MS Printing Solutions: digital innovation for the textile sector
A welcoming, bright, orderly environment, where one breathes an air of innovation and proactiveness. A youthful spirit and full of enthusiasm that, from CEO Paolo Milini, radiates to the whole team at MS Printing Solutions, a world leader in the supply of technology for digital printing on fabric. This company has represented the best technological Made in Italy in the textile field for several generations, testimonial to the textile district that in the past has made the province of Como a Centre of Excellence. Founded by Luigi Milini, MS Printing Solutions represents an Italian success story, made of traditional know-how in fabric processing combined with a marked vocation for innovation.
The latter is a magical combination that has allowed it to become a well-established manufacturer of hi-tech digital machines, highly regarded throughout the world. But the history of MS Printing Solutions is also made of ambitious challenges oriented towards industrial modernization.
Accepting to be part of Dover Digital Printing (DDP), an American industrial group under the Dover Corporation listed on Dow Jones, was precisely one of these challenges, explains Milini, who manages this company together with his father Luigi Milini (honorary president and technical director), Caterina Furini (CFO) and Abhi Agrawal (president of DDP): “Being part of this group has allowed us to grow further with the reassurance of being able to act on our own initiative and free from undue limitations. We are a stand-alone company, even though we belong to a big company. The collaboration has also allowed us to keep the quality of our products very high and to strengthen our bond with the territory.” MS Printing Solutions is certainly the “engine” of DDP, which also includes JK Group Spa, a leading company in the production of inks, with which a natural complementarity and a profitable synergy was born. The two companies, however, are completelyautonomous,even though they are managed by the same Board of Directors mentioned above. The MS-JK group reaches a turnover of 200 million Euros, employing over 300 people. One part of the territory, that stretches from theprovinceofComotothatofVarese, is taken up by the three branch offices of the group: the historic office in Caronno Pertusella (Varese) where the MS Printing Solutions machines are made, the branch office in Novedrate (Como) in which theJKGroupinksareproducedand the large centre in Guanzate (Como) which covers 10.000 square metres, the headquarters of both MS Printing Solutions and the JK Group. The Lario Academy, a centre providing advanced training to bothMS-JKandoutsourcedpersonnel,isalsolocatedinGuanzate.“We invested around 8 million Euros in theLarioAcademytoprovideyoung people in particular with what was once referred to as an ‘apprenticeship.’BasedontheAmericanmodel, we have created this facility covering several thousand square metres equipped with classrooms and machinerytotrainhighlyqualifiedtextileoperators...likethoseofthepast which are now becoming hard to find,” explains Paolo Milini,adding that, for the company and for the entire group, human resources and theirwelfareareoffundamentalimportance.Hiringisalsoontheagenda.“Eachmonthatleastoneperson is hired in one of the group’s offices strewn across the fivecontinents. MS Printing Solutions has also recently trained and employed several technicians to cope with the massive production of machinery which involves the constant presence of qualified personnel,” says Milini.
To date, MS Printing Solutions, with a turnover of 135 million Euros and 150 employees, is the most important company in the sector at a global level: “My father, technical directorofDDP,maintainsavisionofthe productthathasallowedustoanticipatetrendsaswellasthetimes,even 3/5 years ahead, thanks to our patents. Even to this day he is considered a true guru in the industry and agreatpointofreferencefortheentireteam,whileImyself,afteralong periodspentrisingthroughtheranks andyearsofdirectexperienceinthe company, have implemented the international scope, collaborating closelywiththecurrentinternational marketleaderswhoplacegreattrust inus,everyday,”saysPaoloMilini. Trustthatiswell-deservedconsideringthekeyroleofMSPrintingSolutions, taking innovation in digital printingtothehighestlevels.Infact, the company offers a range ofcomplete solutions in the sector, with high industrial standards, in a marketworthapproximately500million Euros. Within this, MS captures the most valuable part, having already invested in the Single-Pass project for decades and, therefore, on an industrial model that naturally presents itself as an alternative to traditional cylinder printing. The LarioSingle-Passmachine,forexample, represented true discontinuous innovation and a risk that the Milini family took on with great courage and foresight. “We have recently launched the MiniLario, a revolutionary and almost competitor-free solution, since it is the fastest Multi-Passmachineintheworld.Yetthe surpriseswillcertainlynotstophere, asanopenmindtowardsinnovation is part of our DNA” concludes Paolo Milini, key player together with his close-knit team during this phase of great expansion into international markets, especially in“developing countries”. A sort of Industrial Renaissance for the sector, implementing rapid and functional advancements shaped according to the needs of customers, responding perfectly to the requirements of leading retailers and the most demanding and creative brands.
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