ENGLAND, U.K.—Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the International Greetings Group’s Welsh plant on April 30, officially launched the second line of Uteco’s high performance and speed Diamond HP flexo press which was recently installed. The International Greetings Group, a world leader in the gift paper sector, has plants all over the world, with Uteco machines installed in their plants situated in the U.K. and Holland and involved in future worldwide investing projects.
Aldo Peretti, CEO of the Uteco Group, invited as a strategic technological partner by the executives and shareholders of the IG Group, briefly illustrated the machine main topics to the Queen and introduced the Uteco Group to the Duke of Edinburgh. The Royal couple, during their visit, were able to view the machine in production, to see some of the excellent products produced in the plant and they unveiled a plaque to commemorate the event which mentions the Uteco machine.
More than 80 of the Uteco Group’s 2,700 machines installed worldwide were sold in the UK to multinational groups and small to medium converters, or many advanced technological applications in different fields such as film, paper and cardboard packaging and also banknote security. The Uteco experience in the U.K. market has also allowed the group to make contacts in advanced research fields such as printed electronics with Swansea University.
The invitation to the event received from International Greetings’ executives will soon be reciprocated to all the main Uteco Customers worldwide—at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015—in the occasion of the launch of Uteco’s third major plant in Italy (after the recent expansion of our U.S. plant) and the enlargement of the Research & Development and Technological Excellence Centre “ConverDrome.” These events will take place alongside other initiatives to mark the celebration of the 30th anniversary (1985-2015) of Uteco, with an open house and demonstrations concentrating on the latest advanced technological achievements in the printing, converting and other advanced applications fields.
This year, the Uteco Group intends to confirm the exceptional growth trends which in 2013 resulted in a 30 percent increase in sales volume and even much higher improvement of the financial and economical assets, compared to results posted in 2012. This will allow for further intensification of the large investments already underway, not only in the new production and research and development sites already mentioned, but also in the strategic strengthening in Human Resources, starting with the hiring of mechatronic engineers in the various areas of engineering, lean manufacturing and Service both in Italy and the rest of the world, consolidating at the same time the affirmation to be “one of the most respected industrial and technological Made in Italy brands in the world,” according to Peretti.