Interpack and KBA: a 55-year success story

Companies – particularly highly successful ones – often celebrate jubilees in a big way. But not Grupo HZ in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1950 by Herman Zupan and now one of the leading packaging printers in Latin America, it is the oldest and biggest of KBA's sheetfed customers in South America.

For Grupo HZ, actions speak louder than words, and these have made it a mover and shaker in the sector. For over 55 years the firm has enjoyed a close association with KBA Radebeul and its previous incarnation, Planeta-Druckmaschinenwerke.

Interpack, the parent of the HZ group, commemorated its 60th jubilee in 2010 by starting up a six-colour KBA Rapida 142. Alongside another 142 installed in 2007 the new, highly automated large-format coater press prints packaging at a production plant in Villa Luzuriaga. Grupo HZ operates a total of ten medium- and large-format KBA presses in Argentine, Brazil and Chile.

Automatic plate changing, a press plinth, double extended delivery, CX board-handling capability, DensiTronic Professional quality management system and automated pile logistics are just a few of the high-performance Rapida's winning features. It is the seventh KBA press at Interpack since Planeta's acquisition by Koenig & Bauer. Interpack's fellow enterprises in Grupo HZ have also been highly successful with their KBA presses.

Pooling resources hones agility and response in core market
Interpack and its two production plants in Lomas del Mirador and Villa Luzuriaga (Buenos Aires region) is part of Grupo HZ's lightweight folding carton division, along with Farmografica (Buenos Aires city), Innovapack (São Paulo) and Selecta Envases (Santiago de Chile). The five operations have pooled their capacities and thus enabled the group to become the second-biggest producer of folding cartons in Latin America. Grupo HZ itself is owned by International Packaging Group (IPG).

Packaging in all shapes and sizes
Other products include corrugated packaging and displays, self-adhesive labels, flexible packaging and multipacks. Grupo HZ also has its own paper and board mills with recycling facilities. Joint ventures, for example with Tetra Pak, underscore the award-winning print group's market standing.

Today Grupo HZ has around 1,500 employees, 450 of them at Interpack's factories in Buenos Aires. It processes over 2,500 tonnes (2,750 US tons) of paper and corrugated board per month. All the group's companies have ISO 9000 accreditation and comply with international quality, hygiene and safety standards.

Expanding capacity to address growing markets
After installing a number of Varimat, Varitrend and KBA Rapida 105 presses, four years ago Herman Zupan switched to KBA's large-format Rapida 142 – and with good reason. He explains: "We were planning to upgrade our equipment, and needed to expand our production capacity and format range to keep pace with brisk growth in the Argentine packaging market. We are keen to improve efficiency and productivity on an ongoing basis. Quality enhancements, faster turnaround and new product offerings demand a modern press fleet capable of meeting all our customers' requirements."

Advancing at a high level
Since the Planeta era Zupan has considered presses from Radebeul to be the epitome of quality and process flexibility: "These presses were pre-ordained to print cartonboard and corrugated. Over the years they have been continuously upgraded, attaining an awesome standard of output, makeready speed, automation, quality management and cost efficiency that has been crucial to our success. The support that Planeta, and later KBA, have given us in project planning, commissioning and training, and the on-the-spot service provided by KBA's agency, Dekaprint, have created a solid basis of trust from which we shall continue to benefit in the future. KBA is our partner in packaging printing, and one with whom we can address every market demand."

Website: www.interpack.com.ar