interpack 2011: One of the Most Successful Ever

Schubert, Gerhard Schubert, Chief Executive
“interpack was just terrific, as always. I’ve never experienced a better interpack than this one—and I’ve been at every single interpack since 1959. It is the No. 1 and I’m sure it always will be. interpack is the “place to be” for international packaging machinery manufacturers. We all see to it that we have real innovations to present at the interpack—and that’s precisely what makes it so attractive. The mood is good, and the visitor quality was outstanding. I’m really sad that interpack 2011 is over. The only consolation is being able to look forward to the next one in three years’ time!”

Krones, Volker Kronseder, CEO
“interpack 2011 has been a successful event for us. The breadth of packaging machinery and new items to be found here is unique in the industry. And our own product innovations in sustainable packagings attracted a lot of interest among the international attendees. A fantastic trade fair.”

Ishida, Paul Griffin, Marketing Director
“interpack is indisputably the most important exhibition for the packaging industry—all the major companies from Europe, Asia and the U.S. are here. We simply cannot afford not to exhibit at this show.”

Mondi, Albert Klinkhammer, Marketing & Communication Director Europe & International
“interpack 2011 has proved to be an excellent communication and networking platform for Mondi. We expect that the number of leads will significantly exceed those recorded at the last edition in 2008. The location of our stand in Hall 9 was a definite advantage. One especially pleasing aspect is the consistently high quality of the talks we had with customers and other trade fair visitors. Besides food and the Green Range (e.g. the Terra Bag or the single-layer sack called ONE from Mondi Industrial Bags), the main talking points at the Mondi stand were product solutions offering reliable packaging with less weight while providing excellent printability for marketing at the point of sale. In the food sector, our shelf ready packaging solution and Mondi’s new anti-staining pouch drew a lot of attention. Paper was another topic much in demand, which was particularly gratifying for the staff representing our kraft paper and containerboard divisions. Mondi can look back on a successful presence at interpack 2011.”

Braskem, Amanda Klein, Marketing
“This is the first time that we have exhibited at interpack, and we are very satisfied. Our range of biopolymers attracted a high level of interest among trade visitors from all over the world, and we are confident that we will be participating again at the next interpack—ideally with even more stand space than this time.”

Mayr-Melnhof Packaging International, Klaus J. Marszollek, Sales Director Germany
“interpack 2011 has gone extremely well for our company. We have been able to meet up with existing contacts and make new ones. Our main topics at the trade show were migration and product safety, challenges that our range can help to master. We were able to connect with our target customer groups precisely as we wished. I noticed that there were many visitors from outside Europe, and a growing proportion of them came from South America. All in all, this was a very successful trade fair and we have great expectations regarding post-fair business.”

Wipak Walsrode, Matti Rovamaa, Vice President and General Manager of the Wipak Group
“This fair was just brilliantly for us! Besides presenting packages, our aim was to create a platform for dialogue. And we did exactly that. Our highlight was the “talking package”, which was very well received. We already recorded the first enquiries at the trade fair, so we are anticipating good post-fair business.”

Bizerba Group, Claudia Gross, Director Marketing & Communication
“This fair has been perfect for us. We had a very high-caliber audience with many decision makers visiting our stand. The response was much greater than at previous staging in 2008—when it was already excellent. So we are seeing a real increase here. It is also very noticeable that the economy is taking off again. Our expectations have been met in full, and we were also very satisfied with the location of our stand.”

Contego, Holger Lümkemann, Sales Director
“This was our first appearance at interpack under our new name Contego and with a restructured product portfolio. The presentation of the new company was a great success. We had a lot of international visitors, some of whom had travelled very long distances.”

European Bioplastics e.V., Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director
“interpack is a truly outstanding stage for presenting innovative packaging materials. We were able to welcome a large number of trade visitors at our stand and point out new trends to them. By presenting the new Danone Activia yoghurt cup made of PLA bioplastic we have been able to reach a whole new group of customers overnight, and bioplastics have finally crossed the consumer threshold. I am confident that this will give the entire industry a huge boost. We are expecting production capacities to more than double over the next five years. Bioplastics will continue to make inroads in the markets—especially in the packaging sector.”

