Packaging

Bumper Labelexpo Europe reflects growing market optimism

Monday 07. October 2013 - Labelexpo Europe 2013 has reported its largest ever edition with record-breaking attendance figures. The show, which took place 24-27 September, covered seven of Brussels Expo's exhibition halls for the first time and attracted 31,795 visitors (up 11% on 2011) from 158 countries (up from 123 in 2011) and just under 600 exhibitors (up from 550 in 2011). Underlining the show's importance to what is the fastest growing sector of the wider print industry, Labelexpo Europe occupied 31,000sqm; its largest show floor size in its 33 year history.

As the label and package printing industry’s major platform for product launches, Labexpo Europe 2013 saw the unveiling of over 150 new products including presses, ancillaries and consumables. Big launches included Epson’s Sure PrecisionCore technology and its Surepress L-6304 UV ink label press, Mark Andy’s flexo printing solutions including the Performance Series P3 and P5 narrow-web presses, Ritrama’s Core Linerless Solutions system and Stork Prints new DSI UV inkjet label printer.
Numerous market leading exhibitors increased their presence at 2013’s event including Avery Dennison, Durst, EFI, Gallus, HP Indigo, Mark Andy, MPS, Nilpeter, UPM Raflatac and Xeikon. By the end of the show, 86% of the space had already been rebooked for the 2015 edition – the highest ever onsite rebook rate.
Labelexpo Europe 2013 also welcomed the successful debut of several new busy feature areas. The Package Printing Workshop showcased the opportunities both digital and conventional printing can bring to folding carton, lid laminate and stand up pouch decoration. The Inkjet Trail put the different available inkjet technologies under the spotlight and compared their results when producing identical label designs on the same label stocks.
Lisa Milburn, managing director of Labelexpo Global Series remarks: “With the Eurozone now out of recession, confidence and optimism is beginning to return to wider global industry and converters are starting to invest in their businesses again. This year’s Labelexpo Europe is without doubt another world-class event! Seeing our manufacturers and suppliers making sales here confirms that Labelexpo Europe is the best-selling platform in the label and package printing industry with printers prepared to spend high on capital equipment.”
Milburn concludes: “Continued innovation across the various product groups and strong, sustainable growth in demand across the labeling and package printing market are being translated into sizeable order books. We’ve again had excellent feedback from exhibitors underlining that Labelexpo Europe is the show to secure significant sales with numerous reports of many presses being sold.”
Quotes from exhibitors:
Simon Godbold, Ashe Converting Equipment: “Ashe Converting Equipment confirmed during Labelexpo Europe 2013 five individual machine purchases from its extensive range of slitting, rewinding and converting equipment. Two sapphire s2 turret slitters were confirmed as well as a diamond duplex slitter and two new opal glue-less turret rewind slitters were confirmed during four very busy days. Specific machines were launched by Ashe at this year’s show and were well welcomed by the audience that came to view them fully operational on the stand.”
Christina Neth, CALOR Gesellschaft für: “In 2013, we at CALOR continued the good tradition of meeting our long-standing customers at Labelexpo Europe and presenting our latest developments in thermal transfer ribbons. Visitors showed specific interest in our wide color range, which now includes resin qualities for outdoor applications. They also had a close look at our samples for high-resolution white print on black surfaces. We were glad to welcome many new potential customers. In case they could not find their ideal ribbon among our 35 black and 85 colored qualities, we discussed their particular requirements with them and can now work on the development of “their” thermal transfer ribbon. Once again, Labelexpo Europe was the perfect platform for keeping or getting in touch with customers.”
Sonia Arcos, Cheshire Anilox Technology: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was the first public showing of our new engraving the maxfloUV which has attracted huge interest because of its print versatility and innovative way of resolving the long standing problem of UV spitting. Visitor numbers to our stand far surpassed Labelexpo Europe 2011 and the number of new contacts made and sales orders placed have increased beyond expectations. Many label printers from all across the world visited Cheshire Anilox stand to learn more about its highly innovative engravings and how Cheshire is working with printers to manage the trends that are changing the way ‘print’ will be purchased and used in the future. Some of the products that proved popular with visitors were the MaxfloUV Anilox, shown in Europe for the first time, the easyflo hd for mimicking screen printed opaque whites and the proflo Anilox for full HD printing.”
Conor O’Kelly, Crest Solutions: “This year we were looking for the optimum platform to launch our new product for thermal transfer label inspection, PrintInspector. We were impressed with the high level of attendance at the last Labelexpo Europe show, not to mention the calibre of visitors and exhibitors. So we decided to exhibit for the first time there and officially launch the product. We couldn’t be happier with the results. PrintInspector was excellently received and we left the show with new contacts and qualified leads that would have required much more time to gather using other avenues. From a practical point of view, the organization of the show was professional and painless, with Tarsus and Labelexpo media contacts doing all they could to help and promote exhibitors at the show. Overall, this was a great experience for us and one we would be keen to repeat.”
