Beontag 76 | expand capacity in Brazil by up to 50 percent. The Germany-built machinery has a dual adhesive system, capable of providing products both in hotmelt and acrylic, as well as a state-of-the-art drying system. With a length of 82m, an operating speed of 400m per minute, and a working width of 1,500mm, the machine also has a surface defects detection system.Ricardo Lobo joined Beontag from BTG Pactual in 2015, becoming CFO and then CEO the following year. A chemical engineer by training, he studied in Brazil and France, completed his MBA in the United States, and worked for Procter & Gamble in eastern Europe before joining BTG’s private equity division. ‘It is a global market, so we have to be present in all continents to serve global brands. We are building a multi-national company as best we can,’ he explains. Beontag’s acquisition of Stora Enso’s RFID business brought with it the ‘We are getting the right advice. We have built an M&A team Finland-based company’s sustainable RFID inlays made with a paper antennaand raised investment. Everything has been done in a thoughtful fashion. We have been watching the market and preparing for many years. We are doing well – the companies we have acquired “We used to try to follow what are being integrated quickly and effectively. We have fantastic international companies were doing. technologies and people thanks to these acquisitions.’The local and international acquisitions – a mixture of labelstock Now we can be in the avant-garde”manufacturers and smart technology providers – have brought Beontag exposure to a wide variety of technologies and markets. Still, they adhere to a business model put in place long before the private equity investment supercharged the company’s growth: Beontag installs Mark Andy P7 pressdivisions that are complementary, technology that can be applied Beontag recently installed a 20in Mark Andy Performance across many market sectors, and opportunities for cross-selling. Series P7 fexo press, ftted with a Tamarack RFID unit, at its ‘We don’t have channel confict,’ explains Lobo. ‘We work in Campo Mourão, Paraná, Brazil plant.many vertical markets where there is not much integration, so you ‘We did a lot of research and compared solutions from need to supply software and support as well as the products. We are several manufacturers. I visited them all, and after seeing in more verticals in different industries than anyone else. Apparel, of all the advantages of each machine, we chose to go with course, but also many other areas: toll roads, banking, luxury goods, Mark Andy,’ says Marcio Muniz, vice president of digital leisure, tickets, industrials, pharma and more.’transformation of Beontag. ‘The fnal decision was made based The acquisition of Scandstick is a good example. It offers Beontag on scalability and the capacity of offering RFID tags with presence in multiple EU markets, with coating or slitting facilities in images, perfect fexography, and cutting-edge technology.’Sweden, Belgium, Slovenia and Poland. The Performance Series P7 is equipped with a Tamarack It also has a linerless label business, Linerless AB, capable P500 RFID unit that operates at speeds up to 500ft/min. In of producing uncoated self-adhesive materials with reduced addition, it has four fexo print stations, reversed stations that environmental impact, which Beontag plans to expand into other allow printing on both sides of the substrate, and the capability parts of the world. of combining different layers of material. It also offers two ‘We have many synergies with Scandstick, so we are going die-cutting stations and can process up to six streams of to be able to cross-sell a lot,’ says Lobo. ‘They have impressive fnished rolls simultaneously.technologies which we did not possess, and similarly, there are Muniz also highlights the sustainability advantages of the things that we can do that they can’t. There is a really interesting machine. ‘By running it correctly, the press can signifcantly synergy and potential for integration. But most important are the reduce waste, energy and optimize the production process, people that come with the acquisition.’leading to savings. The machine is so fast and so powerful that Following the acquisitions, Beontag now has a higher revenue in it can run up to 250,000 labels, depending on specifcations, the United States and Europe than in Brazil. Thirty-fve percent of in about 40 minutes – something that would take us a whole revenue comes from RFID; 65 percent from self-adhesive materials shift to accomplish when using our off-line equipment.’and labels. Products from both business areas are exported All these benefts align with Beontag’s circular economy worldwide, though the RFID products perhaps have a greater reach goals to reduce waste. ‘The company takes environmental, – they are exported throughout North and South America, Europe, social and corporate governance seriously. We carefully look at Asia, China and India.everything and everyone affected by our activities and develop ‘Most of what we do comes in a full bundle – RFID inlays (both best practices based on what will have the most positive dry and wet), software applications and label printing,’ says Lobo. impact,’ says Barbara Dunin, director of ESG, marketing and ‘We don’t produce prime labels, just RFID labels and labelstock.communications at Beontag. ‘The company has recently signed ‘We want to serve well the key clients in the key markets, the UN Global Compact and launched an ESG strategy with wherever they are, with the best technology in the most verticals. KPIs and quantifed targets to evaluate the program.’That will ultimately give us a leadership position, but it would The press was installed by Mark Andy’s Brazilian distributor also be going about it in the right way. We used to try to follow PTC Graphic Systems, run by Miguel Troccoli. ‘They had a what international companies were doing. Now we can be in the lot of courage to embrace a project like the P7 with RFID avant-garde.’ in-line, as it put them on another level of production. But Beontag has a unique administration and is managed by young, well-prepared, professional leaders. They are a market reference.’Visit beontag.com for further informationlabelsandlabeling.com