Madiwor makes it work

Symbar is part of – and based next door to the headquarters of – Grupo Hasar, an international supplier of a wide range of hardware and software products, with operations in Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Uruguay and the US. It began printing self-adhesive labels in 2004 with a Mark Andy 830 press, since upgraded to a 4-color Mark Andy 2200, and serves the retail, logistics, food and beverage sectors with two shifts and 60 employees.

Twenty-five percent of its business comes from label printing. The rest comes from selling printers, handheld readers, labels and consumables from Zebra, for which the company is a distributor. ‘We focus on everything that has to do with traceability,’ says Karina Pugliese, product manager for supplies at Symbar. Clients include Avon, Coca-Cola and Pfizer.

‘Growth of the label printing business is a key part of our strategy, and investment in processes and equipment has to come with it,’ says Pugliese. ‘Increasing efficiency and profitability by installing the workflow system from Madiwor has been a part of that.’

While using its own workflow software, developed in-house and mixed with an external system, the company had struggled particularly with price estimating. ‘The price-quoting problems the system had meant we were sometimes losing money on jobs without knowing,’ says Pugliese.

Since installing Madiwor’s software in mid-2019, following three months of testing, all that has changed. ‘We are really happy with the system. It has been a huge help and reduces stress,’ enthuses Pugliese. ‘It has improved our competitivity. A client can make an order online, and the software automates the process of choosing what is needed for each job. We’ve been able to reduce stock levels because the system controls what is needed.

‘Many label converters in Argentina have been struggling due to the country’s economic problems, but they haven’t impacted us: we’ve had a good year. This is partly down to the Madiwor system.’

Pugliese says Symbar is only using around 30 percent of the software’s capabilities, though this will increase in the near future to some 60-70 percent. ‘We are ramping it up more and more. We will begin using the production module soon, and this will hugely increase our efficiency.’ 

Customizable
The modular nature of Madiwor’s software means that users can install the complete system or select the modules they require. The cross-platform software can be integrated into an existing workflow, or operate as a stand-alone system. The software is easy to implement and run, and is highly customizable. Modules include production planning, estimating, raw material inventory, finished product stock, B2B e-commerce (an extranet facility), and material cut and assignment. ‘The software continues to evolve. New modules are coming all the time and we add updates on a weekly basis,’ says Gastón Famá, product specialist at Madiwor. ‘It removes the stress of working out how to print a particular job. All necessary information, every metric from every machine, is stored and used by the software to help the business run more efficiently.’

The software, after extensive trialing and use at a label converter over an 18 month period, became commercially available in 2018 when brothers Ignacio and Sebastián Morrison founded Madiwor. Today, the company has more than 50 clients spread across North and South America, Europe and Africa.

‘Madiwor is a system created by industry professionals who know first-hand the challenges faced by label converters,’ says Ignacio Morrison, who has also designed workflow software for companies outside the label sector. ‘It has been designed specifically for label converters. It is very easy to implement and can be adapted to suit the user’s needs.’