Mike Huss, Delta Industrial: “Delta Industrial found Labelexpo Europe to be one of our best label industry events of 2013; it was great to meet so many people from a variety of industries who were interested in the latest converting and finishing equipment. Our booth was busy and our demonstration seemed to be well received as people were looking for ways to increase their productivity and minimize their material waste. Overall Delta was pleased with the number and quality of new leads we generated.”
Sara Ascari, Diavy Holography: “Diavy Holography Technologies would like to thank the huge number of visitors at Labelexpo Europe 2013 for their interest in our company! For us, Labelexpo Europe 2013 has been a great success, so we look forward to seeing you again at Labelexpo Europe 2015!”
Philip Easton, Domino: “We were delighted by Labelexpo Europe 2013; our visitors were up 60% on the 2011 show, helped by the Inkjet Trail. It is also good to see the Labelexpo team continuing to innovate and refresh the visitor experience.”
Paul Cripps, EFI EMEA: “This year’s Labelexpo Europe was the most exciting and the most rewarding since EFI has been exhibiting at the show. Visitor numbers were up significantly, not just from our own region but also with growing attendance from Asia and Latin America. And the people didn’t come just to kick the tires, they came ready to invest. The new Jetrion with full LED curing and our company’s unique approach to integrated lean manufacturing gave us record sales leads that will keep our teams busy in the months to come.”
Dietmar M. Becker, Electro Optic: “At Labelexpo Europe 2013 Electro Optic was promoting its latest Gold Line Special die as a solution to cutting on thin film liners down to 19 microns (0,00075 inch) and less. The number of contacts and visits exceeded the last two shows again. Special thanks to all our customers interested in our high quality products and the technical discussions held at our booth.”
Duncan Ferguson, Epson Europe: “Epson had the busiest Labelexpo Europe yet, with over double the leads taken compared with 2011. The announcement of Precision Core technology coupled with the new SurePress L-6034VW digital label press created huge interest. Many orders were taken for products at the show, including the SurePress L-4033AW digital label press and SureColor SC-S70600 wide format printer.”
Ilse Decuyper, Esko: “Esko loves Labelexpo Europe: it takes place in the core of our business and in our home country. Workflow management, color management and prepress have made our crew extremely busy for the full four days. Already looking forward to Labelexpo Europe 2015!”
Marco Pagani, Ferrarini & Benelli: “We’ve been very pleased with the exhibition. Labelexpo Europe 2013 has been a good opportunity to meet old friends and new potential customers. Our new corona treatment ET model together with new power generator series MX available with Profibus/Profinet protocols of communication presented on the show received interest and very positive comments. The equipment is specifically designed for label printers and can treat conductive and not conductive materials. The machine available on the booth was sold on the second day to a new customer!”
Adam Robak, Flexor: “EMIS Ltd, manufacturer of the FLEXOR line of inspection slitters, rewinders and die cutting machines has had the most successful Labelexpo Europe in its history. The biggest interest was triggered by the FLEXOR 440 2C/S machine – a highly productiveA4 laser sheet production machine which can produce two A4 sheets at up to 130m/min. This machine is unique on the market since it can run roll – to – roll or roll – to – sheet with a 15min changeover time. The other machine which sparkled some customers to sign the contract on the spot was the FLEXOR 440 2C semi which ran at 300m/min producing blank labels – a double die cutting, 440mm wide machine with a semi-automatic turret rewinder. We have signed several contracts during the show for these two machines and are proud that customers have once more put their trust into our family run business.”
Niklas Olsson, Flint Group Narrow Web: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was full of energy and overwhelmingly positive! Visitors were full of energy; wanting to learn about the future of narrow web. Flint Group Narrow Web positioned itself at the top! With its win of the New Innovation Award for LED printing inks, and the announcement of the company’s investment in a new combination printing press in Trelleborg, Sweden, Flint Group Narrow Web confirmed its position as a true innovation leader. Visitors from around the world attended our daily Speakers’ Corner seminars wanting to learn more about key trends in the narrow web market – exhibiting a real desire to learn how to position themselves for the future of narrow web. The special entrepreneurial “can-do-will-do” spirit that characterizes this industry was back at Labelexpo – illustrated through industry leaders partnering to bring the market true innovation; printers looking to us as true leaders who will bring them into the next generation of label and packaging printing.”
David Lee, Focus Label Machinery: “Focus Label Machinery was delighted to see Labelexpo Europe visitor numbers higher than two years previously. Its two new machine launches were well received with orders closed for the eFlex & dFlex digital equipment. Labelexpo Europe has provided the perfect showcase for the new technology, our customers’ enthusiasm has shown they are now ready to invest at a time the global economy is recovering .Without doubt more orders will follow!”
