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ARGI: an association in service of the Italian graphic arts industry

As many well know, ARGI was founded in Milan on 6 June 1983 by a group of businessmen who realised how important it would be to confront common problems with the strength of an association, instead of dealing with those problems each one by himself. Since then, the association has grown, both in the number of members as in the services offered;  above all it has grown along with the firm conviction among the suppliers of machines and solutions for the printing and publishing, graphic arts, and paper-board industry of the importance of considering themselves colleagues, while remaining competitors, when facing  common challenges. 
 
The association and member companies have grown, along with the graphic arts industry in Italy. There’s no doubt that the profession of machinery manufacturers and dealers has changed, too. The awareness of the strategic role of technological innovation in the editorial and graphic industry has grown. The quality of machinery and of the installation and post-sales services offered by Italian dealers has grown. Like our colleagues in Europe and in the United States, we, too, are regarded much more as technological partners rather than simply sellers by publishers, printers, and other users of all sizes.
The reasons which gave birth to ARGI are firmer than ever. As leader of the technological evolution of the Italian graphic industry, we believe that ARGI can play a fundamental role as a service centre for the official Italian representatives of manufacturers for the graphic industry.

Services
ARGI has developed qualified services to assist members in the areas of legal contracts, post-sales and customer services, machine safety and environmental issues, and market research. 
ARGI has devoted special efforts to the graphic arts exhibition sector, where, since its founding, it has acted with the goal to better represent the needs of the industry. 
Over the years ARGI has developed closer ties with the most representative associations of our industry, exchanging information and working together to realise projects to help the growth of our sector, with special emphasis on human resources. 
The entry of Italy in the Euro Countries gave ARGI the chance to integrate its services with European regulations and customs. In the coming months, all information and consultancy services will be integrated within the new European scenario. 
 
The committees 
The growth of the association and the development of new services has been possible because of a lean, efficient organisation, which has its heart in committees, working groups that bring together qualified experts from member companies, coordinated by a component of ARGI’s Board of Directors. The committees develop their own activities assigned by the Board of Directors, which, with the President, is concerned with the execution of programmes established by all the associates represented in the Assembly.
There are currently five committees in function:
Contracts
Exhibition Services
Market Research
Technical Assistance and Post-Sales Services
Safety and  Environmental  Regulations 
Member companies can actively take part in the work of the committees, thus benefiting even more from the services offered by ARGI and contributing personally to the development of different activities.
 

ARGI in 2010…
The association’s ability to adapt to changes is most appreciated by all the members of ARGI; it’s a real “associative DNA” shared by all the companies represented, a business mentality that will continue to evolve in the coming years. 
ARGI in 2010: no one can predict the future, but we like to imagine it and especially build it together with all the current member companies and those that will become a part of our association. 
Human resources, training and professional ongoing education are essential components to the success of every company. These are nothing new to ARGI, which in the past has actively collaborated with other organisations in the sector to define professional training programmes. ARGI will continue its involvement in this strategic area  developing new initiatives to promote an increasing  number of motivated and prepared professionals able to face the growing tough competition within the European context. 
ARGI has traditionally worked with trade magazines and specialised communication services to keep companies, whether members or not, informed of the news in the industry. The coming months will see a strengthening of this service. The means already in use will be improved, starting with the “informARGI” news bulletin, reserved exclusively for our members. New interactive communication means will be developed, thanks to the set-up of our own Web site, with e-mail capacity, constituting the new ARGI online service centre. 
Programmes, ambitions and services that, to grow and develop, will require more and more involvement from current members and, hopefully, from the many new companies that will join us, making a new ARGI, providing benefits and contributing, altogether, to the development and prosperity of our industry. 

