At Heaford, we pride ourselves on working closely with our customers worldwide to stay ahead of market trends. Nick Vindel, our LATAM expert with over 30 years’ experience across Latin America and 20 years specialising in flexible packaging, recently returned from an insightful trip across Brazil and Mexico. Here’s what he shared about the latest market developments.

Momentum Towards Automation in Brazil

In Brazil, Nick observed a growing trend toward greater automation within the flexible packaging sector. Small to medium-sized companies are making strategic investments in new technologies — including plate mounters — to streamline operations, improve quality, and boost productivity.

Many businesses are starting their automation journey with manual or semi-automatic solutions, which offer an ideal balance between cost and capability. It’s no surprise that Heaford’s ModularMount has generated significant interest. Designed to grow with your business, it offers a scalable, value-for-money solution that supports customers as their needs evolve. More and more Brazilian printers recognise that good plate mounting is not a luxury — it’s essential to achieving consistently high-quality print results and reducing press downtime.

Growing Label Demand in Mexico

Meanwhile, Mexico’s labels market is thriving, driven by strong local demand despite wider global uncertainty. Nick reported an encouraging number of small label converters increasingly understanding the importance of precision plate mounting — especially for short-run jobs, where time savings and speed are critical.

For example:

• Manual mounting by eye can take 3–4 hours for one person.
• Using a basic Heaford mounter reduces this to 20–30 minutes.
• With a Heaford FTS (our fastest mounting solution), the job can be done in just 10 minutes or less.

In a market where shorter job runs and skills shortages are becoming more common, equipment that is easy to operate and delivers repeatable results makes all the difference. The FTS range is designed with intuitive operation in mind, meaning anyone can achieve perfect mounting quickly and easily.

As Nick concludes, “Across Latin America, businesses are realising that investing in smart, scalable technology today is key to securing growth and competitiveness tomorrow.”