Christof Naier, Gallus: “Once more Labelexpo Europe was the melting point of the label industry for four days and proved itself as the number one exhibition worldwide and a must-see for every label printer. For Gallus it was an excellent show. In total we were holding 61 live demonstrations with over 30 percent more visitors compared to 2011. Especially the Gallus Print Shop concept including the highly flexible near-line solution comprising the Heidelberg Linoprint L digital printing system and further processing on the Gallus ECS C generated a lot of attention. Based on the high number of new digital supplier entrants many visitors were looking for orientation in their decision making process and the Gallus Print Shop concept showcasing a practical combination of the advantages of digital and conventional printing methods in the production environment proved to be right at time. Sales of digital and conventional equipment at Labelexpo have already reached high double digit and numerous highly promising leads came with active projects.”
Patrick Schmid, HAPA: “Incredible impact! Hapa exhibited for the first time at Labelexpo Europe 2013. We are positively surprised about the number of customers spending time with us and the interest shown in our offerings. We had four topics on the show. WCMYK printing Universal LP: “so compact, great design, highest speed, amazing print quality” Integrated in a label handling system. The printing module redcube: “Small foot print, just what we need, is it integrable everywhere, nice print quality” The redcube direct printing on object: “now I can save the label, I can’t believe it prints direct on plastic, many applications I can think of” Our own customizable inks: “I like that I can order 1l of a new Ink for testing, good idea to sell high quality dispersion as a product, flexible partner for start-up projects, great offering, exactly what was missing on the market”. We’ll be back!”
Jazmin Cordero, Harper Corporation of America: “Harper Corporation of America was very pleased with the results we recently achieved at Labelexpo Europe. As a first time exhibitor, we were impressed with the number of visitors that attended the show and the amount of leads we generated. Labelexpo Europe was the perfect setting for Harper Corporation to lay the groundwork for our new strategy in supporting not only Europe, but customers throughout the world. We used this opportunity to educate customers on our “HIVE” (High Image Volume Engravings), including our XLT 60 degree hex, which has become the staple of the flexographic industry. Harper also announced our new partnership with MECA & Technology Machine out of Green Bay, WI. This partnership will expand the product line of our HEX Division. In addition to plate sleeves, bridge sleeves & adaptors, Harper will now offer MECA products that include mandrels, plate cylinders, VSOP sleeves, and mechanically engraved anilox rolls.”
Anuj Bhargava, HassleFree Technologies by Kumar Labels: “With the machine NB-330 arriving at Labelexpo Europe just 12 hours before the opening of the show, HassleFree Technologies thought they wouldn’t be able to make it. But the organizers really made it happen! Visitors offered an overwhelming response to the “World’s Most Compact Semi-Rotary Die-cutter”. NB-330 is one of the few machines available today that can do both semi-rotary and full rotary die-cutting both in re-register mode at speeds of 200 impressions per minute with the machine foot print of less than one square meter! Most demanded by digital converters at the show, HassleFree Technologies announced the launch of SB-330 with U.V. varnish + cold-foil + die-cutting both in semi and full rotary modes by Jan 2014. Priced at less than $50,000, SB-330 would be a modular system, expandable to more features. With the attractive “special show price” of just $30,000, NB-330’s demonstration unit was sold to a label converter in France and many more orders are in the finalization stages. Thanks to Labelexpo Europe organizers for helping make the NB-330 popular amongst converters in Europe!”
Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner, HERMA: “This year at Labelexpo Europe, we were really surprised about the enormous number of new international leads we could generate. Labelexpo Europe 2013 was a huge success for us. We certainly hit the bull’s eye with our products like the new range of peel-off adhesives we call HERMAperfectPeel. But the new product, which was in most demand, was our problem solver 65Tpc adhesive for tire labels. It represents a long awaited solution with excellent die-cutting properties, because the EU now prescribes a special label for every new car tire that is to be sold.”
Mark Pearson, Holfeld Tool & Die Ltd: “We found Labelexpo Europe 2013 to be a lot busier than last time with a good number of visitors from throughout Europe and North/South America in particular. We had a lot of interest in cutting tools to produce folding cartons and also in our special long life HDT coated flexible dies. A number of specialist converters (not label printers) came on the stand to discuss their solid die requirements when producing medical and automotive parts.”
Ronen Samuel, HP Indigo and Inkjet Digital Press Solutions EMEA: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was a great show for HP. Not only did we close many important customer deals and launch new capabilities, including our new silver ink for the HP Indigo WS6000 series, but we also saw huge interest in our new packaging portfolio and in the many opportunities that digital printing presents to brands. Marking HP’s largest Labelexpo presence to date, this year we had our own hall to accommodate our broad press portfolio, and to enable us to integrate HP partners. The aim was to demonstrate ‘end-to-end’ digital solutions, for businesses looking for innovative technologies to support them in their future digital investments. This approach worked very well for us, and we look forward to progressing in the coming weeks and months, the many discussions started at the show.”
