Last May, during an exciting three-day event taking place in WTC Hotel in São Paulo, GIDUE launched its first S-Combat™, UV flexo press, width 370, entirely built in Brazil. The production in Brazil is meant to cover the demand in the area and offer a valid alternative to imports from Europe for the entire South American territory. In a surprisingly short time, and thanks to the support of Comprint, GIDUE established a strong cooperation with the company Raeder of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, responsible for the manufacturing and testing of the GIDUE flexo press dedicated to the label industry. The S-Combat™ is well known all across the globe since almost a decade for its consistent and repeatable quality, simplicity of operations, and excellence in quick change, with its Flower™ head, synonymous of print stability, reliability and durability. The decision to manufacture directly in Brazil was taken in order to solve the problem caused by the heavy trading taxes on imported goods. A situation that, up to that moment, had prevented GIDUE from obtaining a large success in South America. “We came to the idea of manufacturing directly in Brazil in the beginning of 2006. Our objectives were mainly two: overcome the problem caused by the high import taxes established by the Brazilian Government, which count for more than 40% of the entire value of the machine, and consequently expand the sale of our machines in an area, where the printing industry is knowing an important development,” states Giovanni Perego, Strategic Sales Director of GIDUE. GIDUE examined a few companies and the first contacts with the company Raeder were taken in November 2006; on January 11th 2007 a partnership contract was signed among GIDUE S.p.A., Raeder and Comprint, the main actors of the project as per, respectively, technological know-how and design, manufacturing, and sales. “The choice of Raeder turned out to be a winning one. Raeder is a manufacturer of mechanical parts for the aeronautical and oil & gas industries for customers like Petrobras, Man, Siemens and GE. Raeder is at the edge of research and implements a strongly innovative production system,” asserts Gianluca Colombo, Manager for the Special Projects of GIDUE. GIDUE and Raeder are currently installing the first machine at customer Mack Color in São Paulo, renowned for its production efficiency and aggressive marketing. Meanwhile, GIDUE has launched a re-engineering project of Combat™ machines with the objective to enlarge the offer of the machines produced in Brazil and meet the South American market needs, characterized by strong diversification and renovation of the installed machines base. GIDUE is already offering a wide range of options for the S-Combat™, including printing capabilities for the production of shrink sleeves. “Customers warmly welcomed the local availability of machines and spares without the time consuming and expensive imports. We plan to sell and install further four machines in 2007,” affirms Christian Vorländer, Managing Director of Comprint, who is taking care along with GIDUE Strategic Sales Management of the sales and marketing coordination for the South American market.The ‘Fabricado no Brasil’ project is ambitious and marks another target in GIDUE world expansion. GIDUE is in fact the first company to produce narrow web machines in the South American area and is achieving results, which already sound extremely excellent.