Italy-based Omet Srl aims to meet the Gulf’s increasing demand for sophisticated label-printing technology by partnering with Printech Middle East, said Omet Export Sales Manager Paolo Grasso.
After being active for eight years in the Gulf, Omet has only now found a partner with the right focus, he told Packaging MEA.
“Until today we could not find a suitable partner/distributor completely focused on the label industry,” he said.
“When heavy industrialisation set in, we had some experiences with agents who were also active in other fields of business, which were more interesting than the labels. Today the picture has completely changed again and we experience more and more conventional printers looking into the possibility of differentiating their business and entering into labels.”
Omet now sees Printech ME as the ideal partner to realise sales from printers seeking either to diversify their output or to optimise their production, he said.
“The meeting with Printech ME has definitely fallen at the right time and it sounds like a great chance for both,” he said.
“Printech is a well-known local partner of the label industry and Omet is among the top machine manufacturers. The result can be a perfect combination of local market knowledge with an international approach to the technology and the solutions which we can bring.”
Over the last two years, Omet has seen a shift in sales towards companies already active in labelling but aiming to cut costs or enhance production, he added.
“After an initial set of installations in the region to customers who were more into an approach towards diversification across packaging, folding cartons and labels, Omet has recently restarted installed a couple of high-end top-of-the-range presses at one of the biggest label printers in UAE,” he said.
Omet can serve specialised label printers through a “unique mix of technology”, he said.
“We can say that today’s label machines can compete with the digital presses thanks to the limited amount of setup time and waste that they require. Everything happens fully automatically and the operators don’t need high skill any more.”
Over the coming year, Omet now aims to introduce more top-end solutions to the Gulf, he added.
“The target of Omet is to invest in higher and higher technology to bring all the end users into an area of unique skill that differentiates them not only by the final quality but really by the final cost-management of their products,” he said.
“This trend is so important because it’s the tendency of the brand owners: becoming more cost-effective, with the same quality standards and with a greener approach too. From Europe – one of the most competitive markets – we see how competition is becoming tight and how the market demands shorter runs with the same expectation of profitability.”
Omet is working to automate the most critical and complex aspects of setup, he added.
But Printech ME and Omet will partner with the label industry, providing free consultancy as well as making sales, said Pankaj Patel, founder and CEO of Printech ME.
“Sharing a long experience in the industry, we approach the market not simply to sell machines and products but to offer the best for everyone’s needs,” he said.
“Even if not all the end users can afford a press like this, it’s not a problem: we would be there to provide our free-of-charge consultancy and to wait for them to grow till the day they will need a piece of technology.”