Once upon a time, a cosmetic container was in search of a stylist. An object that was complex in its simplicity but yet anonymous, in need of a soul. Coming out of the best packaging industries, it needed to be “dressed up” in order to best transmit its brand identity to the market. What outfit would work? What color to choose? What techniques to adopt that would highlight its best characteristics? It’s in this exact moment that V.M.C. Mottini jumps in, a company specialized in the decoration of cosmetics packaging. Because personality is a question of decorum.
The Bergamo-area based company was founded in 1997 and was initially dedicated to the plastic coating of fashion accessories. Today, this experience in the fashion sector still acts as a compass when it comes to searching for creative and innovative ideas that align with the development of the most modern technologies on the market. A huge step ahead came about in 2010: manufacturing spaces were tripled in order to make room for processes dedicated to decorations using screen-printing, pad printing, and hot stamping. A complete package that makes V.M.C.Mottini a decoration hub where every day 140 thousand plastic bottles and 130 perfume bottles are varnished; 45 thousand plastic containers and 100 containers for fragrances are decorated; and in total, 90 thousand pieces are metallicized daily.
THE DECORATION HUB
“In 2018, we made another upgrade – explains Claudio Mottini, CEO -. The manufacturing department with an automatic line dedicated to sputtering technology for UV metallization was completed, a huge investment that makes us one-of-a-kind in our field. Today, we are able to offer a complete range of services to companies. The product arrives to us in its “crude” state and it leaves ready for filling. Timelines reduced to a minimum, efficiency, and quality – that’s what customers dream about. Our company works with customers as a single interlocutor that follows the evolution of a product from start to finish, in its entirety – explains the CEO-. I believe that it’s a winning response that is giving us immense satisfaction: we reduce handling, offering greater control over costs and time”.
Currently, V.M.C.Mottini has around 80 collaborators, a number that is fairly high for a company in the decoration sector that has grown over the span of 20 years. The Mottini family has always been at the helm of the company and has maintained strong roots in the entrepreneurial Italian tradition that made “Made in Italy” an icon, but with great aspirations to internationalization. The company looks confidently towards foreign markets without fearing foreign competitors that seem colossal from an industrial point of view: “Skills and experience in the field are our added values – explains Cristina Palara, export manager with extensive experience in fashion-. The ability to innovate and the courage to take important steps in implementing our services is what allows us to keep up with the changes in the sector, the market, and the world, hence allowing us to stay highly competitive”.
ATOMIC DUST
Among the most recent innovations introduced in the company, as already mentioned, sputtering (UV metallization) comes out on top- the process replaces galvanizing treatments: “With this technology– explains Mottini – we guarantee products that remain unchanged over time with regards to shine and the aesthetic characteristics of metals, with high chemical resistance to perfumes and essences, and high mechanical resistance to scratches and contact abrasions”.
But how does it work? On an automatic line it’s possible to evaporate metallic materials such as aluminum, copper, brass, and light gold in a closed space, that is, in a sterile environment with constant atmospheric parameters. A powder of millions of atoms, ions, or molecular fragments that fall and become fixed to the surfaces of the product. Zero emissions. Completely green: “An investment that we believed in and that allows us to have every avant-garde system available on the market and relevant to our sector in house – highlights Mottini -. But we don’t consider this the be all or end all: it’s just a starting point from which to continue looking to the future and searching for new milestones to meet”.
IF INNOVATION IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE
Innovating at V.M.C. Mottini doesn’t mean only searching for the best technological solutions but also being surrounded by professionalism. On this front, some important choices have also been made, identifying strategical personnel to form a team that is able to provide customers with comprehensive consulting: “We make the customer’s idea a reality– affirms Mottini -. And to accomplish this, we’ve surrounded ourselves with the best creative and technical minds. We have the know-how necessary to follow the evolution of a product step by step: it comes to us “naked” and we dress it in the best clothes. We provide consultancy and most importantly, we are reliable problem-solving partners”.
Music to the ears (and eyes!) of customers that find an object of design in their hands, one that has been studied to the most minute of details, capable of simplifying the marketing and communication work of the brand identity. “This ability – explains Palara- is linked to the safeguarding of the entire process: by overseeing all the processes involved we are able to produce and give the customer the finished packaging that is complete in every way”.
INCREASINGLY GREENER
Faced with growth and development that is ever increasing, quality control is an indispensable step that V.M.C.Mottini is very focused on.
“We carry this out through quality control, durability, and conformity checks of the product, including the most intense and exhaustive tests available on the market, in compliance with the standards required by the legislation– concludes Mottini -. Amongst the certifications that we’re proud to have attained is the SQS certificate”.
For V.M.C.Mottini, the journey through innovation couldn’t ignore sustainability practices and instead, embraces them: “Today we are already putting two innovative strategies into place which have eco-sustainable implications- concludes the CEO-. The first involves the substitution of all processes that fall outside the regulations: as already described, we’ve replaced the galvanizing treatments with sputtering technology. The second choice is with regards to the utilization of aqua-based coatings which will completely substitute solvent-based coatings”.
Di fronte a una crescita e a uno sviluppo così potenziati il controllo della qualità è un passaggio imprescindibile sul quale V.M.C. Mottini ha puntato molto. «Lo esercitiamo attraverso prove di qualità e test di tenuta e conformità del prodotto, compresi quelli più stressanti a disposizione del mercato, nel rispetto degli standard richiesti dalla normativa – conclude Mottini -. Tra le certificazioni che vantiamo c’è il certificato SQS».