On April 22nd, Inkmaker Group will become IM GROUP. The official launch – which has been planned for about two years – was filmed at Inkmaker’s headquarters in Turin (Italy), which is now also the headquarters of IM GROUP. It will be screened privately on April 22nd and then made public on YouTube, in the media around the world and on the websites of the group’s brands. The Group has been evolving on many fronts, both internally, from its systems and processes, its software, the technology it uses and how it uses it, to its global teams around the world.
And, above all, externally. After acquiring several companies – since 2019 – combining expertise, intelligence, technology and hardware, Inkmaker’s strategy was to consolidate all of its brands under a single holding group brand, originally known as Inkmaker Group. As of 22 April, the group will be renamed IM GROUP, with its own identity, to better compete in the market as a total solutions provider.
Justification of the logo:
The Symbol
It is a face created from a series of triangles (inspired by the Inkmaker logo) in blue to convey confidence, security and high technology. The triangles converge, as do the Group’s many brands and competencies, to form a solid whole – a distinct “human identity” – representing a leader in engineering technology with a “human touch”.
The face is adorned with a crown, representing the Group’s determination to maintain its leadership position in the industries it serves.
The logo
The symbol is flanked by the words “IM GROUP”, in a typeface custom-designed to communicate the Group’s various business fields, such as paint, coatings, ink, specialty chemicals, adhesives and more.
Credo
Below the logo, in steel grey, the Group’s credo and positioning line; “The colour of trust”, the result of its core values of being truthful, responsible, understanding, safe and tailor-made to ultimately position the group as the leader that can T R U S T “. – Silvio Cimenti, Global Brand, Marketing and Communications Director of the IM Group.
Reason for the rebranding of Inkmaker Group to IM GROUP:
The decision to rename Inkmaker Group as IM GROUP arises from the group’s VISION, which is to evolve our technology to expand in our fields and adapt the advantages of our products to new markets.
Since October 2019, Inkmaker has invested heavily, in the acquisitions of the Rexson and Valtech businesses in the UK, Tecnopails in Italy and most recently Swesa in Germany. The strategy driving these acquisitions was to create a complete and reliable supply chain – serving predominantly, but not only, the ink, paint and coatings industry – to support our core businesses.
This meant restructuring our brands in several specialties, but without ceasing to be a strong force, hence the need to rebrand the existing branding of the Inkmaker Group, to have an identity of its own, as a autonomousholding brand: this is the evolution of the Inkmaker Group, which is essentially that of Inkmaker.
Thanks to its acquisitions, Inkmaker grew 25% worldwide. Given the current challenges brought about by the pandemic, this is still in line with our vision. Now that we have the holding brand, IM GROUP, to drive all of our specialty brands, we expect all of our brands to grow exponentially.” -ChristopheRizzo, Managing Director EMEA/Americas, IM GROUP.
Reason for the renaming of the brand of the holding IM Group:
The name “IM” has a historical significance for us. The “I” and the “M” are acronyms that derive from the name “Inkmaker”, the founder of the group, and it meant a lot to us to remember those who, in 1987, founded Inkmaker… Carlo Musso, Luciano Longobardi and – especially for me – my father, Giuliano Cigna. He would have been very proud of this moment”. – Valentina Cigna, Global HR Director and President of IM GROUP.
How this development affects operations in Asia Pacific:
IM GROUP, is evolving on all fronts and in all our locations worldwide. “We have expanded our facilities in Malaysia to house our tinting and engineering brand, Teko, along with Inkmaker. In Thailand, we have just opened a fully staffed sales and service office this year. We are gaining market share in the Philippines. The big one, of course, is China, suffice to say that, thanks to our larger facilities, we can now double the number of standard machines we ship monthly, from an average of 5 or 6 units to 10 or 12 ink and paint dispensing systems. More importantly, the real added value for us, is the ability to build more complex units, which is where IM GROUP R&D is investing a lot of resources. The smart factory and Industry 4.0 are driving our growth, and when building complete production lines for a paint and ink company, it’s important to have enough space to work in complete safety.” – Roberto Guerra, General Manager Asia-Pacific of IM GROUP.
An evolution in safety and a commitment to social responsibility and sustainable practices:
A safe working environment is certainly one of IM GROUP’s priorities, along with technology, but the Group is also evolving the way its products have an impact on the environment, its carbon footprint. “This is precisely why we have chosen to launch IM GROUP today on “World Earth Day”. To do so, IM GROUP has partnered with Deloitte to create a roadmap that will enable us to reduce our ecological impact, i.e. the resources we use and the waste we generate, so that we can contribute to reducing environmental pollution. And to align our ethical principles for a safe working environment with those of the United Nations Global Compact”. Valentina Cigna, Global HR Director and President of IM GROUP.
