Since 1947, Fiorini has been synonymous with paper bags, a product born and grown in step with the industrial development of our country, which over the years, also thanks to the R&D of the Marche REGION based company, has taken on a fundamental role in the transport and protection of products, with increasingly innovative solutions. Today, thanks also to the latest arrival in the PRINTING DEPARTMENT, the 10-color BOBST EXPERT CI, Fiorini bags enhance the image of the customer’s brand with an even more incisive visual impact. We talk about this installation in this article and in the video contribution with Giovanni Fiorini, president & CEO of the company.
Two production plants, €90 million in turnover, 300 million paper bags produced every year, 70% exports, 100% Italian production, a share of gross profit shared with its 250 employees, because everyone contributed to get these good results, strong focus on people, territory and environment. We are in Senigallia (Ancona, Italy), practically facing the sea and the company is FIORINI Packaging, which operates on the market with FIORINI brand, a historic company in the world of paper packaging, founded by Sestilio Cavallari and Giambattista Fiorini, great-grandfather and grandfather of the current company management composed by Fiorini brothers: Francesca, Stefania and Giovanni.
Sacart, this was the original name now abandoned, began its activities in a small laboratory in the historic center of Senigallia, with 6 collaborators and used machinery purchased in Germany. In the 1950s the industrial growth of the company began, which in the meantime moved to one of the two current locations and in 1975, with the entry into the company of the founder’s children, the first investment that radically changed the fate of the bag industry in Italy arrived the first tube maker with two bottoming machines, a completely automated line.
Exponential growth on all fronts
“In 1996, with 5 companies within the Group, which at the time had a turnover of around 80 billion lire, my father and my uncle decided by mutual agreement to separate the activities into two distinct societies and so FIORINI was born”, says Giovanni Fiorini, who in 2014 took over the business from his father Giuseppe together with his sisters Francesca and Stefania, preparing the company for a new path of growth and development. Great importance was given right from the start to investments in technological renewal, starting with the first of a series of new machines for the production of bags in 2020 and subsequently the first BOBST EXPERT CI Flexo with 8 colors, followed in 2022 by the second flexo line, again BOBST, but this time with 10 colors, which allowed FIORINI to enter a new dimension as regards printing: high visual impact graphics, which together with a team of FIORINI experts dedicated only to printing, enhance the aesthetic aspect of a product like the large-content paper bag and give the right appeal to the products and brands of customers.
The bag with its graphics is not just a container, but the most immediate business card of FIORINI customers.
FIORINI’s BOBST EXPERT CI 10-color flexo in detail
The paper packaging market has changed significantly in recent years and today print quality is essential to convey the quality of the product contained. Extremely high definition multi-color images can now be an important distinguishing element for brands, even in a sector such as that of large-content bags and the choice of a technological partner such as BOBST has allowed FIORINI to further grow in print quality.
The BOBST EXPERT CI 10-color flexo press installed at FIORINI can process 1500 mm wide paper with 1200 mm print repeat and offers a maximum production speed of 600 m/min. BOBST’s triLOCK bearing technology on the print substrates allows for rapid operation and eliminates manual locking. This avoids process instability and guarantees perfect positioning for maximum print quality and therefore waste reduction.
There is also an optional automatic platform integrated into the machine for quick change over of the sleeves. Among the many other innovative features, it is worth mentioning that the machine is also equipped with the smartFLO chamber doctor blade inking system for predictable and controlled results and the fully automatic smartGPS off-machine registration and setting system to minimize waste at start-up.
The highly efficient Full Surface Matrix (FSM) inter-color drying developed for water-based inks uses lower temperatures, reducing the energy required for drying. The very high degree of automation is complemented by the BOBST Connect features of the EXPERT CI, thanks to which the FIORINI team can access production and process data remotely with ease. It also enables predictive maintenance so that parts can be replaced before they deteriorate to avoid costly process errors and machine downtime.
FIORINI innovation: from product supplier to solution provider
2011 is the year of the turning point at FIORINI as regards the product range, because it coincides with the first patent developed by the company.
The name of the patented product is GH2OST and it is a bag for the cement industry, capable of dissolving in water, which can be inserted entirely inside the cement mixer, facilitating the operations of the bricklayers, avoiding losses and eliminating the packaging waste to be managed.
“Thanks to this patent, we understood how from a product supplier, we could become a solution provider, approaching the market with a proactive and innovative spirit, from that moment we started to develop highly innovative solutions that have also received several international awards. Furthermore, we have been offering the market 100% recyclable solutions for at least 15 years, well ahead of the various and recent international regulations, and we are proud of it: consequently we continue to invest and believe in sustainability with real and concrete actions, on multiple fronts, both to have increasingly innovative and eco-friendly products and to create a production process that is close to 0 waste”, says Fiorini.
