An interview with Dino Natale, CEO of Finlogic, an Italian company specialising in the production of automatic identification and labelling systems.

 

 

Please describe the identity, history and values that underpin your company.

The Finlogic Group operates in the field of automated identification and labelling systems for product identification and traceability. With almost twenty years of experience in the field of adhesive label production and the perfect synergy of skills, ideas and technological innovation, the Group offers the best solutions for industrial and automatic identification, ie new and different solutions for labelling. Specifically, the Group provides complete solutions for bar code printing and reading, and specialist technical assistance.

What is the USP for your products/services and what are the reasons for their success?

Finlogic has a number of features and competitive advantages that make it unique compared to its industry competitors, and have enabled the company to grow at a rate more than 5 times the market average over the last 6 years, in terms of both turnover and marginality.

Finlogic’s business model is based on the complete and comprehensive supply of all printing products, as well as variable data printing solutions, including consumables (labels and ribbons). This means that Finlogic's customers interface with a single contact (rather than having multiple suppliers to contact) who provides a unique, complete offer to meet specific coding and labelling requirements. The COMPLETE LABEL SYSTEM is a complete and unique system that provides technical assistance with printing and encoding technologies, variable data label printers, barcode and terminal readers, labels, ribbons, automatic applicators and label printers with digital technology. The result is that the company has an array of loyal customers, a steady and growing revenue and high levels of customer satisfaction, and constantly seeks to provide innovative solutions other than the standard ones on the market.

Another distinctive and esteemed feature of Finlogic is the company’s national presence, with 2 production sites in Italy (one in Bollate and one in the Bari area) and a technical and commercial centre in Rome. Proximity to the customer is a strategic requirement for service provision.

What are your growth strategies, challenges and vision for the future?

The Group aims to double its turnover over the next few years through acquisitions that will enable it to consolidate its presence on the market and increase its market share. Scalability of the market share on the same client portfolio will also be facilitated by investing in machinery and equipment useful for producing articles that cannot be made with the machines currently in use.

How far does the company consider innovation a strategy for growth?

Ongoing innovation is a distinctive feature of Finlogic; we are constantly developing labelling solutions to meet the specific needs of customers and particular vertical merchandising sectors.

We have solutions for many different product segments and work alongside our distributors and customers so they perceive us as providing more than just a product. For example, we won the Packaging Oscar at the Politecnico di Milano with our "multimaterial" label, an innovative solution in the labelling industry.

What does "business internationalisation" mean for you today? Exports, outsourcing, partnership, or a combination of these?

Two years ago we started the process of internationalisation by setting up partnerships in nearby countries (France, Austria, Switzerland and Spain), with immediate success: 10% of our revenue is now from exports.

With the increase in production capacity at the Lombardy plant, we are continuing to develop the market in our bordering countries.

What are your most important markets today? And what markets are you looking at with greater interest in the medium to long term?

Geographically, Italy has to be our main target, since Finlogic has less than 3% of the fragmented and scalable Italian market, but we will simultaneously continue to work on developing the foreign market.

At sector level, however, we are developing innovative solutions in new product segments, including Healthcare and the Food Sector, by acquiring certification for the facilities that produce labels specifically for food.

What was the most important project or time for your company and for consolidating it?

The partial or complete acquisition of companies operating on the market is an ongoing project. Our aim is to be the leading enterprise in a process of aggregation that will soon establish us as the leading group in the labelling industry in Italy.

Our latest acquisition, Primetec, a company that produces digital reel fed labels, has allowed us to enter the market as leader, and add laser and ink jet printers for small runs to our COMPLETE LABEL SYSTEM.