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 29 September to 2 October, the show enjoyed its largest edition as it marked its 35th anniversary.

Attracting 35,739 visitors, attendance figures were up 12.4% 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% of the total visitors traveling from elsewhere including Asia, North and South America and Africa. Covering 34,566 sqm, the show’s foot print also increased by 11.65% 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.”

Quotes from exhibitors:

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% 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.”

Rob Verbruggen, Avery Dennison: “We at Avery Dennison are pleased with the volume and quality of visitors to our booth at Labelexpo Europe 2015. We exceeded our objectives and beat the performance of 2013. Our high-profile presence at the show enabled us to reinforce our position as an innovation leader, strengthen key customer relationships, and gain new business. We successfully launched a number of strong innovations like TrueCut, Aqua Opaque, AeroDress, Glass Recycling and Bio-based PE, that generated strong interest from both customers, press and editors and other stake holders. Many customers also found their way to the Smart Packaging Lab, where we provided demonstrations of various technologies, including: RFID tagging solutions, DirectLink near-field communication (NFC) technology that can send messages directly from the label to consumers’ smartphones, our Fibertracker anti-counterfeiting labeling solution, and TT Sensor Plus, a concept for a new time, temperature and tracking label.”

Michael Halfar, business development manager, Carl Ostermann Erben: “Carl Ostermann Erben GmbH had a record Labelexpo Europe this year! Beside the frequent visitors for the PASS-WERK automatic plate mounter (+25% more demonstrations compared to Labelexpo 2013), visitors were interested in COE`s portfolio of plate, sleeve and repro solutions. This was added by a huge interest for the co-operation between COE and BST Eltromat for a faster workflow for inline spectral color measurement. Thanks to all that came to us and see you at Labelexpo Europe 2017!”

Sonia Arcos, technical sales director, Cheshire Anilox Technology: “Cheshire had its busiest ever Labelexpo Europe at its eleventh consecutive show. The award winning and innovative MaxFlo+ engraving which radically improves ink transfer and print quality generated huge interest with over 200 visitors to the stand. Many label printers from all across the world visited our stand to learn more about our innovative engravings which are specially designed to improve print quality in a number of challenging flexo applications. Labelexpo Europe was the first public showing of our new engraving the MaxFlo+ which has attracted a huge interest. A high point of the show was that MaxFlo+ was featured on ten presses including Mark Andy, Edale, Focus, Gonderflex, Gallus and Multitec. We were overwhelmed by the number of visitors and subsequent inquiries received. We met with key potential customers and remain encouraged that we will achieve an increase on sales from our attendance in the show”.

Sylvia Kooijman, marketing executive, Crown Van Gelder: “We have participated at Labelexpo Europe for the fourth time now. It gave us the chance to meet with a European and global audience. With a printing world migrating from analog to digital printing and inkjet in the spotlight, we see good opportunities for waterbased inkjet in the label and packaging market. Labelexpo has enabled us to have a good dialogue with many value chain partners and get valuable feedback on our waterbased inkjet printed and laminated sample material. We found good leads for continued development.”

Sarah Newell, marketing manager, Dantex: We have always found Labelexpo Europe to be very focused on the requirements of both exhibitors and visitors. It’s a very good format for Dantex to showcase its product range, especially new product launches and innovations; visitors to the Dantex stand are invariably a good mix of both technical and commercial personnel from across the labels sector. In fact, we specifically chose Labelexpo Europe this year to launch our PicoColour Digital Press, which, along with our flexographic and letterpress processing equipment, was well received.We have been at Labelexpo Europe on every occasion since the show first started and we very much look forward to showing our latest products in Brussels in 2017, when it will be Dantex’s 50th anniversary. There is no more fitting place to celebrate this important milestone than with our friends and colleagues in the label industry.”

