Linds Flexo now trading as Marvaco

Finnish pre-press firm Marvaco acquired Linds Flexo in September 2013, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in the autumn of this year. This was celebrated with around 100 clients, partners and staff representatives at a special event.

The milestone anniversary received its finishing touch when the company’s name was changed, and starting from September, both companies will be known by the name of Marvaco.

Linds Flexo has its roots in a small engraving shop in the city of Helsingborg. In 1950s, the shop expanded its product selection from handstamps to packaging printing. For decades, the company was responsible for the printing plates of the packaging of Tetra Pak. Mats Lind took over the company from his father in the late 1990s. As years went by, Lind noticed that the small company’s resources for growth and expansion were limited, motivating him to begin looking for partners in the Nordic region to realize his visions. Finally, conversations with Marvaco’s managing director Kai Lankinen showed that the views and values of the two companies did meet.

Marvaco is the biggest flexo plate producer and a leading pre-press company with six Esko CDIs and four locations in the Nordic region, with 75 employees in Finland and Sweden. It produces more than 20,000 pieces of packaging artwork every year.

The joining of the two companies makes it the biggest flexo plate producer in the Nordic countries, with the joined companies offering Nordic clientele a broader offering than previously.

Lind, now the managing director of Marvaco’s operations in Sweden, said: ‘Most of all, the competencies of Marvaco complement the competencies of the professionals at Linds Flexo.’

Lankinen added: ‘Thanks to its considerable experience, the company excels at creating precise quality that receives praise from the clients.’

Further, Marvaco is extending the reach of its activities of. Marvaco sales director Herkko Mali said it will utilize the brand alliance model, commonly used by many pre-press houses in Central Europe and the United States, to expand its services to brands operating in many Nordic countries.

This expansion will start this autumn and, as of September, Mali has been responsible for the sales to brand owners in Sweden, in addition to the sales in Finland.

‘Brands can utilise them in consumer testing, for example. When the packaging goes to print, the result is more polished than before,’ said Mali.