Breaking New Ground on a Milestone Anniversary

 

Panorama 3/19


Arcángel Maggio, which is headquartered in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, has ambitious plans. With the opening of a new plant in Uruguay and its investment in an Alegro perfect binder from Muller Martini the family-run company, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year, is seeking to position itself as the largest book exporter in the region.
With its 8,000 m2 production facility, which has 200 employees working in three shifts and is located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Barracas, Arcángel Maggio expanded its activities and underscored its role as a major player in the graphic arts market in Argentina. Both as a book producer and as a printer of a number of well-known magazines, such as “¡Hola!”, “Convivimos” and “Selecciones de Reader’s Digest”, catalogs and many other products. 

But with its expansion into neighboring Uruguay the full-service company, which offers pre-press, printing and print finishing services, is breaking new ground. With the commissioning of its new 4,000 m2 comprehensive production complex in Colonia del Sacramento, in which it has invested more than USD 5 million and where 25 people are currently employed, Arcángel Maggio has set itself a new and ambitious goal. 

“With our new facility,” says CEO Sebastián Maggio, whose grandfather Don Arcángel Maggio founded the family company with a small printing press in 1929, just a year after he emigrated from Italy, “we aim to position ourselves as the largest book exporter in the region. From Uruguay we will target customers throughout Latin America.”


CEO Sebastián Maggio (right): “We’re always open to new projects and we’re also analyzing the hardcover market for the future.” Left: Carlos Rojas, Managing Director of Muller Martini Argentina.

With an eye toward the production of softcover books with print runs of 1,000 to more than 100,000 copies as well as brochures and magazines, the company’s large investment in Colonia del Sacramento also includes a 7,000-cycle Alegro perfect binder with an 18-station 3694 gathering machine, a Book Data Center, a Frontero front trimmer, a Solit three-knife trimmer and a CB 18 book stacker. 

“With our innovative team of specialists we have managed to reinvent ourselves time and again and adapt our company to the constantly growing requirements of the market,” says Sebastián Maggio. “These values make Muller Martini an important strategic partner for us, which is why – along with our excellent experience with the Acoro in Barracas – we chose an Alegro for our new facility in Uruguay.” 

Speaking of excellent experiences: As is the case in Barracas, in Colonia del Sacramento, too, a Frontero front trimmer ensures economical production of brochures with flaps. “So it was clear to us that we would choose this configuration for the Alegro line as well, and as a result we now have one of the most modern perfect binding lines in Latin America,” says the CEO.

The high net output, together with a high level of automation, is one aspect that Sebastián Maggio appreciates about the Muller Martini systems that his company has used since 1976. The second is the high quality of the end products that Arcángel Maggio is known for and that has won the company a number of important awards over the last years.


The exceptional user-friendliness of the Alegro has led to a high level of motivation among employees at the new Arcángel Maggio facility in Uruguay (pictured: machine operator Diego Abasto).

Sebastián Maggio also views the first several months that the Alegro has been in operation as highly positive: “We are very satisfied, as it has meet our high expectations in every respect. The machine can be changed over quickly, the product quality is perfect and it’s very user-friendly, which makes our employees highly motivated.”

To start with, Arcángel Maggio plans to produce around 25 million softcover products per year in Uruguay, exclusively using the offset printing method. But those who know Sebastián Maggio know that the company owner is already looking to the future. “We want to increase the number of employees from its current level of 25 to 80 in the medium term.”

One possible area of expansion would be the hardcover segment, in which Arcángel Maggio is still not represented. “First we want to focus on softcover production in Uruguay. But we’re always open to new projects and we’re also analyzing the hardcover market for the future,” says the grandson of the company’s founder.