most of the investments in digital printing technologies made a couple of years earlier, and decided in 2022 to renovate the offset printing department, a very important strategic choice, which combined with the new workflow management software, launched the company into the 4.0 era.
But let’s take a step back and together with Paolo Zaia, who today manages L’Artegrafica with his sister Carla, let’s talk about the past, necessary to understand the current situation. In fact, everything started in 1972 when Adriano Zaia, father of Paolo and Carla, after an experience in a printing house as an employee, decided to take the big step, founding his own company. We had to wait until the end of the 80s to see the birth of L’Artegrafica and the involvement of his children Paolo and Carla. At that time, the company chose to purchase used printing and bookbinding machinery, starting to make itself known in the area as a subcontractor.
“Our entire family was involved in the company, including my mother, and as subcontractors, the work often arrived on Friday evening, so it was completely normal to spend working Saturday and Sunday, to deliver the work on Monday morning”, Paolo Zaia begins.
From subcontractor to reference supplier for large-scale retail trade
From a single-color Heidelberg, with the increase of work, L’Artegrafica added a 6-color 70×100 to the printing department and later also an 8-color plus an internal bookbinding department and continued to grow, but always in the subcontractor market. In 2006, also due to a moment of general economic crisis, the work began to decline, and the Zaia family wondered about the future and which path to take. “Absolutely excluding going directly to contact the customers of our fellow printers that we served as subcontractors, after a market research, I decided to probe the large-scale retail sector, contacting the various communication agencies and proposing myself as a supplier for their printed materials”, continues Paolo.
The company starts with just one supermarket chain, but L’Artegrafica grows quickly, and becomes the point of reference for 6 organized distribution chains, with a considerable amount of work, given that on average each chain varies promotions every 15 days, and to cope with all these orders, the Zaia brothers’ company operates on 3 work shifts for 7 days a week.
The turning point in 2022 with the choice of the new 10 colors Heidelberg printing machine
Today, two years later, Paolo Zaia’s eyes shine when he talks about the decision to entrust himself, body and soul, to Heidelberg.
“The choice was never more appropriate, and also thanks to their precious support, today we obtain performances, in terms of productivity, unthinkable with the old equipment, with an excellent level of quality, so much so that our offer is no longer aimed only at the large-scale retail trade market, which remains our core business, but also at the high-quality catalogue market”, says Paolo Zaia, telling us that lately we have received requests from nationally famous furniture manufacturers asking to be able to print their catalogues here, a sign that the fame of L’Artegrafica has now crossed regional borders.
Over the last two years, the company has undergone big changes, in every phase of the production process, from the internal graphic studio to bookbinding, in order to offer customers a very high-quality service, with a production process that is completely controlled and interconnected, fully embracing the dictates of 4.0.
“When we decided to invest in the 10-color printing machine, we sat around a table and looked into each other’s eyes with the management of Heidelberg Italia, because we would have taken a similar step only with the assurance that this investment had led us to achieve the results and performances that Heidelberg Italia highlights during the negotiation phase”, Paolo Zaia tells us.
The machine, currently the only 10-color configuration in Veneto, was purchased with the “Subscription” formula proposed by the German manufacturer, which also includes the entire supply of consumable materials. “This is the story of a successful partnership, where the printing company has completely relied on us as suppliers of technology and materials, giving us the opportunity to demonstrate that, by following certain procedures, the printing machine can actually achieve production performances that are up to 20% higher. We also offered them, and they accepted, our “Performance Plus” service, which includes a Heidelberg printing expert working alongside with them for a period of time, who, after an analysis of the company, intervenes in the critical points to be improved, in order to obtain the desired results”, adds Eris Neri, Account Manager of Heidelberg Italia, underlining that the success of this entire operation was possible thanks to the great availability of the company owners first and foremost, and their ability to involve all the collaborators in following the new procedures.
2×1: the new fully automated Heidelberg KH82P folding machine
The same operating philosophy was then applied to the binding department, where the investment amounts are clearly lower: L’Artegrafica replaced two old-generation folding machines with a new and high-performance KH82-P, the flagship of Heidelberg, dedicated to high productivity, configured with high-pile entry and automatic exit.
“The new folding machine was installed last April, and once it is set up and started, it works completely autonomously, with an operator called only to unload the folded jobs to place them on the pallet”, adds Lorenzo Ariberti, Postpress Manager Heidelberg Italia.
The KH82-P folding machine is also equipped with a Heidelberg patent that foresees the sheet entry into the machine in shingles, assuring high productivity with the highest folding quality, as well as speed in the start-ups of both repetitive jobs and new orders.
In the future of L’Artegrafica there is again Heidelberg…
“We have embraced the Heidelberg philosophy, a winning system, which has allowed us within a couple of years after the investment, not without fears, for the 10-color printing machine, to invest again with Heidelberg for the new folding machine KH82-P. For us who have never purchased new machines, it is an incredible achievement. We even verified that the performance declared by the manufacturer was underestimated, and in some cases we even obtained better results, so much so that we chose them as our partners also for the binding department; today I feel can say that the future scares us a little less, also thanks to the partnership with Heidelberg”, concludes Paolo Zaia.
