Early last month, I had the pleasure of traveling to Long Island, NY for the grand opening of Nordmeccanica’s new and improved North American headquarters in Hauppague. The facility is twice as large as its previous one and features enhanced office space and more room for inventory – a tell-tale sign of the market share that Nordmeccanica has gained (the company states its market share is 60-65 percent globally and 90-95 percent in the U.S.) after introducing its converting products to the North American market about a quarter century ago.

“It’s been a long road for Nordmeccanica to come all the way to where we are today,” stated Giancarlo Caimmi, Nordmeccanica Group commercial director. “We’ve been in North American now for over 25 years. The first part of our history was in the 1980s. Then in 2000, our president decided to invest in North America.”

That investment culminated with the opening of a North American facility in Long Island in 2001. Now 14 years later, the company has doubled the size of its revamped North American headquarters to better serve its customers.

More than 120 guests attended the event, which began with a formal ribbon cutting in front of the building and also consisted of a technical conference on the company’s capabilities in lamination, specifically regarding thin aluminum foil coated in adhesive lamination. Demonstrations were conducted on an in-house Super Simplex XL laminating machine in between presentations from Nordmeccanica NA president Vincenzo Cerciello, Nordmeccanica Group financial director Alfredo Cerciello, Caimmi and Clemson University professor Dr. Duncan Darby.

Overall, it was a great, educational and somewhat eye-opening event to be a part of and it was my pleasure to attend on behalf of Flexible Packaging.

Perhaps fittingly, I now segue from an event hosted by a major manufacturer of converting equipment to this issue’s cover story - Flexible Packaging’s annual Top 25 Converters list. It’s the 11th year that we’ve put together this list and with all the M&As that occurred in 2014, you can bet that this year’s list looks a tad different from those of the past. Be sure to turn to Pg. 19 to see who made it this year.

It was great meeting and speaking with many of you last month at the 2015 Global Pouch Forum in Miami. I’ll see you right back here in the August issue!

Eric Fish
Editor-in-Chief
Direct Line: 248-786-1667
Email: fishe@bnpmedia.com

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