Roy Burton, Impression Technology Europe: “With an ever growing range of printers and finishing equipment for the short run digital label sector, Impression Technology Europe’s commercial and technical team welcomed in excess of 200 customers and dealers from 49 countries worldwide to a busy stand at Labelexpo Europe 2013. Pride of place went to the lamination and digital cutting systems, Eclipse LF3 (220mm web width) and the newly introduced LF330 (330mm web width), both developed and manufactured in the UK. Crowds were also drawn to the impressive in-line labeling solution comprising the Memjet powered Rapid X2 printer, the Rapid D2 laminator/semi-rotary die cutter and the RS280 slitter/re-winder running at speeds up to 18 metres per minute. With desktop printers Rapid X1 (inkjet) and ComPress LP4 (LED dry toner) and a choice of un-winders and re-winders, ITE is building a formidable reputation for comprehensive, economical and reliable solutions for labeling professionals.”
Leanne Beattie, Industrial Inkjet Ltd: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was an extremely successful show for Industrial Inkjet Ltd. Our stand was extremely busy all day every day. We were overwhelmed with the amount of positive feedback received from both exhibitors and show attendees for our new 1200dpi color demonstration unit. IIJ counted over 200 good quality leads with four firm orders received at the show, and many more imminent sales opportunities. It was clear at that this year’s Labelexpo Europe that customers are no longer “window shopping” but are actually coming to the show fully ready to buy. IIJ’s Digital Label Module for flexo presses is seen as a very sensible and economic alternative to a large stand-alone inkjet press. With our print speeds of 80metres/minute the DLM was very warmly received.”
Serena Inglese, INGLESE s.r.l.: “This year’s edition of Labelexpo Europe has been a real profitable one: we got more than 50 new leads coming from all over the world, receiving a lot of interest in our equipment, particularly in our plate making processors and lines and our automatic machines to clean the plates after the printing. During this show, we also met with good success for our roll-to-roll digital printing machine INGLESE DP210. We got great satisfaction out of our activity as agents in Italy of ESKO, promoting full software solutions, Digital imaging systems CDI and related technologies (HD/full HD) among our customers also during this show. Finally, Labelexpo Europe has been a good occasion to strengthen the relationship with our commercial partners and already consolidated customers, too. We think that Labelexpo is undoubtedly the most important window for us on the Italian and international label printing field.”
Graham Price, ITW Foils and Thermal Films Group: “We enjoyed many inspiring conversations and with in excess of 300 leads generated in only four days we can proudly state that there was an enormous interest in our iSCAN technology and EcoCast inline holography; in addition to our ‘Flexible and Tough’ range of thermal transfer resin based ribbons. In short: Labelexpo Europe 2013 has been a great success for ITW Foils and Thermal Films all along the line.”
Jo Furley, JF Machines Ltd: “Visitors’ responses to the show and to our compact PicoColour 140, the only inkjet machine with rotary inline die cutting, were very positive. There was a definite feeling that inkjet had now become accepted – the questions were more searching and people wanted to find out our place in the market, suggesting that they were much closer to investing in this new technology. Thanks to the growing partnership between ink and material manufacturers and machine builders, label producers are starting to realise that the winning combination of inexpensive materials and overall low printing costs per square metre can provide a very cost effective route for short runs. We had a large number of visitors from across the world and we were especially pleased to see more UK visitors, compared with Drupa 2012.”
Sally-Anne Heaford, J M Heaford: “Heafords had its busiest ever Labelexpo Europe at its ninth consecutive show. The award winning and innovative “FTS” Narrow Web Flexo Plate Mounter which radically simplifies and speeds up the mounting process generated huge interest with over 200 visitors to the stand. The ease of use, repeatable accuracy and speed offer buyers the alternative to automation without the price tag. Labelexpo is always a good show for us but the response to the FTS was excellent, every visitor who watched a demonstration saw the benefits instantly. We sold all the mounters on the stand at the show and are now working to respond to all the show inquiries.”
Marcus Tralau, KAMA GmbH: “We appreciate Labelexpo Europe as a truly international showcase which 2013 once more successfully attracted visitors from all over the world. So we could demonstrate the benefits of our new stripping and blanking unit SBU to professionals from the U.S., Latin America, the Far East and of course from Europe. The new (inline) solution for blank separation – which does all stripping and blanking operations without the need of expensive tools – was very well received by digital printers in the field of commercial and packaging printing and we could generate a great deal of qualified business leads. KAMA exhibited at the booth of HP which has been strongly frequented right from the first day.”
Andrea Huerfeld, KANZAN: “This year’s Labelexpo Europe was very successful for KANZAN. It was a very good decision to switch the exhibition days beginning with Tuesday and ending with Friday. KANZAN had much more visitors on the stand and instead of a super calm Saturday we had a busy Friday with interested and qualified visitors.”
