Film emotions
The new SIT plant in San Marino holds more than one surprise in store: technologically advanced, it is a place where you can breathe enthusiasm (not to be confused with recklessness), where everything is planned with care and skill, marking the path for future developments of the group in flexible packaging.
Luciana Guidotti
A turning point in the growth path undertaken by SIT Group, the new SIT production facility in San Marino, connected to the original site and the Group’s headquarters, has been operational since the end of 2020.
It is a beautiful, modern and efficient structure, where today more than 300 people work and where advanced printing technology is located: four new BOBST rotogravure presses with up to eleven colors, a latest generation laminating machine, auxiliary equipment, including a brand new solvent recovery plant, as well as automatic systems for the handling and storage of materials.
A newly built plant that is, above all, the “given proof” of how it is possible to combine efficiency and quality, evolved organizational models and the ability to establish relationships both with the territory and, on a global level, with users of flexible packaging.
A plant with a soul, one might say, as suggested by the reproductions of the “mothers of the world” interpreted for the company by the Brazilian artist Kobra and which now give light and color to the spaces where the new printing lines “run” at full speed.
The meeting with Simona Michelotti, Neni Rossini and Claudio Carattoni - the three “public” faces of SIT, who have always spoken with one voice - therefore allows us to take stock of the Group’s expansion plans, which “cost” between 2018 and 2020 almost 70 million euros between investments in infrastructure, technology and acquisitions. A dense program, which has also involved at various levels the other SIT plants in Pesaro and Stanghella (PD) as well as the activities of ACM, “thanks to investments largely financed with equity” our interlocutors keep clarifying.
The moment of choices
The most recent investment, concentrated on the Faetano site, is justified by the desire to plan a winning future for an industrial reality embedded in the territory and the community, as SIT actually is.
Neni Rossini explains that, at a certain point, the company found itself at a crossroads: «We could decide whether to exploit the existing plants to the full, and in the meantime direct our attention towards other investments, or choose to strengthen the San Marino site, reinventing it from the foundations and designing it in a way that was congruent with further expansions. And this is what we did, since this is where everything was born and this is where we are, and this is where we want to continue to grow...».
With an investment of 50 million euros, the plant is now fully operational and production goes hand in hand with the process of reorganization of the spaces, which involves dedicating the printing department of the original site to finishing, as well as the dismantling of the solvent recovery plant, now superseded by the one in operation in the new production area. «Basically, within a year, the circle will be closed».
To give meaning and make this technological heritage alive, there remains however and above all an organization of prepared and capable people united by skill and passion. Compared to the past, the new factory will therefore enable the production of 25% more volume, as well as a reduction in production costs due to the greater efficiency of the new machinery.
One thing leads to another...
While the construction and commissioning of the new site proceeded, SIT had the opportunity to buy an industrial shed adjacent to the new area. An opportunity that the company did not miss and that, indeed, suggested the possibility of materializing an important new line of services.
«Once the structure and spaces of this factory have been adapted to the “SIT style” - explains Carattoni - it will become our Innovation Center.
We will then be able to have a “pilot line” that will allow us to carry out development and testing activities on the new structures, which are very much in demand from customers, freeing up the lines dedicated to actual production. This is a luxury that we have decided to allow ourselves, considering it a further step towards offering more innovative and sustainable packaging services and solutions. After refurbishing them, we will in fact install the best of the printing presses and a laminating machine which we are currently withdrawing. We have also started agreements with some manufacturers to put a packaging machine into operation... which will allow us to test, in a dedicated and segregated area, the new films in working conditions».
Designing innovation
The start-up of a pilot line is therefore not a gamble, but part of the customer service philosophy that has enabled SIT to establish itself on the international flexible packaging scene as a supplier of excellence.
«We think it’s a necessary step - Carattoni continues - especially at a time like this, when a substantial change in the structure of materials is taking place, with a clear reference to the need for greater sustainability in packaging... because it’s easy to think of changing a structure or a packaging material, but then you need the right skills to operate the machines.
Therefore, our “innovation” department has been following two lines of action for some time, also at the request of customers for whom we are already developing: the paper stream and the mono-material film stream.
In the first case, we are working on paper-dominated structures to create barrier and sealable solutions, a complex issue that will require a lot of commitment and a long time.
On the other hand, when we speak of monomaterial, we are referring to films made entirely of polypropylene or polyethylene, to be developed with the aim of simplifying packaging and facilitating its recycling.
In any case, these are difficult challenges, but we have very competent people who are able to meet the needs expressed by the users of our products».
168 million euros of turnover in 2020, achieved with over 700 people in 4 plants: SIT Group is a company specialized in high quality printing of flexible packaging, with rotogravure and flexo technologies, for the European consumer market, in the food and non-food sectors. With the recent acquisition of 70% of ACM from Lombardy, SIT Group has taken over the potential of full led HD flexo printing techniques for narrow web and digital printing, “inheriting” the skills in terms of customized productions, mock-ups and short runs.
Completing the picture
The investments mentioned above are part of a process of organic growth that the SIT Group is pursuing, also by way of acquisitions.
«Our initial plan was doubling the turnover in a 10-year horizon, which also included an acquisition plan, particularly abroad» admits Simona Michelotti.
«In fact, good things also happen unexpectedly and so the first acquisition was made in Italy, meeting the owners of ACM, Massimo Raffaele and Antonio La Franceschina, who have the same passionate approach to business as we do and with whom we share a propensity for innovation. The result was that we entered with a 70% share in the capital of this company, specialized in full led HD flexo printing for narrow web and digital printing of flexible packaging for the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.
Secondly, it prompted us to review our overall organization, which now aims at specializing the various production sites in order to offer a service tailored to the different types of customers».
In practice, today SIT and SitItalia (with the Pesaro and Padua plants) are oriented and focused on the management and needs of medium-large customers, with roto and flexo technologies for large volumes, while ACM remains focused on the supply of very short runs of printed flexible packaging, in particular for small and medium-sized customers.
The synergies between the realities of the Group also translate into sharing the same SAP computer system and a single central purchasing office.
«The year 2020, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, closes with a turnover of about 168 million euros, and with production volumes in terms of square meters even higher than budgeted», says Neni Rossini.
«And today, now that the new structure of SIT Group is consolidating, we can return to our initial project of mergers and acquisitions abroad, with the aim of growing further and becoming one of the main players at international level, always giving value to our roots and our culture: on the other hand, we are convinced, you live better while there are emotions».
