With 20 years of experience in the automation and packaging industry and located in Scandiano, Reggio Emilia, at the heart of Emilia's 'Packaging Valley', Ercopac leverages flexibility, innovation, and sustainability to drive its business growth. Founder and sales director Manuel Grassi talked about this and the company's involvement in the upcoming IPACK-IMA, where exclusive previews will take centre stage.

Integration of skills for a full bespoke service

 “The Ercopac brand was established in 2022 – explained Mr Grassi – originating from an idea by Antonio Grassi, founder of Viano-based company Bema. His vision inspired us to embark on research and studies, bringing together individuals with diverse, complementary skills to set up the company, despite challenging international geopolitical situation and the economic landscape, shaped by the aftermath of the pandemic and ongoing conflicts. Although our brand is now consolidated, we are constantly working to increase its recognition through participation in international fairs such as IPACK-IMA. Events like these offer us the opportunity to showcase our ability to provide a wide range of solutions to the most diverse markets, ranging from food and beverages to tissues. Our focus is on robotic solutions for end-of-line equipment with numerous projects also in the intralogistics market, where we aim to support our customers grow sustainably in all aspects of their business. Our solutions are designed and developed entirely in house thanks to a variety of skills accrued from both experiences developed in the field and the young, highly specialist personnel on our team. These strengths have enabled us to enhance our ability to support customers at every stage of their journey.”

Previews at the fair

In addition to our capacity to offer the customer turnkey solutions, we are also dedicated to constantly developing new offerings, which will take centre stage at Ipack Ima through a series of exclusive previews. A topic that Manuel Grassi continued to explore: “In terms of solutions, one new development is particularly interesting: The integration of delta robots into our palletising systems, specifically for layer preparation, enables us to handle loads of up to 50 kg with exceptional performance and efficiency. Thanks to our partnership with Zodiac Robotics, we are the first company in Italy to offer this innovative solution, which sets new standards in flexibility and reliability. At IPACK-IMA we will also be presenting the new patents with which we aim to improve the efficiency of our customers' lines, not only at the end of the line but also upstream of the production process. These centre on ensuring real-time monitoring of the wrapped pallet's stability, addressing both financial and environmental considerations. Ipack Ima will also serve as an opportunity to showcase the evolution of our intralogistics solutions, a sector we are targeting with a range of new products being unveiled.”

At IPACK-IMA with a focus on foreign markets

The fair is approaching, and expectations are always high and Mr Grassi explored this aspect in terms of the leveraging the event for networking and to penetrate new markets: “We are aiming for greater visibility on the Italian market for end-of-line packaging, to acquire new leads, and to forge partnerships with which to best cover the market while also expanding our business horizons. IPACK-IMA is a large-scale event at which we expect activity and opportunities. As for the international market, although a good part of the 2023 turnover came from Italy, since 2024 we have begun a journey to open up to foreign markets, involving participation in European and non-European fairs in addition to a series of new operations abroad. More specifically, these include a system of strategic partnerships with plants in Europe (France, Spain, UK, Romania, Portugal), the Middle East (Algeria, Lebanon), and the Americas (USA, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Guadeloupe) and also plans to open a new branch in South America, to ensure we provide our customers with the best service wherever they are.”

Sustainability and digitalisation, key words for Ercopac

ESG issues and digitalisation have become integral to the industry's everyday discourse, which is why Ercopac places particular emphasis on this area, as explained by Mr. Grassi: “The patents we will presenting at IPACK-IMA focus on sustainability and digitalisation. These are rapidly growing issues that have a direct impact on our customers, which is why we endeavour to accompany them step by step towards a sustainable energy-efficient approach. In this sense, our range of wrapping machines feature patented technology for the use of recycled film, as well as 10 to 45 μ-thick films, and a (patented) top cover that allows automatic upwards reel changeovers without any downtime and the use of films that are the thinnest on the market (from 20-25 μ upwards).

Also, with a view to reducing consumption and materials, we have developed solutions that optimise the distribution of the film on the product and reduce the number of wrapping turns, with an immediate 20-30% savings in side film compared to competitors. In terms of digitalisation, intralogistics is the key trend driving us, shaped by both market demands and our extensive experience in the industry, which we are currently developing with a focus on artificial intelligence. In this regard, we are exploring partnerships with local universities to research how AI can be incorporated into our new intralogistics solutions, aiming to offer customers an entirely new logistics system featuring advanced AGV and LGV shuttle solutions.”