With “RigidPackagingTechnologies”, Italian engineering group Sacmi (Imola / Italy; www.sacmi.com) founded a new business unit towards the end of 2020. The new unit combines all plastics services in the areas of closures, preforms, rigid containers and inspection under one roof. The business unit, which at EUR 250m accounts for about one-fifth of the current group turnover, is headed by Vezio Bernardi: “We have the advantage of working with the most important international brand manufacturers on a daily basis, which distinguishes us from companies that are only active in one product area.”

According to Bernardi, Sacmi wants to link its core business – manufacturing closures, preforms and containers – more closely with offerings in the field of assembly and packaging. This is an area that Sacmi had strengthened last year with the acquisition of Velomat (Spoltore / Italy; www.velomat.com), a manufacturer of high-speed assembly machines for caps, micropumps and medical devices.

The machine programme of the “RigidPackagingTechnologies” division, which currently employs about 300 people, includes injection moulding machines for plastic closures and PET preforms, blow moulding machines for polypropylene and HDPE containers, assembly machines and inspection and quality control systems. In addition to the plastics sector, Sacmi serves the ceramic tile, beverage, packaging and food industries (with a focus on confectionery) with various types of equipment.