The range of products developed since then by FIORINI for food, milk powder, chemical, animal feed, seed and construction sectors, has grown year after year with high-tech, high-performance solutions.
Every need has its solution that FIORINI is able to find, design and create together with the customer. The international customer must feel that what they are buying is a way of being and doing, not simply a product. The creation of the Customer Success Team, a group for packaging engineering and taking care of the customer’s needs from the initial idea/problem to after-sales, reinforces the fruit of continuous innovation, constant investments and international partnerships through which the company tries to adopt a virtuous cycle of the production process [EUROSAC GRAND PRIX 2022 – Bronze].
MoistShield® is the patented plastic-free bag by FIORINI, which has the characteristic of being water-repellent and offers better resistance than standard bags with a plastic layer. It is a high-tech bag made only of paper, which can have different levels of barrier to water and humidity, depending on specific needs, available both with an open mouth and with any type of valve, useful in every sector to follow sustainability needs. 100% recyclable in paper collection [Silver Prize – Green Earth Environmental Protection – PACKCON STAR AWARDS 2024 – China e EUROSAC GRAND PRIX 2021 – Public Choice].
Hipster is the two-bag in one solution, which takes advantage of the ease of emptying of an open-mouth bag and safety and cleanliness of the ultrasonic valve bag process. This solution is also mono-material, easy to use and recycle.
C-in is instead the FIORINI solution with a window on both the bag side and the bottom, depending on the needs, to see the product contained and to be displayed both in a vertical and horizontal position, facilitating the work operations of FIORINI customers and the purchase by consumers of the product contained. This is also a solution considered, depending on the size and materials, mono-material and that can be managed at the end of its life in the paper collection [EUROSAC GRAND PRIX 2024 – Industry Special Award].
Latte is a paper bag with an internal PE bag, essential for the safety of food products, such as powdered milk, ensuring the conservation and integrity of such an important and delicate product.
The PE layer offers an essential barrier to external contamination. Easily divisible and quickly recyclable in paper and plastic.
Certifications such as FSSC 22000, BRC- Packaging Materials, Halal, Kosher highlight FIORINI as one of the major references as regards food safety, and consequently in all other sectors, giving its bag an international guarantee of hygiene and protection of the contents.
“The head of Research at FIORINI comes from the plastics sector, and his know-how and background allowed us to rethink and design our packaging solutions, helping us to understand the needs of those who use plastic materials in order to then develop paper-based products with equivalent, high-performance characteristics, also able to anticipate market needs, exploiting the great versatility of paper”, adds Giovanni Fiorini.
Looking to the future…
FIORINI, which has started for a long time a path to reduce energy consumption in its plants, through investments in more efficient technologies, less noisy work environments, is also evaluating the design of a new plant that exploits the potential of new green technologies, also to further improve the working conditions of its employees.
Great attention to the environment and the territory in which it operates, including collaboration with technical and professional institutes of the area, offering students a three-year collaboration project with an optional final paid training internship and for the most deserving, also the opportunity to join the company at the end of their studies.
“In order to improve the learning of skills by the new generation, we are starting a training program in which new technologies and Artificial Intelligence will become the tool to be used to learn how to manage production lines, from set-up to maintenance of the machine.Today, young people are interested in understanding why they are doing a certain job and they need to be involved according to their aspirations”, concludes Giovanni Fiorini who, thanks to his propensity for innovation and future, launches an important challenge to the new generations: for young people FIORINI can be an engaging and attractive solution to meet their needs, not just a job, but a company where it is possible to grow. A peculiar characteristic of FIORINI, in fact, is that many key figures of the company come directly from the “factory”. Production Technicians (because those who manage such complex machines can no longer be considered simple “workers”) who, due to their skills and competences, have become area referents or even managers. An uncommon detail, in current times, in structured companies and market leaders. This is why innovation in FIORINI is at 360°.
“The meeting with Giovanni FIORINI was characterized by the immediate sharing of perspectives that we recognized as common to our companies: innovation and service as fundamental factors for success and continuity on the market. This harmony has undoubtedly pushed us to undertake a very constructive path of collaboration, which not only responds to the need for innovation in printing, but also considers the essential needs of sustainability of packaging and the new applications that these needs require”, comments Alberto Vaglio-Laurin, Business Director Flexible Packaging Southern Europe at BOBST.
