Page 23 - FINAT Yearbook 2011

President. Nicola Motteta, (Euroadh- esiv), YMC Vice President, and also a member of the Marketing Committee, explains how the Club has expanded significantly on its original focus of succession planning within the many industry SMEs. Today, the YMC is principally composed of second- generation members, but the Board is also hoping to attract young people who will not necessarily run individual companies, but who will also become middle- and higher-level managers within larger companies, as M & A activity creates combined business entities.
‘It was a pretty challenging agenda to set up an organisation like YMC,’ says Nicola, ‘but our Board members really have passion, and passion is infectious in young business, as it is in life! There are real differences between the generations so, within the established “older generation” FINAT hierarchy, we had to experiment with our modus operandi. It proved a useful way to highlight events we could initiate for knowledge-sharing in the younger generation.
first ymc summit
‘Our first YMC Summit was held in Vienna, and its very successful agenda introduced the management tools available today that could
meet the label industry’s special needs. The event was characterised by really open discussions about business topics - and all the delegates were under the age of 40.’
Before the full YMC Summit, each YMC- organised event represen- ted a real step forward. The first was in India in 2010 - a country where the label industry is indeed ‘young’, at a starting point for
growth, and with a different approach from that of the mature west European industry. An Indian YMC was establ- ished as part of the local label associat- ion, LMAI. ‘It was a real privilege, and a real insight for us’, says Nicola. ‘These SMEs are very much a reflection of how our parents’ companies might have been 30 years ago...’
ymc: going global
Now the FINAT YMC Board is taking the lead in negotiating the first worldwide events for the industry’s younger generation, in discussion with national associations around the globe. ‘The idea is to share ideas with other groups of same-age participants - many of whom have plenty of academic knowledge, but little hands-on experience of running a company’, says Nicola. ‘Our focus has to be on financial issues, M &A activities, and cost control, of course - but they have to be approached in the context of this particularly complex industry value chain. It also has to take into account the craft skills and practical knowledge of the pressroom team - it’s important for managers to be able to talk the same language. At the same time, label converters are today sensibly moving into the realms of mainstream pack- aging. Their main set-up costs is the
Nicola Motteta
printing press itself, and if you can achieve more profitability by printing a variety of different items, you can offer advantages to existing customers - and attract new ones.’
‘an exciting and proactive future agenda’
Reviewing the activities of the FINAT infrastructure, FINAT Managing Director Jules Lejeune summarises: ‘the realignment of the committees and subcommittees, coupled with the new
routine of holding Marketing and Technical Committee meetings back- to-back with Board meetings has delivered real benefits. It has significantly improved the speed of decision making and workflow, and has also created a much livelier networking platform for the members of the different committees. In the Secretariat, we look forward to being part of an exciting and proactive future agenda.’
YMC Board on tour in India, December 2010
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finAt YeArbooK 2011 |