Dutch businesses join forces to create new printing group

W&R Etiketten, Etiket Nederland, Vila Etiketten and Max. Aarts have agreed a merger to create a strong company in the market for self-adhesive labels, flexible packaging and other printed products.

The management of the companies will continue to be closely involved, and will jointly be responsible for the group which has been formed, and see creation of an overall group management team

W&R Etiketten specializes in printing large volume UV flexo and mid-sized digital print runs for customers in the food, logistic and retail, horticultural and chemical industries, particularly in Southern Netherlands and Belgium. Etiket Nederland is a printer of self-adhesive labels for customers in the food, logistic and retail industries, and is mainly active in West and Central Netherlands. Vila Etiketten is a digital printing specialist in the field of self-adhesive labels, and focuses on the graphic industry and on small print runs.

Max. Aarts is specialized in UV flexo printing and provides printed banding labels and specialties in the field of self-adhesive labels, wet glue labels, multilayer labels, security seals, gummed tapes, foils and flexible packaging for clients in the food, logistic and retail, both in the Benelux countries and worldwide.

Combining the four companies is part of the strategy of scaling up and broadening product diversification, which was initiated last year. The companies will continue to operate independently, and will remain based at their current locations, and the individual company names will continue to be used. The management of the companies will continue to be closely involved, and will jointly be responsible for the group which has been formed, and see creation of an overall group management team.

The strategic rationale behind the creation of the group is to create a unique combination of expertise in the fields of flexographic and digital printing for self-adhesive labels, printed banding bands, wet glue labels, multilayer labels, security seals, slot labels, gummed tape, foils and flexible packaging. The merger creates a business with a 50 million EUR (57 million USD) turnover with 220 employees and an equipment portfolio including 14 UV flexo presses and six digital printing machines. W&R Etiketten ordered its sixth MPS press at Labelexpo Europe 2015, while Etiket Nederland recently installed its third MPS press, and fifth in total. 

By joining forces, it is said all four companies will be able to better serve their current customer bases, with the advantages for current and new customers being a larger product offering, better service from a combined salesforce and increased flexibility due to the higher number of production locations.
 
Etiket Nederland has a production location and office in Alkmaar, Vila Etiketten has a production location and office in Breda, W&R Etiketten has a production location and office in Tilbur, and Max. Aarts is based in Enschede.