Digital first for Greece

Award-winning converter Forlabels has installed the first HP Indigo WS6000 in Greece. Andy Thomas reports

Forlabels was founded by entrepreneur Avgerinos Chatzichrysos in 1986, in a small building in the center of Athens. It produced adhesive labels for both small and medium-sized customers.

Avgerinos was soon joined by Vasilis Chatzichrysos, and with the motto 'strength in unity', the company witnessed rapid growth through the 1990s, moving into larger premises, first in Metamorphosi, Attica and in 2003 to a new factory on an industrial estate in Schimatari, strategically located just outside Athens.

The company now employs 40 people and converts labels and packaging solutions for a wide range of product categories, including foods, beverages, agricultural products, health and personal care products, clothes and shoes, logistics and promotional applications.

To what does Avgerinos Chatzichrysos attribute the company’s success? ‘It is our management philosophy that makes us different,’ he says. ‘This means we are constantly on the look out for new ways to serve our costumers, to suggest new applications, and we do everything possible to make our cooperation the best it can be. All our people have been trained in this way of thinking and working.’

Forlabels moved into digital label printing two years ago with an HP Indigo ws4500 and Digicon finishing line. The company’s strength in innovation was demonstrated when it won a Digital Label award during Labelexpo Europe 2009.

These machines sat alongside two UV flexo presses, four slitter-rewinders and a fully equipped graphic design studio including in-house digital platemaking. Processing capabilities include thermal printing, cold foil and silk screen printing, lamination and printing directly on the adhesive.

The WS6000 was installed last October through 3print Hellas, HP's Greek agent. ‘The new press will make us more flexible, and this in turn will allow us to respond even better to the needs of our customers,’ says Avgerinos.  ‘It will further improve delivery times, which was already our company’s competitive advantage. It is like finding you have an eighth day of the week, since our customers often want their jobs done by yesterday!’

Avgerinos believes a key service for existing customers will be product prototypes and samples. ‘This will allow them to make professional presentations of new product samples, to optimize the launch of new products.’

Running a sustainable business is important for Avgerinos - current initiatives include recycling waste materials. ‘The new press provides significant advantages concerning our impact on the environment, such as saving resources and the raw materials used in printing,’ says Avgerinos.

Looking to the future, Avgerinos is anxious to make sure that levels of customer service are not threatened by the company’s rapid growth. ‘We want to grow in steady steps, and our criterion is how we can be equally close both to our small and to our large customers, the same as we did on the day we first started.’

This article was published in L&L issue 2, 2011.