Nick Wang, Koan Hao Technology Co Ltd: “Sales leads we have received this year at Labelexpo Europe are 10% more than what we had two years ago, thanks to the well-organized event. Our destructible label materials for tamper-evident applications have been the most inquired about product, and we look forward to turning these leads into real business deals. We will be back again for Labelexpo Europe in 2015.”
Ilaria Fenino, Labeltech: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was a tremendous success for LABELTECH, we are extremely satisfied with the interest shown and the record number of sales leads taken. This year’s Labelexpo Europe was especially significant to LABELTECH as we celebrate 10 years of our IT350/450 slitter rewinder inspection machine introducing innovations, the response was amazing! The launch of our new die cut to register unit EIGER excited visitors from over 25 countries; we had an excellent feedback and a lot of enthusiastic comments. Thank you Labelexpo!”
Tim Lydell, Label Vision Systems, Inc: “With the advent of track and trace and serialization of bar codes we were inundated at Labelexpo Europe with prospects from the opening of the first day to the closing day. We sold multiply systems off the floor. The first day was explosive; the best I have ever experienced. We will be very busy with all the very sound leads. We have already expanded our stand space for 2015. Great show!”
Stuart Rider, LARTEC: “LARTEC would like to thank all of its visitors for making Labelexpo Europe 2013 the most successful yet. It was a perfect opportunity to meet existing customers face-to-face, as well as creating hundreds of new business leads. Using Labelexpo to promote its innovative range of Debossing, Texturing and Micro-Text dies proved to be an outstanding success, generating a frenzy of interest amongst label printers, paper and machine manufacturers. The Altius, Enduro and Anti-Tack range of flexible dies also proved to be very popular with visitors, resulting in many orders being placed during the expo. LARTEC also signed new contracts for the distribution of its products in several countries, as well as signing agreements to supply flexible dies to some of the world’s leading label manufacturers.”
Pedro Teixeira, Lemorau: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was a big success for us. We had many visitors in our booth during all event days, some orders reached during event days and others for the near future and we also reached several partnership agreements with new distributors to represent Lemorau around the world. Visitors were extremely pleased with our ratio between quality/price.”
Matthias Thor, Matho: “Matho had a successful Labelexpo Europe in Brussels with a lot of interesting conversations and has announced some sales during the Labelexpo show. Amongst others the AG-Foil Group from the Slovak Republic ordered three newly-revised Cuttobag CB-100 in one step to increase its existing fleet of stand-alone-systems from Matho. As Patrik Mrva from AG-Foil stated: ‘We are absolutely satisfied with the waste extraction systems we use since years from Matho. Therefore it was clear for us to pursue with Matho at the new orders’. The systems are able to handle the self-adhesive matrix waste as well as the edge trims in one system.”
Arti Krishna, MDV/Tech Folien: “We at MDV and Tech Folien would like to thank the record-breaking number of visitors for engaging with us at our stand at Labelexpo Europe 2013 in Brussels! Your positive feedback about our redesigned stand, showcasing our family of synthetic printing substrates: Robuskin, was overwhelming. We also appreciate your support in filling in the marketing questionnaires, as we strive to provide you with pioneering solutions.”
Lenka Huslik, MELZER: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was again a big success for MELZER! Many new and existing customers could see the perfect converting of UHF labels in 6-track mode. The close discussion with experienced managers of worldwide productions state that a transponder selection before the final converting is the only way for cost efficient production and is meeting the 100% yield demand of the final customer. Although transponder yield is increasing there is still an unpredictable and considerable amount of waste. If you have the right equipment this is not a problem! MELZER is the only supplier offering such a solution and it is chosen by several converters for short and long runs. Labelexpo Europe is always a wonderful platform to meet and discuss these experiences! We are looking forward to the next show.”
Jimit Mittal, Monotech Systems Limited: “It was first time participation by Monotech in Labelexpo Europe and the response at the show was phenomenal. Our objective was to introduce our JETSCI High speed Industrial Inkjet system to the international market after our success in the domestic market with good installation base. The ability to go digital for the existing flexo/ web press owners at affordable price with an in line or near line JETSCI water based (pigment/dye) or UV ink based solution running at speeds up to 250 mtrs/minute to print variable data was well received by customers across the globe and besides direct customer interest, we have seen good dealership interest from reputed and established organizations in many countries wanting to promote our solution in their respective markets. With more than 250 serious leads generated by Monotech, we shall soon be appointing dealers in leading countries who can sell and support our system.”
Eric Hoendervangers, MPS: “Launched at Labelexpo Europe 2013 was the new EB flexo press, the most cost-effective press ever built by MPS. Designed for printing and converting self-adhesive labels, the new EB high-performance flexo press is a solution for label printers in all market segments. The debuted EB press demonstrated at the show was sold to Hine Labels, a self-adhesive label manufacturer based in the UK. Also unveiled at Labelexpo was the extended MPS EF multi-substrate press line, with three versions ranging in price level and level of automation. Multiple orders of all three versions of the new EF press line were received during the show including the demonstrated EF-APC Advanced press, which was sold to Scanket based in Denmark. With a doubling of visitors at the MPS booth, high-quality contacts, and surpassing show sales goals with additional sales still under negotiation, MPS reports a very successful show.”
