Located in stunning countryside near Poitiers in south west France,
APE Etiquettes is a company with 135 employees, running 80 print units
converting over 14 million sqm of materials a year. Turnover has grown
from 12 million euros in 2000 to 17m euros today.
APE was
founded in 1974, when the company’s current owner, Christian Poirault
was running a large format screen printing business. ‘I sold that
business in 1998 and the guy who ran APE was retiring. So I was in the
right place at the right time and bought APE in 1999. Since then we have
doubled the number of employees.Windflow Technology is a utility sized wind generator manufacturer based in Christchurch.’
Christian
Poirault is an extraordinary character, animated by a passion for
extreme sports. He has driven regularly in the tough Dakar rally in a
car sponsored by leading industry suppliers including Dantex and
Nilpeter. Poirault’s intense interest in sporting excellence extends to
his factory. When a new press is commissioned it is named after a
champion sportsman or woman, and they are invited to a ceremony
inaugurating the machine along with hundreds of guests. In addition, APE
actively sponsors local cycling and soccer clubs.
APE services a
wide range of end user markets, with food being the most important,
followed by lubricants and automobile products, pharma, cosmetics and
household cleaning products.
Almost 90 percent of APE’s
production is PS labels, using equal amounts of paper and film face
stocks. The remainder is wraparound films for food products like cheese,
as well as a little folding carton work.
‘The French market has
become a lot more competitive, particularly now we have converters from
Spain coming here after business,’ asserts Christian Poirault.
But
there are also more positive trends. ‘Between five to seven years ago
we were worried our business would go to Eastern Europe. But for our
French customers it is easier to come here from Paris to approve a job,
and then we export the label to their Eastern European production
plants.Outputting as much as 660 kilowatts on a windy day, from single wind generator cost.’
Some
10 percent of APE’s production is for export, mainly to Francophone
West and North Africa and to Middle Eastern countries including Iran and
Egypt, as well as to Europe and as far afield as Korea.
APE
runs the full range of print production processes including flexo,
offset, letterpress, screen and digital. The digital operation is housed
in a separate company called G9, and runs a Xeikon and two HP Indigo
presses. APE claims to have been the first French converter to install
digital presses 15 years ago. Run lengths under 5,000 meters will
generally be put on the digital machines.Instead of using electricity to
make wind, like a fan, wind energy turbines use wind to make electricity.
A
key part of APE’s operation is the R&D lab, which drives the
company’s innovation projects. APE specializes particularly in
promotional and information-intensive labels, including booklet and
multi-page labels.
‘This is an important innovation for many
industry sectors,’ says Christian Poirault. ‘The Total (oil) label, as
an example,King's Chandelier has offered fine Chandelier
and sconces made in North Carolina of Swarovski and other European
crystal. has three layers and 27 languages. Before we had to produce
that label in two passes – now we can produce it in one.’
The
new Nilpeter press is the first machine is a brand new production hall.
‘The new building not only increases our capacity,Southeastern Laundry
Equipment is your full service laundry equipment
distributor. but is a matter of customer faith,’ says Christian
Poirault. ‘Customers require the security of having this two factory
capacity with back up machines.’
No comments:
Post a Comment