Lappí grows beyond labels
Spanish converting group Lappí Labels and Flexible Packaging never planned to enter flexible packaging. But as customer demands evolved, the company began viewing flexible packaging as a strategic response to market shifts rather than simply an additional product line.
Today, Lappí is pursuing targeted acquisitions that add specialist capabilities, capacity and market access in flexible packaging. The strategy aligns with robust market fundamentals: the Spanish flexible packaging market, valued at approximately $6.09-6.37 billion in 2025, is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.6-4.67 percent to reach $7.65-8.53 billion by 2030. Across Europe, the flexible packaging market is expected to expand from approximately $52.96-60.20 billion in 2025 to $76.54-81.28 billion by 2030-2031.
Lappí's most recent acquisition in July 2026 of Alempack in Portugal further expanded its footprint in the Iberian Peninsula and strengthened the company's offerings for flexible packaging in the fast-moving consumer goods market. Founded in August 1999, Alempack expanded its operations to Elvas, Portugal in 2007, transitioning from consumables sales to industrial production of flexible packaging for the food industry. The company is certified by IFS PacSecure and BRC Packaging Materials standards, becoming one of the first companies in Portugal to achieve IFS PacSecure certification.
The Alempack acquisition was the third of its kind for Lappí. It followed acquisitions of Gráfica Calipolense in 2019 and the Portuguese company CPM-Penta in 2023, moves that allowed Lappí to double its size and strengthen its presence in the region.
With the incorporation of Alempack, we give continuity to a way of growing that we are very clear about in Lappí Labels and Flexible Packaging: integrate solid companies with complementary capabilities and teams that reinforce our industrial project. This is the third acquisition we have made in just over two years. Each of the companies that have joined has contributed to expanding our capabilities, our knowledge of the market and our industrial presence.
— CEO Antonio Lappí Perea
Strategic rationale
For a company like Lappí, acquiring an established flexible packaging company often makes far more business sense than building a greenfield operation. With these acquisitions, Lappí gains immediate access to specialist capacity, experienced teams and established customer relationships that would take years to build organically. The moves also created opportunities to serve customers across both labels and flexible packaging.
Lappí is now made up of six companies, seven manufacturing facilities and more than 390 employees across Spain and Portugal. The Alempack deal increased Lappí's total production facilities from 51,000 square meters to approximately 60,000 square meters.
Alempack, which employs more than 40 people, will enable the group to double its flexible packaging business. Lappí is expected to reach estimated organic sales of $74 million (€65 million) in 2026, and is planning two more acquisitions this year.
The expansion is particularly well-timed given that flexible packaging formats accounted for 56.86 percent of the Spanish packaging market in 2025 and are forecast to grow at a 5.75 percent compound annual growth rate through 2031. Stand-up pouches and flow-wrap films, both part of Alempack's portfolio, use up to 70 percent less material than rigid packaging alternatives.
From commercial printing to packaging leadership
The move into flexible packaging may seem like a significant shift for a company regarded as one of Spain's established label converting groups, but Lappí has always embraced opportunities rather than standing still. Looking back at the company history reveals that Lappí didn't set out to be a label supplier either. Through a series of strategic shifts, acquisitions and investments, it has charted a course into one of the leading label and flexible packaging groups in the Iberian Peninsula.
The company's origins date back to 1959 when it began as Lappí Industrias Graficas, a commercial printer. In the 1970s, Lappí Perea's father recognized the potential in the label space and secured the wet glue label business of an important bottled water brand in Spain. The customer helped propel Lappí firmly into the label space.
In 1990, the company expanded again by adding self-adhesive labels, which eventually became a major part of its business. Under the leadership of Lappí Perea, who joined the company in 1997, Lappí (then called Grupo Lappí) ramped up investment in shrink sleeve and wraparound label technology. Lappí Perea led the company through a series of acquisitions in the mid-2000s.
Investment from private equity group Diana Capital in 2017 supported a new stage of growth, while the Lappí family continued to lead the day-to-day operations. Founded in 2000, Diana Capital is a Madrid-based private equity firm specializing in Spanish middle-market companies with approximately $449 million in assets under management. Since its creation, Diana Capital has invested more than €400 million supporting Spanish mid-sized companies in their international growth.
Headquartered in Seville, Lappí Labels and Flexible Packaging has seven production locations in Barcelona, Madrid and across Portugal, with approximately 60,000 square meters of manufacturing space.
Lappí Perea is joined by his children, Carmen Lappí Moreno and Juan Lappí Moreno, who represent the third generation of the family business—a legacy that is not lost on either of them. Both have had successful careers outside of the industry before joining Lappí.
Juan Lappí Moreno says:
I always say that my grandpa was the entrepreneur. He started with the crazy idea. My father took us to another level, and we, as the third generation, have to maintain this legacy. Your surname doesn't guarantee you a seat as an executive of the company; you have to try your best, and you have to work as much as you can to preserve that legacy.
