As suggested by the logo on the cover of the December-January issue of the magazine, 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of MacPlas, the magazine dedicated to the plastics industry that has been in print longer than any other in Italy.

On February 13, 1976, MacPlas was registered with the Court of Milan, starting its official history in the world of plastics and rubber. It was the result of an idea by Claudio Celata and Gino Delvecchio, who directed the publication for more than 35 years, steering it, in more recent times, towards the digital age.

To mark this occasion, the two directors of MacPlas were recently interviewed. They told the current editorial team all about how MacPlas came into being and also related several amusing  anecdotes that have become part of its history. You can read these in the next issue of the magazine: no. 351, February/March 2016.

But, before we even began to think of special initiatives to mark this important milestone, on 26 November 2015, as part of the twentieth anniversary celebrations of Italy’s National association for the technical, professional and specialist press (Anes), Promaplast (publisher of MacPlas) was awarded a prize along with other long-standing partners of Anes. During the forum event organised by Anes, Enrico Gallorini, co-founder of GRS Research and Strategy, held a speech on the tactics for combating the crisis of the publishing industry: extreme verticalisation and specialisation, even in niche sectors; what customers want is important and it must be provided at the right time when they want it most; content is very important and must be: specific, useful and authoritative. Without false modesty, we can honestly say that in all these contexts, MacPlas has truly taught a lot over the course of its 40 year history.