Frank Termeulen, marketing, DG press ServiceS BV: “DG press reports a very successful week at Labelexpo where we explained and promoted the benefits of printing short run flexible packaging, IML and shrink sleeve labels with the Thallo. We greeted many of our existing contacts and friends from the community and met a lot of new prospects during the show. An important trend noticed is the overlapping of narrow-web, mid-web and wide-web at Labelexpo and increasing interest in web offset for flexible packaging.”

Michael Panzeri, vice president, D.P.R. srl:  “D.P.R. announced a successful Labelexpo Europe. The European organization joined forces to present the benefits of D.P.R.’s digital label cutters and laminators, welcomed hundreds of show visitors to the stand, booked several label finisher orders, and signed multiple reseller agreements with companies from Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. D.P.R. promoted the flagship Taurus and Aries laser cutting systems as well as the Scorpio Series digital label finishers which are now available in EMEA / Asia Pacific and in the Americas by the end of the year. We were satisfied to welcome such a high volume of visitors to the stand. With the positive reception of D.P.R.’s label finishing equipment, the company achieved the goal of increasing awareness of its product offerings in the label printing industry." 

Helmuth Munter, segment manager, Durst Label & Package Printing, said: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 provided a great opportunity for Durst to gain new customers, such as Adesa from France, while UK-based company, The Label Makers, ordered its second Tau 330 at the show. Customers and visitors saw our latest developments in the label and package printing segment, where we had a slogan, ‘Tau 330 – Configure Your Digital Future Today. They were able to see for themselves how our successful Tau 330 inkjet printer has managed to bring inkjet technology on par with other production methods. In contrast to this industrial scale end-to-end set up, showgoers were also extremely interested in Durst's introduction of the Tau 330E at Labelexpo, which paves the way for small- and medium-sized companies to enter into digital production. Digital production in the label and package printing segment is a reality and we are making it happen.”

Noel Dolan, CEO, Episcan: “Labelexpo Europe surpassed all my expectations. Not alone did we achieve new sales leads, (approx 65) but have also an agreement in place with a distributor for our products. In addition we also have an agreement in principle with one of the world’s largest print machinery manufacturers to have our systems encompassed into their equipment. Episcan is certainly looking forward to Labelexpo Americas 2016 and then Europe 2017. Many thanks for an event which was superbly organized with a great deal of professionalism.”

Duncan Ferguson, director, ProGraphics, Epson Europe: “We are celebrating an excellent show where our complete range of label technologies attracted significant interest and investment. Epson has something for everyone - from the handheld industrial LabelWorks LW-z900FK label printer launched at the show all the way up to our new high-end, single-pass SurePress L-6034 UV digital label press. Our new ColorWorks C7500 desktop color printer was extremely popular with both industrial users and converters, and several orders were taken for the SurePress L-4033. This is the only aqueous digital label press on the market today with close to 170 installations worldwide and it attracted the crowds, including Graficas Ex 3.14 in Spain who bought the one on the booth.”

Bruno Vermeulen, EMEA marketing director, Esko: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 was again a great success! It’s the perfect place for Esko to get in touch with our label customers and partners but also to get the opportunity to meet new, possible future clients and brand owner prospects. In addition to our own stand at Labelexpo Europe, right in front of the new main entrance of the show in Hall 4, Esko also highlighted its position as a market-leading innovator in label design, prepress, workflow and printing solutions through our presence in 17 of our industry partners’ stands. To encourage visitors to experience this full network of solutions, we and our partners ran a contest, allowing four happy Labelexpo visitors to go home with a brand-new Apple Watch. More than 700 participants returned a correctly filled out form and found out that Esko’s key message at Labelexpo was all about “Integration”. Congratulations once again to those four winners! And a sincere “Thank You” to everybody who paid a visit to the Esko stand!”

Danielle Brunet, director of special projects, ETI Converting Equipment: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 once again has been a huge success for ETI Converting Equipment. Numerous visitors coming from all over the world, took the opportunity to find out about the new Digital Mini-Cohesio equipped with a JFlex unit capable of running at 84 m/min (275 ft/min) with a high-quality printing of 14 micron dots at 1600 x 1375 dpi. Moreover, they were able to see that this flexible equipment, combining two printing processes: flexo and digital, allows them not only to print but also to manufacture a finished pressure sensitive labels in one pass at a very competitive price. ETI stands out by its innovative concept. With numerous promising contacts, ETI expects a successful year in terms of equipment sales. 

