BRUSSELS—October 12, 2015—Labelexpo Europe reported record breaking results as it posted new visitor, exhibitor and exhibition space figures for its 2015 edition. Held at Brussels Expo from Sept. 29-Oct. 2, the show enjoyed its largest edition as it marked its 35th anniversary.
Attracting 35,739 visitors, attendance figures were up 12.4 percent on 2013’s total of 31,795. Visitors came from 146 countries, with most attending from Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the UK. The show also posted an increase in visitors from outside Europe with 19.6 percent of the total visitors traveling from elsewhere including Asia, North and South America and Africa. Covering 34,566 square meters, the show’s footprint also increased by 11.65 percent on 2013, while exhibitor numbers rose from 600 to just over 650.
Held every two years, Labelexpo Europe is the world’s largest event for the label and package printing industry. Dominated by new product launches, the show again saw many major new developments being unveiled including Soma Engineering’s Optima 820 press for labels and packaging and the Gallus DCS 340 which is Gallus’ first ever modular digital converting system: an inkjet printing module integrated into a Gallus machine platform combines the latest digital printing technology with the benefits of conventional printing and further processing technology. Other highlights included new digital presses from leading manufacturers such as EFI, Epson and Screen. HP Indigo also showcased its HP Indigo 20000 and WS6800 digital presses, while Mark Andy showed its both its Digital Series and Performance Series P4 and MPS and Nilpeter debuted their hybrid conventional and digital presses.
As well as hosting the 12th annual Label Industry Global Awards which saw industry gongs go to Kurt Walker—FINAT’s former president, GEW, HP Indigo, Lake Image Systems and Lintec, Labelexpo Europe 2015 also included several new feature areas. The Packprint Workshop was well attended with live press demonstrations given by Xeikon using its 3500 for digital folding cartons and Nilpeter showing its FA* flexo press for flexible packaging capabilities. The Smart Packaging Lab covered some current developments in active and intelligent with contributions from Avery Dennison, Blippar, EyeSee and Seido Systems. The show also hosted the inaugural Linerless Trail which promoted the benefits of linerless labels with industry partners working together including Maan Engineering, Appvion, Henkel, MPS, Ravenwood Packaging, Sato and Bostik.
Lisa Milburn, managing director of the Labelexpo Global Series commented, “We would like to thank everyone who took part in this year’s show. The feedback has been genuinely phenomenal and our exhibitors have been extremely pleased with many of the press manufacturers experiencing record sales and lead generation. The main trends coming out of this year’s show are the continued move to package printing as we see more manufacturers bringing short-run production printing presses, which backs up our strategy going forward, and the ongoing dominance of digital as more and more hybrid digital printing presses flood into the marketplace. We’ve had an amazing show with fantastic testimonials and it certainly is a fitting way to celebrate our 35th anniversary.”
The following are quotes from exhibitors at Labelexpo Europe 2015:
Joe Leonard, marketing co-ordinator, Accraply: “Accraply demonstrated its new fully-continuous shrink sleeve seamer at Labelexpo Europe 2015 in front of the largest gathering in the world of label and package printing professionals. The industry had a very positive reaction to the Accraseam FC with the first unit being sold less than 48 hours after being unveiled. Units will begin shipping February 2016.”
Doug Jones, vice president of global marketing, Apex International: “Apex International enjoyed its most successful Labelexpo exhibition to date, eclipsing all previously established metrics in terms of booth visitors, generated leads and orders written onsite. We want to thank all of our friends and partners for making Labelexpo Europe 2015 our best ever. We especially want to thank our partners at Bobst, Omet, Soma, MPS and Lombardi for demonstrating with Apex anilox technology during the show. Due in part to their efforts, Apex was able to write multiple large orders during the show and produce nearly 20 percent more sales leads than the previous Labelexpo.”
Hester McQueen, marketing manager, API: “Labelexpo Europe was a great success for API, enabling us to show our foils, laminates and holographics that help enhance brands and products to a wide variety of visitors to our stand. We have a record number of leads and a lot of specific interest in our new TA Foil which we launched at the show, as well as a number of new projects for our brand enhancement service where we work with companies to help enhance and protect their packaging. Our API craft beer label designed especially for Labelexpo and featuring our TA foil was great success too, we just need to bring more with us next time – attending Labelexpo Europe is obviously thirsty work!”
Jess Lawrence, communications specialist, Ashland Industries Europe: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 was a great success for Ashland. It was the first time that our customers got the chance to see our water-based Purekote soft touch coating, feeling the velvet-soft difference for themselves. We also took advantage of having our customers together in the same place and hosted an on-stand regulatory master class that addressed the ever-changing EU food contact legislation and what being migration compliant really means. Attendees walked away with tips to navigate the regulatory maze with Ashland.”