Cincinnati Ohio Economic Development

A mission that sticks: Eurostampa's labels everywhere, but its heart is with its clients

Jeff Wallner • Cincinnati.com
When Gian Franco Cillario walks into a bar, restaurant or grocery store, he often sees his company’s product. It’s recognizable throughout the world, but few people are familiar with the firm responsible for its creation.

Cillario is president of Eurostampa North America Inc., a family-owned business that designs and prints labels using traditional artwork and sophisticated production methods. Eurostampa’s handiwork is visible worldwide, on bottles of Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Bacardi, Kahlua and Skyy Vodka, as well as jars of Nutella, bars of Lindt Chocolate and on other well-known packaging.

“Every time we go to the restaurant, to the bar, we can see sometimes 80 percent of the product has our labels,” Cillario says. “It’s nice for the people that work here to see labels we’ve just developed for a customer.”

Eurostampa’s labels can be found in more than 30 countries. A projected 1.3 billion labels will be printed this year in Cincinnati at a newly dedicated, 75,000-square-foot printing facility and corporate headquarters in Roselawn that opened in September.

Eurostampa, founded by Cillario’s father in Italy in 1966, began shopping for prospective U.S. locations in 2004 to be closer to its North American client base. Cillario says he was sold on Cincinnati almost from the outset.

“Cincinnati’s location is just excellent,” he says. “There are a lot of resources here. Hard-working people. Good universities. The cost of life is not very expensive. We can ship anywhere in the United States in two to four days. Most of our customers are less than a five-hour drive.”

When Eurostampa first arrived in Cincinnati in 2007, its annual revenue was $6 million, and the firm expected to remain here for maybe one or two years. Since 2007, Eurostampa North America has grown 300 percent, and projected 2011 revenue is $18 million, double the projection made four years ago.

Cillario says his company is now investing $9 million in expansion in the Queen City, including technological improvements such as a $2 million state-of-the-art printer that he says is redefining the label printing process. Eurostampa is using vision technology to inspect labels before they’re released and data matrix codes to eliminate sorting errors.

Cillario says the company continually streamlines processes to reduce errors and downtime.

“We want to achieve the best result at the most competitive price,” he says. “People think printing the label is so simple. There is a lot of interaction. Sometimes it takes a month of work before the output (printing) of the label.”

Cillario says the company is investing $1 million in training. He expects to add 10 to 15 employees in the next two months. “I’m always looking for good people,” he says. “We want talented people and individuals who want to grow professionally. We will teach; we will train.”

Eurostampa North America doesn’t stray far from its roots, as evidenced by the framed photographs of Cillario’s family and Italian landscapes that adorn his office. There are weekly video conferences with the Italian headquarters, and employees regularly travel to and from Italy for cross-training.

“The label, the packaging is fundamental for our customers,” Cillario says. “First impression reinforces (customers) to buy. Our job is to make sure we print what they want. The investment in our people is money well spent for our customers.”

Read the full Cincinnati.com article here.