Mr Gatesy was speaking after taking Competitiveness and Communications Minister Censu Galea on a tour of the company’s plant in Bulebel.

Mr Gatesy said that the company was often faced with excessive bureaucracy. He said that Malta should have a structure that helps the sector while still retaining the necessary procedures that ensure serious business practice.

The visit to Toly Products – a

cosmetic-packaging manufacturer – is part of a number of scheduled visits the minister has with local industry. Minister Galea praised the company for their success over the years and assured them that it was his ministry’s priority to implement the necessary change to facilitate competitiveness.

He said that Toly Products was a good example of how companies can successfully compete and thrive in the global scenario. The investment the company has made over the years had improved its efficiency and therefore its competitive edge.

Over the past six years alone the company had invested some Lm6 million. In fact, it now delivers over 200,000 components per day with its highly automated 24-hour operations.

One of the interesting aspects of the company’s approach to the market is its emphasis on innovation and research, said Mr Galea. Malta traditionally did not score high with the international community in this respect, he added. This could be due to a lack of promotion and not necessarily a shortage of innovative ideas.

Toly Products Ltd was established in 1970 by Dr Zoli Gatesy, Mr Gatesy’s father. The company still prides itself on being a family business and actually claims that this is one of its advantages. However, from a modest workforce of 40, the company now boasts an international operations network with offices in London, New York, Paris and Belgium and a 400-strong complement.

“We intend to expand our international networks and are now looking at China for our next project. However we intend to keep our headquarters in Malta,” Mr Gatesy said. “We have no intention of taking business out of Malta.”

The company manufactures cosmetics containers such as eye-shadow cases and mascara tubes for top brands such as Chanel. In recent years, however, it has been expanding in related areas and has recently set up a new plant that produces cosmetics, in partnership with a Belgian company. This gives the group the edge in certain niche markets as now it is able to offer its customers a complete package at more competitive rates.

Operations manager Olaf Zahra said the company had gone through a rough patch in 2002 and 2003 but is now back on track, having won six new contracts that should see more progress in 2005. “Our clients are mostly in the high-end cosmetics sector and a good portion of their market comes from sales at airports. Therefore the fall in travel during the period because of terrorism, SARS and other threats affected our business negatively,” he said.