Ivan Bonev, Nikka Research Deutschland GmbH: “Nikka Research presented numerous innovations in print inspection. A third of the product line is new or upgraded – faster, higher resolution cameras, apps, and simple entry level systems. Our new glass cockpit platform with two multi touch screens and gesture control showed brilliant quality images on a Prati Saturn rewinder and attracted numerous visitors. Very strong was the interest in apps for variable data, security and holograms. The seamless integration of apps in our workflow technology drew many positive comments. Visitors also complemented the one touch setup of our smallest camera – the Alis M1.Real life inspection applications were demonstrated in cooperation with our partners Durst, Grafotronic, Prati and Rotoflex. We thank the many new customers for orders at the show and our existing customers for their repeat orders and positive feedback! Both the number of leads and sales have increased significantly since last Labelexpo Europe.”
Jakob Landberg, Nilpeter: “The Nilpeter Bell rang 24 times, each time one of the Nilpeter presses was sold at Labelexpo Europe 2013. Receiving its European debut was the sleeve-based FA-4* for high-end labels and packaging, and the high-performance FB-3 UV-flexo press. The new MO-5 offset platform, a wider 520 mm-version for labels and package printing, also created much interest among the premium-quality converters in Brussels. Two years ago there was less hype and it was not such an exciting exhibition. Now the hype is back and the show is vibrant and positive. This year we have had customers come on the stand and have enthusiastically made a purchasing decision on the spot. Instead of concentrating solely on efficiency, the accent this year has been capacity. Heavy metal is back!”
John Huang, ORTHOTEC: “The ORTHOTEC CFT3536 off-set machine with many new technologies gave visitors a deep impression of excellent quality during Labelexpo Europe 2013. It is a good opportunity for visitors to easily compare the difference between economic type off-set machine and high-level function like our CFT3536 machine at Labelexpo Europe. Around three/four orders for the ORTHOTEC CFT3536 have been confirmed during Labelexpo Europe, and many other prospective inquiries will be under negotiation in coming year.”
Holly Poplawski, PC Industries: “PC Industries had a very successful show at Labelexpo Europe 2013. We were pleased to have the opportunity to demonstrate our products to such an engaged international audience. We received a great response to the international debut of our Graphic-Vision GV 500 Series Web Viewers, which offers long lasting LED lighting and industry exclusive standard barcode verification. Our Guardian OLP Offline Proofing System received a phenomenal amount of interest thanks to the system’s capability to handle a wide range of applications and materials, including tubes, foil, and film, on its available scanners. Live rolls on a rewinder allowed customers to see our Guardian PQV 100% Print Quality Verification system in action. Many visitors came with high-level inspection requirements, and expressed appreciation for how easy the PQV is to set up and run.”
Afsal M Kottal, Percept Print Solutions: “Percept Print Solutions UAE and its software development Partner Iware Solutions India are very happy with Labelexpo Europe as it was our first attempt to promote our Print Smart MIS as well as Know Your Productivity Solution to the international market. We can happily say we have been able to get many dealership inquiries from countries like Spain, South Africa, Lebanon, Poland etc and over 40+ serious leads from various countries during the show. Hoping to see success with all these new acquaintances, which would not have happened to us if we did not participate at Labelexpo Europe2013. Thank you!”
Stacy Hoge, Phoseon Technology: “UV LED curing technology was a hot topic at Labelexpo Europe this year. Our high amount of booth traffic from OEMs, ink suppliers and end users interested in UV LED curing technology was really impressive. UV LED for digital inkjet has been gaining worldwide adoption for several years and, there were more than 15 stands running UV LED for digital inkjet at the show. The advancements in UV LED for flexographic printing were also quite impressive. The live flexo presses running UV LED at Labelexpo prove that it is a viable technology for flexographic printing today.”
Matthias Langer, POLAR: “POLAR is very satisfied with Labelexpo Europe 2013. The double commitment with its booth at Labelexpo in Brussels and the open-house event “LabelDays” in Hofheim at the same time has proved to be a success. First of all the fact that the customers could see: POLAR is more than cutting. POLAR offers technological interesting solutions especially in the area of die-cutting, in-mould and tax-labels for an economic label production. At the well visited Labelexpo Europe POLAR could welcome many international customers standing to benefit from a good location of its booth. The exhibited stand-alone die-cutter DC-M received great interest.”
Bob McGilvery, Polyonics Inc.: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 provided a forum to meet with existing customers and lay the foundation to build new business relationships with many companies around the world. With over one hundred leads, Polyonics was able to attract visitors by exhibiting its high performance label, tape and polyimide tag materials which offer solutions to many demanding customer applications.”
