We asked the directors of Papermon, Federica Monfardini and Alberto Marchetti, to tell us about their core values and the challenges to be faced
You founded Papermon over twenty years ago, leading it to grow and operate in twenty international markets, and you continue to invest your energies in this successful enterprise as if it were the first day. What are the forces that drive you and the values that characterize your corporate activity?
Each day is a new challenge, as scenarios change constantly, and nowadays evolve very quickly. The aim is to keep up, with a production process and a corporate structure that support the development we are experiencing. We provide all the passion that has characterized our work from the outset, the same passion that led us to start this enterprise and that still guides us in manufacturing our products with the utmost care. Twenty years of experience in this sector is of great help, but it is the enthusiasm for what we do that drives us day by day. We are also convinced of the importance of always paying close attention to the customer’s needs, both because it is fundamental to offer customized solutions, and because suggestions and ideas for innovation often come from them. Therefore, in general, relations with people are very important to us and we care a lot about acting correctly towards customers, suppliers and collaborators.
Many things have changed in production processes, in markets and in the way of doing business since Papermon was established. What are the main challenges you face to stay one step ahead?
Twenty years ago there was little focus on product quality and protection of the end consumer. Our idea has always been to create a product with high quality standards and therefore the changes in recent years have not found us unprepared. Our choice, undoubtedly against the trend today, to use colored paper for our colored tablecloths, offers proof of this. We have always believed in quality and in Made in Italy, which for us is synonymous with style, good taste and attention to detail. We invest continuously in state-of-the-art machinery to obtain increasingly better production performance, but also quality control of the product. All this always with an eye on safety and on the quality of the work of our employees. The goal for the future is to create an even leaner structure with simple processes, without overlaps, to meet the customers’ demands even more promptly and improve the quality of work internally.
One of the most important issues on the agenda in recent years is undoubtedly environmental, social and economic sustainability. How are you dealing with these aspects?
We have always believed sustainability to be an issue of the utmost importance and have been investing in this direction already for several years now. On an environmental level, we have just installed a photovoltaic system and replaced traditional lighting with low energy consumption LED devices to increase the energy efficiency of our production site. For us environmental sustainability means careful selection of the raw materials, careful choice of the supply chain and adopting production solutions that make our disposable table linen more sustainable. Various international certifications attest to the reduced environmental impact of our products, a fact of which we are proud. Moreover, with the increase in our production area, we have obtained more space and improved rationalization of production processes.
On a social level, we are convinced of the importance of keeping the production site in the territory where we were born, rather than relocate. In this way, the economic spin-offs of our activity remain here, contributing to the well-being of the community and growing local human resources. Although our market of reference is international, we sponsor some local organizations engaged in assisting and looking after underprivileged people or those in difficulty.
What will be the issues to be considered and the opportunities to be seized in the coming years, based on your vision of the future?
We believe that the issue of environmental sustainability will be crucial. One of the goals for the coming years is to increase energy self-sufficiency through the storage of energy produced by the photovoltaic panels. Knowing how to seize the opportunities offered by the different markets will be important in order to continue to grow, as will anticipating technological innovations to improve our products and the entire production process. We intend to structure ourselves to be ready for future challenges, but without any loss of agility. This aspect has always distinguished us and we do not want to sacrifice it to the growth process; on the contrary, it is where we want to aim.
