“Our mission is to continuously develop and innovate in the field of flexible packaging, providing solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers and contribute to a more efficient and responsible future.”

Thus reads the website of DolcePack, a young Ticino-based startup located in Lugano, born from the idea of Andrea Ferrari and Kara Harl and materialized in May 2021 with the launch of the first industrial machinery that efficiently and sustainably fills various containers with food products. Fondazione Agire has witnessed the project’s growth since its debut in the 2021 edition of the Boldbrain Startup Challenge.

The well-being of our planet is a priority that requires commitment from everyone. Adopting sustainable packaging practices is therefore crucial for a greener future, which is why product packaging is continuously improving with increasingly recyclable materials and the progressive reduction of plastic. The use of technological machinery in this sector can not only increase efficiency but also reduce waste and environmental impact. A notable example is the use of flexible packaging, such as bags, which, compared to rigid packaging, use 60% less plastic and reduce material transportation by 15 times, thus greatly benefiting the environment.

It is with this spirit that DolcePack has developed a revolutionary machine for packaging products in flexible and recyclable bags. It all started in 2019, one evening at home, first with an idea on paper and then with the construction of a prototype made with LEGO to demonstrate that Andrea and Kara’s idea could work: the famous proof of concept that revolutionized their lives, propelling them towards the mission of spreading this concept in the industrial packaging sector.

In fact, Andrea, who has many years of experience in the industrial machinery sector, showed foresight in envisioning design and functional aspects that could improve the range of machinery available on the market today. And so, the design and realization of the first DolcePack machine, called REVO (Rotary Evolution), began. “Our technology arises from the industry’s need to use modern, versatile machinery that saves time and energy during product packaging,” explains Kara, co-founder of DolcePack.

It is an automatic machine for filling and sealing preformed bags, designed with a compact and hygienic design that simplifies operator use and increases productivity per square meter. Designed to package food as well as personal and household care products, cosmetics, medical and pharmaceutical products. Thanks to automatic format change, a wide range of bags can be used on the same machine in less than five minutes. REVO is fully operated by servo motors for intuitive adjustment of every function by the operator, making it easy to use and easy to clean. From conventional laminated materials to recyclable materials, REVO can use a wide range of materials and ensure proper visibility for product brands.

“The concept has been well received, and while we installed our first machine at a customer’s site in Turin, we worked to conclude an exclusive licensing agreement with a multinational American company. It was a very busy year and a half that ended with many good hopes,” Kara tells us with enthusiasm.

This year, DolcePack has started global marketing, along with their dealer, installing several machines from the first REVO series, also due to the great success achieved at the Interpack fair in Düsseldorf, Germany. There are other ongoing projects to expand the range offered by REVO, but it doesn’t end there: DolcePack has further development plans.

It has indeed identified the need for customers to be able to rely on personalized and flexible service, with alternative payment methods. Hence the idea of integrating software with the use of blockchain technology into the machinery. This will allow the integration of machinery rental contracts with a “pay-per-use” concept or a franchising service of packaging islands, where every company that has products to package but cannot afford its own system could rent it temporarily and locally.

This would also ensure the benefit of reducing the transport of goods for packaging purposes to foreign countries. The software will be integrated into their machinery but can also be integrated into other systems, thus providing data available for service and maintenance and especially for tracking packaged products and their ecological impact.