Platform 2i

Etiquetas Macho, an innovative and avant-garde family company

The company bets on innovation to widen its range of new products, to complement the offer available and enrich the services rendered to its customer portfolio

Read the original article

The first company to present its innovative experiences at Platform 2I this year has been Etiquetas Macho. The company was founded in 1945 by Juan Macho Hernández as a traditional printing that was gradually turning into the graphic art plant it is nowadays. During the seventies the company became a specialist in producing labels, beginning with conventional ones and adding self-adhesive labels later on.

The family company, whose headquarters are in Morón de la Frontera (Seville), is managed currently by the founder's sons. According to the President, Juan Macho Rodríguez-Buzón, one of the keys to the development of the company has been “innovation and the tenacity we have faced day by day with, apart from relying on an excellent team work.”

Along its more than 50 years of history, Etiquetas Macho has been characterized by keeping a strong investment rhythm, purchasing and adding state-o-the-art technology, and reinvesting the obtained benefits in the company again.

Nowadays, Etiquetas Macho invoices 16 million Euros and counts on a staff of 120 people. According to the President, Juan Macho, one of the company’s more important keys is “the inner promotion, which is the propelling force of the organization”.

Professional training as the staff integrating motor. One of the key aspects of Etiquetas Macho is the people. The main goal is to achieve full integration in the enterprise objectives. In order to succeed, a plan to improve qualification of its workforce has been set in motion by means of continuous training and focusing on the strengthening of participation and versatility. Etiquetas Macho's staff consists of 120 people, organized by productive areas and sections (with their functions and responsibilities clearly established). 37% of the staff is between 30 and 40 years old. One of the most outstanding aspects of this company is fluent communication among all these areas. The main training lines are: “Health and safety at work”, “Information technology”, “English”, “Quality management”, and “Purchasing management”. In 2007 more than 4.890 training hours were given.

The company’s strategy is based on growth hand in hand with its most important customers by developing new products and services these customers require, and by adding the innovative technologies which allow producing them, besides a very integrated and involved in the company matters staff. Human beings and human relationships are the essential pillars of the company, at the service of offering innovative labeling products and services which highly satisfy its customers.

According to José Luis López Quintela, Etiquetas Macho’s sales manager, in a mature and highly competitive market “the strategy followed by Etiquetas Macho to achieve being different from its competitors has been to become leaders in new products and technologies. This means, being constantly on the alert for the development of new technologies, and being able to do fast investments at crucial time.”

According to Gustavo Macho, vice-president of the company, Etiquetas Macho is always in touch with its customers, and receives information about their needs and expectations, its providers, paying attention to their proposals, and with the market itself, analyzing the latest novelties not only in products but also in applications that international competitors might develop”.

As a result of this innovative activity and the needing of satisfying customers’ requests, the SLEEVE project came up in 2003, a new product which had been developed previously in Europe and USA consisting of shrinking plastic sleeve that labels the final product by surrounding it all over its surface and this allows to make use of more space to include more consumer information and makes the product visually more attractive.

According to José Luis Franconetti, Etiquetas Macho's Quality manager, , “Our company has pioneered the production of this kind of product in Spain, becoming one of the leaders in the market not only at an invoicing level but also in our products range, because we offer a complete range of labeling alternatives”.

Etiquetas Macho's investments in those innovative products added up to 3 million Euros and were faced by the company without any state subsidy.