Wolfgang Sexauer, RHEINTACHO Messtechnik GmbH: “RHEINTACHO has successfully participated at this year’s Labelexpo Europe in Brussels and introduced its latest products in the field of inspection and speed measurement. The complete product range of hand-held tachometers and stroboscopes was shown. Particularly the brand new hand-held, ultra powerful RT STROBE qbLED stroboscope with up to 30,000 FPM and 9,000 LUX (@ 1° / 300 mm) and optional auto-sync laser function as well as the stationary stroboscope RT STROBE 10000 LED with outstanding light intensity for XXL-web widths have amongst others attracted visitors to the RHEINTACHO booth. The company was very satisfied about the resonance and the quality of possible new prospects and is confident, that thanks to the show, some new business contacts could be generated and is looking forward to the next Labelexpo.”
Elise Leiber, Ricoh: “During this 2013 edition of Labelexpo Europe, Ricoh decided to stick to the new company tagline “imagine. change” and chose a sober white & black stand design with pure & clear lines. All the visitors were pleased to discover our thermal paper product range, recognized as the reference for labels in various applications such as pre-packed food and logistic. In exclusivity this year, we also demonstrated its perfect matching with the linerless requirements. B110CU was also highlighted and visitors had the opportunity to test the chemical resistance of this unique thermal transfer solution.”
Brian Filler, Screen Europe: “There was huge interest in the Screen Truepress Jet L350UV digital label press which made its European commercial debut at Labelexpo Europe 2013. Overall attendance was magnificent and we demonstrated the press continuously to serious investors looking to invest now in a high-speed, reliable production press. Since the show we have been inundated with requests for follow-up in-depth demos, so I have to say that the whole event was extremely worthwhile.”
Dawn Safford, Shuttleworth Business Systems: “Shuttleworth Business Systems Limited one of the world’s leading suppliers of management information systems to the print and packaging industries exhibited at Labelexpo Europe 2013. We found the exhibition had a really positive feel and that the quality of the leads gained this year was exceptional coming from a broad spectrum of the packaging industry. Labelexpo Europe 2013 for us was a well worthwhile exhibition which generated genuine opportunities from around the globe which we are busy following up. Our stand is already booked and we look forward to further success with Labelexpo in 2015!”
Ajay Mehta, SMI Coated Products Private Limited: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 has been the center point for the label industry worldwide. We have been coming to the exhibition to know the latest trends in the industry. It gives us great pleasure to now be on the other side and be able to exhibit and cater for the world market. With our booth at Labelexpo Europe we have been able to cater and attract buyers across the globe. People have come from all nations. Plus added to that we are able to introduce and showcase our innovations and see others too. This kind of platform is seen only at Labelexpo. We thank our 100 visitors at our booth and look forward to meeting them next time.”
Jeanette DesJardins, Spartanics: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 in Brussels was an overwhelming success! The Labelexpo staff have always been very welcoming and accommodating to exhibitors like us. This year, we were honored to have the opportunity to share our 50th anniversary celebration with the thousands of visitors. By the conclusion of the show, Spartanics had educated hundreds of show visitors on the benefits of laser die cutting and how it makes sense for their bottom line, as well as, successfully qualified over 200+ leads. The Labelexpo Global series is a show that we look forward to every year. We are already planning for the upcoming 2014 Labelexpo Americas in Chicago.”
Jonathan Sexton, Sun Chemical: “Sun Chemical had an extremely successful show at this year’s Labelexpo Europe 2013 with 40% more leads compared to Labelexpo Europe 2011. At this year’s show we displayed all of our different capabilities for the narrow web label and packaging market on the stand, which resulted in more visitors on the stand at one time than we’ve ever had at a Labelexpo show. Labelexpo Europe was also the launch pad for our new product, SolarFlex Neutron White, which generated great customer interest generating more than 100 inquiries. The geographical breadth of visitors to our stand from more than 70 countries means that we will also looking to extend even further our reach in narrow web into developing regions.”
Corinne Rougeau, Taghleef Industries : “Labelexpo Europe 2013 really exceeded our expectations and targets in terms of quantity and quality leads. An extremely high number of Label converters/printers especially from overseas came to our stand to meet with our international team and find out more about our global label portfolio. A European show with a true global dimension. Not to mention that it was also the opportunity to witness the trends and latest innovations in the printing and converting of labels and flexible packaging. Well done Labelexpo. Ti will be back in 2015!”
Jürgen Dostal, Tesa: “Tesa can look back to a very successful Labelexpo Europe 2013 in Brussels. Leads generated exceeded 25% plus in comparison to stable numbers in the years before. Besides a new foam hardness in tesa’s Steelmaster mounting tape range, tesa 52018 Softprint x-Soft, visitors were especially interested in a brand new tool called tesa Foam Advisor. According to the plate type, thickness and motif to be printed the tool gives advice for the correct foam hardness to be used for optimum printing results.”