Technology and market focus
Lappí's product portfolio represents a wide range of labels and packaging for consumer packaged goods and industrial end-use segments, including pressure-sensitive, wet-glue and wraparound labels, shrink sleeves and flexible packaging.
Carmen Lappí Moreno describes the company as 'label generalists,' but is more targeted when it comes to flexible packaging.
In labels, you can go to a very broad market, and we have. We do beer labels, pet food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage. But in flexible packaging, it's better to focus on segments and applications.
Lappí's manufacturing platform has evolved alongside the group's growth and today combines a broad range of printing, converting and finishing technologies. Its capabilities include gravure printing, full HD and CI flexography, sheet-fed and rotary offset and digital printing for both labels and flexible packaging, supported by different web widths, and UV, conventional and solvent-based drying systems. These are complemented by advanced converting, automation and value-added finishing technology.
The group's technology base includes equipment from HP, Heidelberg, Nilpeter, MPS, Miyakoshi, Omet and Windmöller & Hölscher. This combination of production processes enables Lappí to manufacture a comprehensive portfolio, including pressure-sensitive, wet-glue and wraparound labels, shrink sleeves and flexible packaging. Its flexible packaging portfolio includes complex printed reel films, flowpack applications, lidding films, stand-up pouches, vacuum pouches, shrink pouches and other packaging structures.
The availability of multiple technologies and production routes allows Lappí's technical teams to assess each project based on material selection, print quality, functional requirements, run length and converting needs before assigning it to the most appropriate process and manufacturing site.
This industrial base is supported by Lappí's sustained investment policy. The company allocates approximately five to six percent of annual revenue to capital expenditure.
The regulatory environment is also shaping the company's direction. The European Union's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation entered into force on February 11, 2025 and generally applies from August 12, 2026, requiring all packaging placed on the EU market to be recyclable by 2030. This mandate is driving material innovation and sustainability considerations across Lappí's flexible packaging operations.
Embracing artificial intelligence
As a company that has long prided itself on innovation and adaptation, Lappí is further along than most when it comes to one of today's defining technologies: artificial intelligence. Lappí's embrace of AI means the company is embedding it into its culture and building the digital foundations needed to scale, while at the same time preserving its customer and employee centric focus.
Lappí has appointed Carmen Lappí Moreno to lead AI adoption across the company. She encourages AI experimentation, and is using it to improve processes and reduce manual work.
We have always understood that growth is not only about expanding capacity, technology or markets, but about building a company prepared for the future while remaining faithful to the values and industrial discipline that have brought us to where we are today. AI is another step in that evolution. Not as an end in itself, but as a tool that will help us improve, make better decisions and continue building a stronger, more competitive and future-ready company.
— Lappí Perea
Carmen Lappí Moreno has established a dedicated committee of AI 'champion users', whose aim is to focus on practical use cases, while managing cultural shifts in the workforce. The goal, leadership says, is to enhance productivity, not replace people.
I think that AI is about redefining the work and the skills of the people doing it. Our focus is not on removing people, but how we can sell more, produce more, and be better.
Carmen Lappí Moreno spoke at Finat's European Label Forum in Seville this spring and described how any AI project at Lappí gets off the ground. Before embarking on any proposed AI project, the project must answer a key question.
Does it help us work better, and what impact will it have on how we compete? We prioritize based on impact and feasibility.
For businesses exploring AI in their companies, her advice was simple:
Start where it really hurts, do it properly, and then scale, learn, measure, govern and test.
AI transforms order entry
For Lappí Labels and Flexible Packaging, order intake was once viewed as a largely labor-intensive administrative process. Not anymore, thanks to an AI-powered agent developed in-house.
Nearly all of Lappí's orders come via email and often in inconsistent formats, such as PDFs, Excel files or even text messages. This variability creates opportunities for human error. Carmen Lappí Moreno says that roughly 10 percent of its orders contain some type of mistake that could lead to production issues, incorrect quantities or additional work.
The AI agent created by Lappí reads incoming orders, validates the information, applies customer-specific knowledge and predefined business rules, and converts unstructured data into reliable, structured information for the production system.
The system is designed with what Carmen Lappí Moreno calls 'human in the loop', meaning its AI agent can still verify missing information or inconsistencies and flag the issue for human review rather than simply making assumptions. The goal is not to replace employees, but to allow them to focus on higher-value tasks outside routine order processing.
The result is improved data quality, fewer errors reaching production and a more efficient process that gives Lappí a clearer view of customer behavior and business trends.
Lappí's expansion into flexible packaging and its early embrace of AI are rooted in the same philosophy: staying ahead of change rather than reacting to it. Whether the company is broadening its portfolio to meet evolving customer needs or leveraging AI to make its people and processes more efficient, the company continues to invest with the future in mind.
