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Tuesday, 23.04.2024, 09:31
IMMER Digital: an innovative approach to manufacturing flexible packaging
Irina Mirochnik, President of IMMER GROUP. Provided by IMMER Digital. |
BC: What attracts your clients to Ventspils IMMER Digital?
I.M.: Our group of companies works with high-tech solutions. Constant
development and implementation of new types of flexible packaging materials and
processing capabilities is our policy. And we use the latest technologies at
Ventspils plant. We offer high-quality digital printing. Thanks to the latest
printing technology in combination with a software it is possible to implement
the most challenging creative ideas of marketing professionals.
The New Year is not only a holiday, but also an active time for sales. In
order to increase sales, products are packaged in thematic packages. Therefore,
it is especially important to pack the product not only beautifully, but also
profitably. And this is what we can carry out - small runs within a short time
and just-in-time.
The technology of digital printing in the manufacturing of flexible
packaging is becoming more popular worldwide. This method of printing provides
the shortest production time, which allows manufacturers to respond to market
changes as quickly as possible. Thanks to the advantages of digital printing,
the product will hit the store shelves in just a few days, without the risk of
large stock balances in the warehouse. Within one order, we can quickly change
the design, text or type of packaging, providing the best match for market
demand and adapting it to the fullest extent to the real interest of consumers.
This is important, because according to the Ogilvy Action Research
"Shopper Decisions Made In-Store", 70% of all purchases occur
spontaneously, and the decision to purchase a specific product is taken in the
store in the first 5 seconds. That is why the product packaging, its appearance
and ability to attract the buyer's attention on the shelves of the store are extremely
important.
BC: What does it mean “to make a package”? What should the manufacturer
know? Where to start?
I.М.: We offer a complete production cycle from the idea itself to its
implementation in packaging. Having a certain idea, one can turn to our design
studio IMMER Design Studio, where
young creative professionals, educated in European universities, will create a
design. Their knowledge and practical skills will help you to increase the
speed of bringing new products to the market.
Initially, when organizing a design studio, we set the tasks to facilitate
and simplify the processes of development and implementation of packaging
design for our customers. Companies usually lose a lot of time at all stages of
creating a design and selecting the right structure of material for a
particular product. Each product has different requirements for packaging, but
the goal is the same, i.e. to increase the shelf life without any additives to
the product itself. Due to the packaging it is possible, for example, to store
mayonnaise twice as long.
We offer our customers a comprehensive solution in order to achieve the
desired result faster and without extra costs for the work of artists, marketers
and other outsource specialists who sometimes do not know the finer points of
the technological process of packaging production or the regulatory
requirements for packaging.
And in the end, there are also ready-made solutions, for example, a 3-D package
with different functions.
BC: Your company works for export. Please, outline the geography of product
shipments.
I.М.: Companies from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and
the CIS countries are among our clients. There are customers from the UK,
France, Algeria and Israel, because our printing and post-processing options
are unique. We are also actively working to attract attention on the
Scandinavian market.
By the way, we worked with the Baltic countries before. Laima is our historical client. After
opening a factory in Ventspils the market share in Latvia has considerably
increased. We produce packaging for the local brands such as Laima, Apsara, Baltais, Rāmkalni, Hrum Hrum,
Trikātas pienotava and Cesvaines Piens and others with the utmost
responsibility. Many customers, using digital printing and our packaging
solutions, were able to discover new markets for themselves. Apsara has started
to make deliveries to America. For Hrum Hrum we are making packaging to
nine countries, to each in its own language.
A. Lembergs, I. Mirochnik, D. Graveris. Ventspils. 01.02.2017. |
BC: What is the number of personnel at the Ventspils plant and what are the
prospects for its expansion?
I.М.: The plant is equipped with the most modern equipment and requires highly
qualified personnel, including those with higher technical education.
Specialists of our profile are unique. We invest in training of new and already
working team members both in Latvia and abroad.
Today the Latvian company numbers 64
employees, basically they are young people from Ventspils whom we are training
by ourselves. We highly appreciate the availability of Ventspils Higher School
and Ventspils Technical College in the town. We are also glad that the work in
our company caused the move of three families to the town of Ventspils.
BC: What attracts the investors to the Latvian port town? What preferences
does the status of a free economic zone (FEZ)
give to your company? In what way is the relationship with the town and its
leadership being established?
И.М.: The status of the SEZ company creates particularly favorable conditions for
investors. They are subject to substantial tax incentives, which facilitate
exports and industrial production, as well as strengthen the global
competitiveness of the EU companies.
Ventspils Free Port, according to the Financial Times rating, has been called
one of the best in Europe, having received recognition for supporting
start-ups, upgrading infrastructure, expanding port infrastructure, marketing
and developing high-tech products.
BC: What innovations are ready to be
implemented in the field of packaging
manufacure and what are you planning to implement?
I.M.: Our research center has made a new material named “cotton touch”, the
decorative qualities of which combine the original tactile effect and texture.