The creation of a Foundation of the IM Group :
In addition, the group has some special news to coincide with the release. It is creating an IM GROUP FOUNDATION, which will be ready by the end of this year, with IM Group Goodwill Ambassador Alice Guerra as the foundation’s president. It will have 2 scopes:
1. to bring social activities to the members of the local communities, where the IM GROUP operates and
2. To provide professional development and growth opportunities for young people in these communities.
On a private level, we have always been active in this field, especially in South East Asia, working closely with children with special needs through workshops and activities; now we will take this activity to the next level and to our IM GROUP”. –Valentina Cigna, Global HR Director and President of IM GROUP.
How this development affects operations in China:
In Shanghai, we have already advanced our expansion plans for the IM GROUP. “In April 2020, we made the news when we expanded our facility to double the size of our previous production area. At the time it was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but we had to do it to meet escalating demand. The move has turned out to be hugely beneficial for us. Larger facilities allow us to manufacture more machines and offer greater variety. We are already offering customers the full portfolio of our brands. So, for us, the new IM GROUP brand will certainly have a positive impact on the business in China. It creates a platform for us to promote all our brands individually, or working in unison with a single focus, such as “IM GROUP”.Total Solution Provider“. – Lau Kar Seng Managing Director of Inkmaker Shanghai and member of the Board of Directors of IM GROUP.
A global solutions provider:
To be a “Total Solution Provider” is our MISSION, and that is precisely why we acquire the brands we do. Our strategy is to create “areas of excellence” by dedicating each of our brands to a specific experience, which can come together – like our logo – to form a powerful force. Each brand can continue to work individually with its customers in its own markets and, where necessary, share its expertise, offering total solutions, for example in large turnkey plant engineering projects. This guarantees the optimization of resources and great flexibility to manage projects of all sizes. This was one of the key reasons for forming the holding company brand, IM GROUP, in the first place.
“For example; Rexson and Vale-tech had their own unique technology, now, that we are one big team, we are consolidating the strength of each brand and combining, resources, technology and software and we can take a huge advantage in integrating with Inkmaker to offer cutting edge solutions.” – Gianluca Incerti, Global Sales Director of IM GROUP.
With the restructuring of our brands, Inkmaker will focus on ink dispensing and software design; Rexson will be predominantly for painting as well as liquid ink, Vale-Tech will focus on narrow web and paste ink dispensing, as well as UV flexo and offset inks; Swesa mainly for; food, pharmaceuticals, corrugated packaging, cosmetics and more; Teko will remain in point-of-sale tinting and R&D and training; Tecnopails for filling solutions.
“Externally, we believe this decision makes it clearer for our customers to differentiate our brands and their purpose. Internally, for us, we can focus our R&D attention on developing that brand experience.” – Incerti continues.
Dividing the market sectors in each brand was one of the main reasons to create the IM GROUP brand and will be an important advantage to differentiate the GROUP in the market. Another of these advantages, which has played an important role since the acquisitions, is the legendary Inkmaker software.
Inkmaker’s Software, the brain of the IM Group:
“Significant investment has been made in the Software and Automation division on purpose to ensure, not only a smooth transition with our new brands in the family, but also to raise the level of our technology capabilities. Inkmaker software is at the heart of our systems and by incorporating it into our newly acquired brands of machines, we raise the productivity and performance of those brands to a much higher and more energy efficient level.
“Inkmaker software – now known as IM GROUP software; “IMAESTRO” – was designed internally by our Software team and has always defined us as a leader among our competitors, thus playing an important role in the operational execution of IM GROUP’s global strategy. Since then, we have expanded our line of software with another, called IMPRIMO, which we have recently launched with our ink transfer/supply system, Inktrasyst, and three more are in development, scheduled for release next year” – Francesco Nesti, Global Head of Software and Automation at IM GROUP.
At the customer service level, earlier this month the Software and Automation team launched a new training program for customers called ASIST-Advanced Software Intelligence Systems Training-which combines IoT automation and artificial intelligence, with the skills of IM GROUP experts, to boost the level of training on our systems.
The program consists of four certifications, known as CMYK, and covers everything from the basic structures of the group’s machines to the in-depth operation of its software, and offers techniques to improve efficiency, reduce costs and shorten response time to market demands.”
Development of machinery in the emergence of IM GROUP:
“Our global strategy is to offer “Total Process Engineering” to our customers, worldwide. Our acquisitions are therefore part of that strategic plan – to achieve that goal – and are about reorganizing and expanding our product range to ensure the sustainability of our Group’s growth over the next 10 to 15 years.”
“With my technical team, we have been studying the different machines of our brands, their capabilities and performance and their corresponding market positions.”
“To respond to this market segment distribution, several machines have been eliminated, others have been redesigned to meet higher standards of mass customization, reliability and performance, and to provide broader solutions to our customers’ needs.”
“One example of this is that we are integrating and upgrading the entire range of Rexson and Vale-tech products with enhanced versions. Others are planned to be upgraded throughout the year. The most important feature of this redesigned and integrated range of machines is the synergy with our IMAESTRO software which, as Francesco explained, will greatly benefit our customers.” Enrico Mattiazzi, Global Director of Engineering, Production and Supply Chain of IM GROUP.