ARGI’s market research
In close collaboration with its members, ARGI publishes at the beginning of each year a survey of the Italian graphic arts industry covering many technological areas and in collaboration with some economists of Bocconi University, a trend relating to the coming year. 
ARGI’s analytic study has become, in the course of the years, indispensable for all companies in the industry thus contributing to make the association a leading source of information in the branch, thanks to the timeliness and thoroughness of the information gathered. 
Members may propose special areas of research with the assurance only an association of this calibre can guarantee, that all information received from the individual companies is treated with the utmost confidentiality. This information is gathered and processed under the responsibility of the secretary of ARGI. All the data is distributed from the very beginning as anonymous, collective information. 
ARGI Survey is a very trustworthy instrument to analyse the market and it is going to be enriched with new sources of information thanks to Italian and other foreign organisations’ contribution.
 
ARGI’s exhibition assistance
Exhibitions are a fact of life for all professionals and companies in the graphic arts sector. ARGI has closely followed developments in this area with the aim of gathering all pertinent suggestions and ideas from companies to improve expo quality and to present them to the exhibition organisers. 
ARGI counts on the collaboration of all its members for their help in preparing these different proposals, which later become part of the special expo dossier. With the support of the association the dealers of the graphic industry can better and firmer express their point of view. 
Thanks to the authority ARGI has gained in its many years of involvement and to its role recognised by all in the exhibition field, the association contributes in making exhibitions more suitable to the needs of the industry. This is advantageous to all members, both from the organisational point of view as well as for the continuous improvement of services in the exhibition field. 
ARGI’s involvement  gives all its members the opportunity to present to expo organisers suggestions and ideas about new initiatives to better serve the changing graphic industry needs. 
 

ARGI’s legal and contractual services
ARGI offers all its members an indispensable legal advisory service. With the help of qualified experts in the field and calling upon the diverse experiences of its members, ARGI has prepared a series of facsimile contracts containing all the fundamental guidelines necessary to develop   a company’s own models. 
As for all the association’s other activities, the goal is to indicate a few fundamental axes related to the legislative regulations and to the current customs in the graphic arts industry. No company is forced to stick to unacceptable “unique models”, but is free to negotiate its own contracts in the best suitable way. 
Members have access to the following texts related to:
General conditions of sales and warranties (mod. 001) updated 2009
Exclusive agent contract (mod. 002)
Maintenance contract (mod. 003)
Information sheet for installation and maintenance work contracts (mod. 004)
Pre-installation report (mod. 005)
Contract for resellers of graphic equipment (mod. 006-A and 006-B)
Usage licence (mod. 007)
Non-disclosure agreement (mod. 008)
Other documents are going to be created. 
All texts are periodically updated by consulting member companies and qualified business and commercial law experts. 
 
Guidelines for technical assistance and post-sales services 
Post-sales services and technical assistance are major attributes of a modern, efficient sales system of machines for the graphic arts industry. ARGI has always dedicated maximum attention to the development of tools to enable associates to be ever more competitive in this area. 
Once a year, ARGI publishes an information booklet giving average costs of technical assistance as recorded by its members. Companies are not obligated to use ARGI’s Technical Assistance Services, but the guidelines are essential for the organisational and accounting establishment of telephone or person-to-person technical service centres. 
The booklet contains information regarding general rules to organise services with reference to national legislation. 
The service guidelines are subject to a continuous development even concerning the adaptation of content to new experiences and new opportunities offered within the European countries, such as telephone hotlines or Internet online services. 
 
ARGI’s NEWSLETTER: exclusive news for associates
All members of ARGI receive periodically a “newsletter”, a service dedicated to the timely distribution of news about the association’s many activities, about the work of the committees and more general news of interest to those in the graphic arts industry.
Not only do members get news in the bulletin, but they themselves may also use this means at any time to propose themes to be covered in-depth, communal activities to be undertaken, or offer advice or suggestions of a general nature.  
The newsletter is the main means of communication for all members and it is produced by the association’s secretary. It’s an information tool integrating ARGI’s online service centre, a new opportunity for members to get services and information in real-time.