The material has a visual and tactile fabric effect. It is soft and pleasant to
the touch. The work on creating the new product was carried out in the
laboratory of the IMMER Group Research Center.
One of the priorities in the field of innovation also lies in brand
protection and restriction of counterfeit products. Our company in cooperation
with our Swiss partners for the first time introduced the Track & Trace
traceability technology for flexible packaging and labeling. For the modern
market it is a unique solution having a number of advantages.
First, it is the verification of the product and the confirmation of its
authenticity. Any consumer using the smartphone programs via encoded data on
the package can receive information about the product origin.
Secondly, today the possibility of recycling of packages is of current
concern and is very important. This is a global trend. Therefore, we have
developed materials with all the barrier properties needed by the customers and
excluded the components that clear the way to full recycling.
Thirdly, we have implemented a complex and interesting sleeve-label
technology that only few companies are able to produce qualitatively. This type
of labels allows you to maximize the use of packaging space for applying textual data, attracts the buyer's attention to
an original design, and can also be recycled with a PET bottle.
BC: What distinguishes flexible packaging from other types of packaging
materials?
I. М.: Flexible packaging is an alternative to traditional types of packaging like
metal, glass or paper. It is 50 to 80 times lighter than glass; its production
releases 5 times less carbon dioxide than paper; it consumes 14 times less
energy than production of cans, for example.
Thanks to reliable multi-layer barrier films, flexible packaging protects
the product better. The main advantages of flexible packaging are the ability
to use it for a wide variety of products, in a variety of shapes and sizes,
with additional functional solutions including handles, dispensers and
zip-fasteners, allowing to use the re-opening and reclosing function.
BC: To what extent are packaging materials friendly to the
environment?
I.М.: We invest in new products and technologies in order to enhance the quality
of people's life. IMMER Group produces packaging products for consumer goods,
develops and implements all new and new solutions. Responsibility to the
environment already begins during production process of packaging itself, bringing forward the issue
of how much resources are required to produce it. Important is the fact that the
polymer packaging is completely recycled. It replaces laminated materials with
aluminum foil, which is used for dairy products, coffee, sauces, etc.
But, strange to say, today the greatest harm to the environment is caused
by discarded food products, which account for a third of all waste. But even in
Central Europe, 30% of the population is undernourished. With properly selected
packaging, the shelf life of food products is increased by two to three times.
Our packaging, which does not contain aluminum foil, guarantees longer
shelf life, has the ability to reopen and reclose a package and minimizes the amount of food loss.
IMMER Group is an active participant in the UN SAVE FOOD
Initiative, an environmental program Responsible Care and is a full-fledged
member of the UN Global Compact. In addition, we are participating in the
CEFLEX Consortium, a large-scale association of flexible packaging
manufacturers that are building a new model of its life cycle for the new
European closed cycle economy.
And we are motivating our customers and partners to use environmentally
friendly packaging materials that meet the principles of a closed cycle
economy.
Environmental standards of our production are constantly being certified
for compliance with international requirements for sustainability.
BC: How do you see the near and more distant future of your company?
I.М.: According to a new report provided by the analytical agency Smithers
Pira, the global flexible packaging market will be growing by an average of 3%
annually and will reach $ 248 billion by
2020. The use of digital printing in production of flexible packaging in the
years of 2017 to 2020 will grow by 30%.
So we have an occasion for further development. We have received funding
from the European program of structural funds "Innovative flexible
packaging product for production", thanks to which we will set up a new
innovative production in Ventspils. A quarter of all equipment will be really
and truly the innovative developments, in a single copy in the world that are
not yet used in the market. The Ventspils Free Port Authority is going to build
another building that will meet the requirements of our production.
This will allow to produce even more perfect packaging. It will be thinner,
easier to use, and its production will be consuming less resources.
BC: Irina, what is your assessment of the past
20 years as the head of a large company? How do you manage to maintain such a
strenuous pace of life?
I.М.: The most significant for me through all those years were people -
employees, partners, clients, family. After all, without a good team and
partners, the company would not have achieved what it has got now. In my work,
I try to hear reason and heart, to follow my intuition. When making decisions I
rely on numbers and on my knowledge and knowledge of my colleagues. We have
been working together with many of them all these years. I'm happy because I
love my job. What we are doing is creation. I highly appreciate my colleagues.
I am madly proud of my daughters and my friendship with wonderful people.
Travel and drawing help me to support the inner harmony. And active sports
and rest like tennis, dances, music give me energy for new achievements.
About company
In December, the company celebrated their 90th anniversary, whose business
was continued by IMMER Group, which
has become one of the world's leading manufacturers of flexible packaging. IMMER Group includes two production
sites: IMMER Digital and IMMER Ukrplastic, as well as IMMER Design Studio. The IMMER Group production ranks 15th in
Europe; 60% of their products are exported to 35 countries. The IMMER Group team numbers 1,500
specialists engaged in production, technical, and research groups as well as marketing.