A focus on people, together with innovation, is one of the characteristics that sets GPE Ardenghi apart. The company is based in Treviglio (BG) and is a leader in the production of high-precision screen printing machines for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, promotional, and automotive sectors.
GPE, A BIG “FAMILY”
Founded in the second half of the 1940s, today the company is led by the third generation of the founding family while the fourth has also already made an entrance. It’s this attention to people in particular that pushed the owners to close production, leaving only remote customer and spare parts services active, doing this already one week prior to the official lockdown imposed by authorities.
“We closed because we found ourselves in one of the areas that was hit the hardest by Covid19 and we worried about our safety and the safety of those working with us – explains Roberto Ardenghi, Sales Manager for GPE Ardenghi. The closure wasn’t without difficulties, however, we tried to do our part to preserve the supply chain and to ensure the safety of the people that work with us, honoring deadlines and paying wages even before receiving government wage support. Gestures that highlight how much we consider ourselves to be one big, extended family”.
THE AUTOMATIC SCREEN PRINTING MACHINE WITH ROTATING TABLE FOR CYLINDRICAL HOLLOW OBJECTS
The months of forced closure nevertheless turned out to be important for GPE which took advantage of the pandemic period to work on new projects.
“This closure period was the occasion to pick up projects that, for many reasons, we had placed on the backburner and it was also an opportunity to work on new things. I’ll refer, for example, to two new products that we will be presenting in the coming months: the first is an automatic screen printing machine with a rotating table for cylindrical hollow objects and the second is a machine for flame treatment. The former is a product specific for the cosmetic market: it is the evolution of an already existing machine and will print one color on caps and lids for lipsticks, body butters, mascaras…”
THE NEW MACHINE FOR FLAME TREATMENT
“Instead the “new” machine for flame treatment with have a much broader application and, being a stand-alone model, will offer the huge advantage of being able to be inserted as an integrative module into an already existing plant set-up. An ideal solution both for companies that work with small batches as well as for those that produce on a larger scale. We also expect great things from our machine for mascara, one of our best-sellers. The machine is very compact and uses an innovative system of LED lights to dry ink, guaranteeing high-quality printing and also the possibility of being utilized in smaller spaces. It is completely developed by us (ed: in-house production is one of the cornerstones of GPE Ardenghi): from the planning and design of the machine and various components to prototyping, all the way to testing and inspection”.
FORECAST ABOUT 2020? GPE WILL MANAGE THE DAMAGE
For the company, 2020 was supposed to be a record year but Covid19 changed everything. Even if the estimates won’t be what was initially expected, GPE Ardenghi will “manage the damage” thanks to orders placed between the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020.
“The next few months remain unknown– concludes Ardenghi- all that aside, just as the crisis of 2008 and 2011 taught us, after every dark period comes new opportunities and we look forward to seizing them”.