Atlanta Stretch Ibérica is a Spanish packaging machinery sales company created in 2015 as a reinforcement and expansion of the Italian company Atlanta Stretch S.p.A. The company is known for its versatility in machinery, the immediate technical service, proximity, and the trust placed by customers, whether in Spain or in any Latin American country.
Interview with Martí Gavaldà Miracle, Marketing Manager at Atlanta Stretch Ibérica.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Martí Gavaldà Miracle: The activity of our company is divided into three sectors: engineering, distributors, and the final customer. We could say that any type of market requires palletizing and packaging for the subsequent transport of the goods or products, therefore Atlanta has no limitation in terms of market niche or expansion possibilities.
What differentiates us from other packaging companies is that we can adapt to the profile of any company, whether small, large, or multinational. In the end, the most important thing is that the end of the line is precisely adapted to the needs of each client.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
M.G.M: The most relevant news about our products is due to the new tax on non-reusable packaging in the Spanish market, which means an increase of 0.45 €/kg of plastic, which leads us to be pioneers in the development of products such as the pre-stretching head.
The main function of the pre-stretching head is to stretch the film before applying it to the pallet. This process helps us to reduce film consumption without losing its holding and protection qualities.
Motorized pre-stretch units (PRS and PS) are proposals that allow the pre-stretch to be regulated. The PRS works with pre-stretching between 150-200 and 250% and the PS allows us to achieve rates up to 400%. The combination of these special heads with a technical film will give us the best performance to reduce the amount of film applied to the pallet and save on the plastic tax.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
M.G.M: Atlanta Ibérica’s catalog can be divided into two main branches: semi-automatic stretch wrappers and automatic stretch wrappers. Within these, we can separate them into robots, turntables, rotating arms, and rotating rings.
For optimization and efficiency reasons, each machine will be suitable for a particular type of company. Canneries and packing plants, for instance, require stainless steel machinery to ensure hygiene and quality finishes that comply with health controls.
On the other half, the logistics centers of large multinationals need high packing rates, so the automatic machines with fast double reel rings are perfect for their high production levels.
At the end of the day, the important thing is to design a line specific to the sector and the company and its products to optimize space, time, and money.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
M.G.M: The Spanish packaging industry shows excellent results despite the pandemic and claims to be an essential sector for the realization of any economic activity, as well as a catalyst for innovation in the service of sustainability, a great challenge for the future.
We are proud to have spent the last eight years as part of the future of the packaging market, with constant growth and expansion into new markets with humane, ecological, and responsible company policies.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
M.G.M: Sustainability and efficiency are the constant protagonists in today’s market. Companies are focused on making processes much more organic for the operator to save time and apply film efficiently.
To ensure an efficient and responsible future, thinner films have been created that offer much greater strength with much less plastic and pre-stretch heads that allow the film to be used more efficiently.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
M.G.M: If we talk about innovation, we talk about Arya. It is a system that has revolutionized the packaging world, converting semi-automatic wrapping into a fully automatic process. The Arya system can adhere the stretch film to the pallet using an air stream making the wrapping process automatic, reducing the operator’s intervention in the wrapping process to a minimum. At the end of the wrapping process, the machine itself cuts the film and finishes the wrapping. This system can be installed both on the Neos wrapping robot and on Atlanta Stretch Ibérica’s rotary table or rotating arm machinery.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
M.G.M: The main goal for this year and next is to consolidate our export model throughout Latin America, hoping to increase both our sales volume and the internationalization of the company.
However, despite any kind of business ambitions, what we will not lose is a clear and concise vision of where we want to go and how. In the end, our main goal is that our customers are satisfied and continue to trust us while maintaining our integrity as a company and our social responsibility as human beings.