Carmen Burgo, Torraspapel – Lecta Group: “This has been the best Labelexpo Europe for Torraspapel – Lecta ever. We have registered a record number of visits to our stand and our range of papers for labels, especially Adestor self-adhesive materials and Metalvac metallized papers have been such a success! We also want to highlight the optimism in the sector.”
Phil Hall, Troika Systems Limited: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 exceeded all our expectations with over 50% growth in qualified leads over the previous exhibition. Knowing there is now an absolute volumetric standard for anilox measurements was without a big draw for many printers and also for the majority of anilox manufacturers. The launch of the new P2P HD QC tool for plate makers and printers was also very positively received with serious leads coming from over 24 countries. The buzz and overall feel of the exhibition was the most positive we can remember over the past three Labelexpos.”
Cathy Gamble, Typerite: “Typerite Ltd’s presence at Labelexpo Europe 2013 proved invaluable. We were able to showcase our range of metallic colored thermal transfer ribbons in wax/resin and resin. They proved to be extremely popular and sparked a lot of interest with visitors. Typerite has a range of over 50+ colors which makes it unique from other thermal transfer ribbon manufacturers. Typerite received over 500 inquiries from Labelexpo Europe ranging from as far away as South America, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, United States and Europe. Typerite signed one major distributor deal with a leading label manufacturer. The company also secured a substantial contract with a world leading pharmaceutical supplier.”
Lynn Wei, Univacco Technology Inc.: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 brought satisfying outcome and feedback to UNIVACCO. During these show days, UNIVACCO launched and introduced a series of its joint label collection with Flint Group and new cold foil application on shrink sleeve film.”
Paddy Bailey, UPM Raflatac EMEA: “We enjoyed a record amount of customers visiting our stand at Labelexpo Europe this year. Recycling and environment remained to be the hot topics at the show, and our Label Life concept was of interest to both label printers and end-users from all around. Labelexpo Europe has become a truly global meeting point, where the technical expertise meets the people working in this industry. It is the best possible place to let the customers feel our promise “Engineered with Raflatouch”.”
Joaquin Vall-llosera Costa, VELA: “At Labelexpo Europe VELA presented the machine CTM400 to cut inmold labels, shrink sleeve, stretch sleeve, polypropylene labels. The fair visitors have appreciated a lot the great versatility of this machine with a high speed and excellent cut quality for all types of labels. As a result, many customers are interested in our machines. The interest has not been only in the machine CTM400, but also in our machines for shrink and stretch sleeve production. The volume of visits has been very high and we have closed orders for five machines in different countries. Labelexpo Europe has allowed us to spread out our presence in the world and that the visitors know the VELA solutions to produce with quality and productivity in these markets.”
Anne Langkjer Wüthrich, Vetaphone A/S: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 consolidated VETAPHONE’s position as the preferred supplier of Corona treaters for the narrow web industry. We had a total of 32 systems on display installed in machines from all the main manufacturers and the positive response from both OEMs and end-users was overwhelming; all recognized VETAPHONE as being the best quality option for user-friendly and low-maintenance surface treatment.”
John Pettus, WikoffColor: “Wikoff Color has been a regular exhibitor at Labelexpo Americas; however, this was Wikoff’s first time exhibiting at Labelexpo Europe. We attended in order to grow our global customer base and drive additional business to our United Kingdom ink and coating manufacturing operation. The amount of show attendants was impressive, and Wikoff feels our message, culture and product lines were well received in a fairly new market for us. We expect to have a great outcome from the show.”
Dr. Andre Gysbers Wink Stanzwerkzeuge: “Wink is more than satisfied with Labelexpo Europe and its attendance. We have noticed an enormous increase of leads compared to 2011, which already had been very successful, and we were able to convince all along through our product range. In addition to the well-established range of SuperCut flexible dies, cylinders and steel rule dies, Wink’s Labelexpo product launches were especially popular. The ProShift technology for staggered printing and die-cutting, supported by Esko, the very stable adjustable anvil cylinder GapControl by Rototechnix, as well as the MCR long-life coating for flexible dies received a very positive response. Moreover, the completely revised brochure “ABC of cutting tools” was also highly appreciated by the expert audience.”
Wim Maes, Xeikon: “Xeikon is a clear leader in the digital label and packaging industry and is growing its market share. Labelexpo Europe 2013 was a not-to-miss event for Xeikon that exceeded our wildest dreams. With a broad and clear presence Xeikon stood out and the audience could See the Proof that Xeikon really masters digital printing and pre-press in labels and packaging. We had enthusiastic crowds from around the globe at our booth. Last but not least, Labelexpo Europe enabled us to close several deals and it boosts the number of sales projects for the next period.”