Innovationparc Packaging

EHI Retail Institute, Hilka Bergmann, Project Manager for Packaging Research
“We’ve received exceptionally positive feedback from all the exhibitors at Innovationparc Packaging. The individual areas all drew high quality visitors, and the concept of showing packages in a retail environment in the various shops was a resounding success. The interest was definitely there, as shown by the numbers and the quality of the trade visitors. Although 2008 was already very successful for us and exhibitor expectations were consequently high, we were able to meet these once again in full.”

PDA Pan European Brand Design Association, Claudia Josephs, Operation Manager
“For us, it was very positive that, this time around, Innovationparc Packaging turned the spotlight on the consumer. Another very good idea was presenting the different topics at different stands. Designers and materials manufacturers worked together well, and thanks to the visual appeal of the stand designs, Innovationparc Packaging was a real eye-catcher. That was also well received and appreciated by the visitors. Our main focus was on networking, and collaborating with industry in this area definitely generates competitive advantages. For PDA, our participation was a big investment, but one that we were happy to make as we have learned a lot from this experience. We are going home full of inspiration, and with the will to do even better next time!”

Smurfit Kappa, Maren Grohs, Public Relations
“The Innovationparc Packaging concept really appeals to us because it allows alternative forms of presentation. The talks we had were very rewarding. I think they will lead to interesting contacts for the future.”

STI Group, Prof. Dr. Frank Ohle, CEO
“The Innovationparc Packaging at interpack 2011 provided an outstanding forum for presenting new ideas and discussing them with potential customers from all over the world. It spotlighted solutions that matched visitors’ interests. Through joint projects with other exhibitors and dialogue with experts from international brand manufacturers and retailers a trade fair presence becomes a source of solutions for tomorrow’s markets. There was a “get up and go” atmosphere at the trade fair and many of the new contacts established there will lead to concrete projects.”

Bialas Runge Partner, Albrecht Bialas, owner
“The Innovationparc Packaging strategy worked really well. We already took part in it in 2008, and this time we had even more quite specific enquiries, for example from brand manufacturers who were looking for concrete packaging solutions. Overall, the fact that the technical and creative design people got together very early to work on this project proved extremely fruitful.”

depot wpf, Anna Lukanina, Executive Director
“As we create commercial design, which is more comprehensive than just pure design, we really think that the Innovationparc Packaging is very useful in terms of bringing together the different stages of the value chain. I also got useful contacts and ideas while visiting the other shops of the Innovationparc Packaging.”

Metal Packaging Plaza

Verband Metallverpackungen e.V. (VMV/Metal Packaging Association), Jörg Höppner, Managing Director
“First of all, we would like to say a big thank-you to interpack for initiate the Metal Packaging Plaza project and inspiring manufacturers of metal packages to take part in it. When we approached our members with the idea that each of them should stage their appearance individually but on a common theme platform, they welcomed it with open arms. The central topics here were recycling and sustainability. Both we and our European umbrella association EMPAC rate our participation here as highly successful, and we are confident that the industry will be ready and willing to support this special show again in the future—perhaps to an even greater extent."

Huber Packaging Group, Bernhard Kürschner, Head of Marketing and Public Relations
“We are very happy with the visitor count. Monday and Tuesday were the busiest days for us. One of the things we most appreciate is the opportunity this trade fair provides to meet so many of our customers within a short space of time and personally present our range to them. This is especially true of the Metal Packaging Plaza initiative and the accompanying forum. Both of these gave us a unique opportunity to present not just our company but also our material and packages made from it. Steel has gained the status we believe it deserves at this year’s interpack. The aim of giving metal packages a new face and a louder voice was clearly achieved. And of course, we also benefited from the international character of the trade fair.”

Source: press release.