Growing against all odds

When Pedro Borsellino, co-founder and sales manager of the Rosario, Argentina-based converter that bears his family name, gives a presentation to prospective clients, he always begins with the same slide: an image of turbulent seas and crashing waves with the words ‘Crecer contra viento y marea’. The Spanish idiom translates literally as ‘growing against wind and waves’ and carries the sense of growing against all the odds. Over the past five decades, the company has borne all the economic chaos Argentina has thrown at it — hyperinflation, import restrictions and currency controls — not only surviving but thriving.

“We are printers, we know how to print. Because of this experience, it has always been easy for us to move into new markets”

From humble beginnings as a letterpress printer in the mid-1970s, Borsellino Impresos has grown into a fully integrated behemoth offering design, pre-press, printing and application services, with more than 120 different production lines covering everything from labels, shrink sleeves, flexible packaging and cartons through to point-of-sale promotions, brochures, envelopes, direct marketing materials and books. Now, it is preparing for the next phase of its relentless expansion, with a new 15,000sqm factory being added to its two existing facilities, which are due for inauguration later this year.

History

The history of Borsellino Impresos is not just that of a company but of a family, and even of the immigrant experience of fleeing poverty in Europe to find a better life in the new world.

Maria and Antonio Borsellino, Pedro’s mother and father, arrived in Argentina from Sicily in 1950, equipped only with ‘good immigrant values of the importance of education and hard work,’ as Pedro Borsellino puts it. They were part of a wave of hundreds of thousands of Italians settling in the country in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Maria and Antonio bore two sons, Francisco and Pedro, who founded what was then known as Borsellino Hermanos as young men in their 20s,  and two daughters, Antonia and Vicenta, who joined their brothers as partners in the company shortly afterward, as did Maria.

Beginning in 1976, the fledgling company’s early years were spent printing basic products on old letterpress machines. Production, and diversification, ramped up in the early 1980s with the inauguration of the company’s first proper plant and the installation of a Heidelberg Kord 64 offset press.

Borsellino Impresos added a continuous forms press later that decade to diversify further. The 1990s, by which time the company had also developed a thriving editorial printing business with binding equipment from Muller Martini, saw it add new capabilities with the installation of its first 5-color offset press with in-line varnish before a move into label production took place with the addition of a Comco Cadet flexo machine.

In the 2000s, Borsellino Impresos invested in offset presses from Heidelberg and Gallus and added a second facility of 9,500sqm. It also moved into digital printing with the installation of sheet-fed and roll-fed HP Indigo presses. More recent investments have included flexo presses from Nilpeter, shrink sleeve production equipment from Karlville and finishing machines from Cartes and Rotoflex. Two additional machines are currently on order: another Nilpeter flexo press and the new HP Indigo 200K for flexible packaging production.

‘We are the only company in Latin America that is completely integrated, offering everything that a brand needs from design through to when the product is on the supermarket shelf,’ says Pedro Borsellino. ‘We target smaller companies who need smaller runs of products with high quality and variable data. Our target is to offer the best campaigns. We want to print high-quality, beautifully finished products. Anyone who needs our services, we are happy to help them.’

Borsellino cites cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as particularly good markets, given their need for added value. However, the company’s output is so diversified that there are almost no markets in which it doesn’t participate. Borsellino is the sales manager, but he has no sales team to manage. ‘We don’t have salespeople: all our sales come from word of mouth,’ he says. ‘The only marketing strategy we have is to tell the truth, respect our clients and give them good service. Our advantage is that we print very well and with great quality.’

A recent venture has been a move into in-mold label production, for which Borsellino Impresos began a partnership with synthetic material manufacturer Yupo five years ago. ‘We see a great deal of potential in in-mold label production,’ says Pedro Borsellino. ‘It is a very recyclable material, which is a big advantage. Yupo advised us how to print and cut the labels. They have provided great support.’

Flexible packaging is another format for which Borsellino has seen increased demand in recent years. ‘Our label customers increasingly request flexible packaging instead of labels,’ he says. ‘As the materials become more recyclable, this will only continue. Brands like that it saves them money by eliminating the need for the rest of the packaging, glass for example.’

‘We are printers, we know how to print,’ says Pedro Borsellino of the company’s philosophy of diversification. ‘Because of this experience, it has always been easy for us to move into new markets. The challenge is how to finish the different products.

‘Diversification comes from our culture as a business and our desire to give our clients what they need. Whether it’s one product or a million, it doesn’t matter. So whenever they need some kind of printed product, they think of Borsellino. We also think about what the customers of our clients want, this helps to inform our business too. And of course, in an environment that can be economically unstable, diversification is a way of helping to protect the company.’

Family

Borsellino Impresos remains a family-run enterprise. Antonia Borsellino is administration manager, and Vicenta Borsellino oversees regulatory compliance. The four Borsellino siblings, Maria’s children, are now three following the death of Francisco, who was operations manager as well as co-founder alongside his brother Pedro, last year. Maria, their mother, worked tirelessly in various roles until she died in 2019. Of the 11 members of the next generation, seven are working at the company.

Pedro Borsellino gives short shrift to the suggestion that some family-run converters can find the integration of the new generation a challenge. ‘It hasn’t been a problem,’ he emphasizes. ‘The culture of the company is non-negotiable. Anyone who doesn’t want to work hard, the door is open and they can leave.’

He practices what he preaches. Approaching five decades in the business, Pedro Borsellino is in the office at 7 am every day. ‘We were brought up in a hard-working immigrant culture,’ he explains. ‘My parents were always working.’

Borsellino Impresos consistently reinvests much of its profit into the business. This has facilitated its expansive investments

“The culture of the company is non-negotiable. Anyone who doesn’t want to work hard, the door is open and they can leave”

in new technology over the years and funding a further widening of its footprint: a new 15,000sqm factory will be inaugurated in the middle of 2025. The move is prompting a reorganization of the production spaces.

The company’s original factory will continue to house letterpress presses and application equipment. The second 9,500sqm site will be dedicated to all commercial production, while the new facility will produce labels, shrink sleeves and flexible packaging.

Click here to learn more about Borsellino Impresos.