Over the years, numerous diversification acquisitions have taken the Faiveley Group to a point where it offers a wide array of products and services in the packaging space. Sebastien Colombet, Faiveley Group's MarCom Manager, takes us through the group, its origins, and what it offers international beauty, pharma, spirit brands today.

Where did Faiveley start and what has it become?

Historically, Faiveley Plast began as one of the largest family producers of Burgundy wines in 1825, now a renowned brand. Over the last seven generations, the financial side of Faiveley has become a strong market leader thanks to acquisitions and the breadth of the know-how we've developed. Faiveley Plast is part of that, and focuses on plastic injection manufacturing in all its forms.

Can you tell us more about your production and products?

The Faiveley Plast Group is focused on three international markets spread over six production sites. We have Faiveley Plast Industry, with four production sites, comprised of Grand-Perret & Sepal in France, FPS in Slovakia, and SIBO in China. This side of our business produces high-performance technical plastic parts for a variety of industries including the automotive, aerospace, and electronic sectors, among others. Then we have Faiveley Plast Pharma, with Eudica located in France, an expert in the design and injection of customized thermoplastic medical devices. There's Faiveley Plast Beauty and VPI in France, where we offer caps, deodorant sticks, gist boxes, and dispensers combining excellent finishes and functionality for the luxury market. With more than 200 plastic injection machines, Faiveley Plast Group has a high capacity for reactivity and flexibility, which makes us an essential player in this highly-specialized industry.

You mentioned Faiveley Plast's know-how, what does that encompass?

We offer solutions in three areas: industry, pharma, and beauty. We are first and foremost a specialist in plastic injection. Our history, our six production sites, the strength of our shareholders, and our team spirit fuel our experience. Also, these elements provide us with the necessary responsiveness to respond to calls for tenders and to offer more and more added value to our customers, both our loyal ones and those that are just getting started. Our know-how in injection techniques includes thick wall manufacturing, IMD, bi-injected materials, over-moulding, decoration, assembly, cast and machined polyester, and much more. Let's take Faiveley Plast Beauty (VPI) as an example: about 40% of what we offer is made up of standard products such as deodorant sticks in the beauty market. The rest (60%) lies within the fragrance and cosmetic markets, supplemented by the spirits market. In terms of decoration, our know-how is vast, it includes silk-screen printing, hot stamping, lacquering, metallizing, and more, depending on the requirements of the product. Faiveley Plast Beauty also has a special offering, which is cast resin. That allows us to create very upscale, premium parts. Another specific example is that of the Faiveley Plast Pharma (Eudica) division. We have to follow rigorous requirements in terms of process and quality, a world where error is not allowed. We apply our know-how within all our divisions.

What added value are we talking about?

Added value can be defined broadly. At Faiveley Plast, we consider it part of our innovation cell combined with our know-how and professional development. In short, our goal is to encourage action, we pool and cultivate a "collective intelligence" in a consulting dimension in order to respond and adapt better to the specifications of each one. Our innovation cell proposes bespoke products adapted to customer needs. We work together to meet the needs of customers, we know how to offer strong proposals for the development of concepts, functionality, and appearance.

What are your primary objectives with regard to Faiveley right now?

As a commercial and marketing manager, my objective is to strengthen our communication as a Group: to gather, centralize, and pool our know-how. Today, our priority is to let key players in our industry know that Faiveley Plast has a wide range of innovative solutions to offer. This involves marketing tools such as our new website, activity on social networks, and other existing digital solutions. The reason why we chose to collaborate with Webpac and on the Webpackaging platform is that it offers us the sought-after exposure we were looking for with professionals in the packaging industry.

Where can we find out more about Faiveley Plast?

Faiveley Plast will be present at Medi'Nov on April 12th and 13th, Intermeditech on May 16th through 18th, and of course at Luxe Pack Monaco in October.