Labelexpo Asia 2013 reached new visitor heights as it celebrated its tenth anniversary edition. Held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) during 3 – 6 December, the four day exhibition was attended by a huge number of high quality visitors to see the largest ever floor plan of exhibitors.

Welcoming 21,416 visitors, Labelexpo Asia 2013 achieved an increase of 18.8% over 2011’s show which attracted 18,019 attendees. Visitors came from 87 countries, up 11% from 74 countries in 2011. Covering 8,500sq/m of net space, with just under 300 exhibitors, the show was larger by 10% versus the last edition and also experienced its highest ever onsite level of space rebooking for 2015.

Many leading international and Asian companies exhibited including: Avery Dennison, Epson, Gallus, Lintec (Suzhou) Tech Corporation, Omet, Nuova GIDUE, UPM Raflatac, Xeikon, Zhe Jiang Wei Gang Machinery Co and Zhongtian Machinery Works Co. There were more than 70 running machines being demonstrated. New products unveiled for the Asia Pacific region included Screen’s Truepress Jet L350UV digital label press, Avery Dennison’s TurnLock Laminating System and Brotech's new turret rewinder with automatic core take-off. Nuova GIDUE’s innovative M3 digital flexo press was a major attraction with packed demonstrations.

A two-day conference program ran alongside the exhibition and featured six well attended sessions. Topics included digital printing, beverage labeling and the importance of innovation. The opening keynote was delivered by Jukka-Pekka Haapanen, vice president Asia Pacific at UPM Raflatac, who gave an overview of the latest global trends and market forecast.

John Davy, show director of Labelexpo Asia commented: “This has been the perfect way to mark the show’s tenth anniversary with Labelexpo Asia 2013 being the biggest, busiest and best edition to date. We’ve had fantastic footfall with exhibitors reporting plentiful and strong sales leads while the exhibition floor and conference sessions have been packed for the duration of the event. We’ve also managed our highest ever rebook with 50% of space already confirmed for 2015 which is highly unusual for Asian exhibitions. This year’s success is a key indication that China’s economy is showing clear signs of recovery and is picking up pace. With so many market leading suppliers and manufacturers on board, there can be no doubt in the minds of the Chinese converting industry that this is the must-attend show for the label and package printing industry.”

Quotes from exhibitors:

Irene Lai, Avery Dennison: “’Inspiring Innovation, Sustainable Growth’ was the theme of Avery Dennison’s booth at Labelexpo Asia 2013. Avery Dennison constantly strives to develop label and packaging innovations that can help converters solve the performance and sustainability challenges they face today. During Labelexpo Asia, Avery Dennison launched 16 innovations and new products. We have brought the visitors with fresh approaches not only to shelf appeal but to recycling and productivity, once again demonstrating our commitment to the sustainable growth of the pressure sensitive adhesives industry. The booth was a nice two-storey design with meeting rooms upstairs and showcase area downstairs. There were eight zones covering various categories, including durables, HPC, food and beer & beverage, wine & spirits, pharma & security, variable information, sustainability and digital. There was also space for hospitality offering a relaxing environment for interaction. Based on the booth’s visual impact, creativity and brand representation, Avery Dennison won the Best Stand in the Show Award from Labelexpo at the tenth anniversary party.”

Ru Hong, Calor RTT: “The team at CALOR RTT, a producer of thermal transfer ribbons, was pleased to be able to welcome about 220 visitors at Labelexpo Asia 2013. The visitors were above all interested in our large palette of coloured ribbons as well as in our "special" range. In this field we could demonstrate our ability to develop new qualities in thermal transfer ribbon according to the requirements of customers for their specific projects. What also attracted attention was our choice of white and grey resin qualities for flat-head printers, which can be used for applications requiring a very high resolution and resistance. Throughout the event, we established many new contacts and would like to thank our visitors for their interest.”

Summer Chen, ITW Dynatec: “I feel that Labelexpo Asia 2013 was the perfect chance to introduce ourselves, to meet existing customers and to create new business opportunities in a growing industry where hot-melt is still seldom unheard of. I feel Labelexpo Asia is refreshing to us and to the industry players and end-users. Many visitors that understand hot-melt were very impressed by our Crosscoat TM technology. We received more than 100 leads and we have several very positive enquiries from China, India, Taiwan, Malaysia etc. Overall, I would rate we had a great success with a very good response from the customers attending as we presented our professionalism in the label industry.”

David Ho, Martin Automatic: “We are happy to see Labelexpo Asia is more and more successful. Beside the good amount of Chinese visitors, we saw many more visitors from Asia than before.”

Erik Blomjous, MPS: “As a debut exhibitor at Labelexpo Asia, MPS is very pleased with the number of show visitors to its stand and high level of interest in the recently broadened range of MPS flexo and offset printing presses from the EB, EF and EXL series, available in print widths ranging from 280 to 660mm. Along with its Chinese distributor Jebsen Industrial, MPS spoke with label printers about what press automation can do for their productivity and quality. With an industry demand of decreased production costs while dramatically improving quality of the finished product, MPS presses offer a viable solution for Chinese label printers. Numerous leads will be followed up in the coming weeks for further concrete project discussions. Thank you Labelexpo Asia for a successful show!”

Massimo Bellingardi, Omet: “OMET was a pioneer in China at the end of the 20th century when it opened an office in Shanghai and still believes in the potential of the Chinese market for its business. Investments have never ceased since then. It is recent news the opening of a new technology center exhibiting OMET machines 365 days a year and available for demos and testing. OMET Suzhou Mechanical Co. Ltd, located in Wujiang, was created to better follow such a strategic market, first with the production and sale of motion systems, secondly with the creation of a local sale and service staff to serve the printing and tissue converting markets and offer a punctual pre and post-sale service. Labelexpo Asia this year marked OMET’s 10th non-stop participation since 2003, awarded by Labelexpo Global Series in recognition of the work done by this Italian company in Asia.”