Virginie Gaillard, marketing director, EyeC: “For EyeC, this year’s Labelexpo Europe was busy as ever, attracting thousands of international visitors. The print inspection expert had the perfect opportunity to show its commitment to the label market, and demonstrate its complete workflow solutions for artwork proofing, press make-ready, 100% in-line inspection and incoming material laboratory. Checking each stage of production back to the pdf file ensures that customers ‘get it right and keep it right’.”

Marco Pagani, sales manager, Ferrarini & Benelli: “Labelexpo is “the place” to meet all customers dealing in the narrow web and label industry. We have proposed specific Corona treatment for labels and narrow web equipped with ceramic electrodes that allow to treat all the materials, conductive and not conductive. And we could see that this is the product the sector is demanding because the need to apply a corona treatment station on the printing lines, to ensure a good ink anchorage is rising. We are happy to have had the possibility to show our technology.”

Simon Warren, product manager, Folex: “The show surpassed our expectations; we were delighted with many new contacts as well as the attendance of our existing customers. It was ideal as we are keen to expand our dealer label network both from OEMs and key partners.”

Daniela Mahlke, marketing director, Four Pees: “As international distributor for the print and publishing industries, we, Four Pees, together with our partners Global Vision and Creative Edge Software showed our different solutions at Labelexpo Europe. Despite our modest presence we have been able to demonstrate how our solutions can decrease cost and increase business and productivity. IC3D Suite is a rapid packaging visualization tool catering to a broad range of product types, from flexible products, over cans, bottles and other rigid product types to visualization of folded carton products. Global Vision’s complete suite of advanced proofreading solutions featuring text-based, pixel-based, barcode and Braille inspection technologies, are designed to eliminate printed artwork and copy related errors, providing end-to-end security at every stage of the packaging workflow.”

Emre Sayer, managing director, Frimpeks: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 was probably the most successful exhibition in the history of the Frimpeks organization. We had inquiries for our self-adhesive laminates and inks from over 75 countries and were fortunate to see our stand full for the four days of the exhibition.  Interest in the growth of our organization, that now has full global reach, was incredible. Our new plant in the UK generated particularly high levels of interest from both UK and North European label printers who see the benefit of acrylic adhesive laminate production in the UK.  This combined with our existing hot melt plant in Germany allows us to provide the full range of self-adhesive materials to North Europe and beyond on a next day basis.  Furthermore, there was great interest in our new product developments including microspheric ultra removable adhesives, holographic security materials and our latest range of linerless materials.”

Peter Verryt, strategic business development, Fujifilm: “Fujifilm had a very successful Labelexpo Europe 2015. There was considerable interest in the new Flenex FW water-washable plate, which made its European debut at the show. Visitors were interested to learn more about the strong combination of high quality, productivity and low cost-in-use the new ecologically-focused Flenex plate offers, with many recognizing that it has removed the compromise between quality and cost traditionally associated with water washable plate making systems. Phoenix –a JDF-based imposition and planning software for label and packaging applications -  also attracted a great deal of attention on the stand, as did our range of Uvivd narrow web inks and the Acuity LED 1600 wide format inkjet printer, which was busy producing labels and packaging prototypes across the four days of the show.  A very focused show, Labelexpo provided us yet again with an excellent platform to demonstrate this growing portfolio to key decisions markers from across the industry.”  

Nicola Micalizzi, area sales manager, Gietz: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 was the perfect platform for Gietz to introduce the brand new flat-bed hot foil stamping and embossing machine Gietz ROFO 450 for narrow web applications. The machine can be integrated in any narrow web printing and converting machine and sets new milestones in terms of productivity and flexibility. The market entry has been very successful with three sold units of the ROFO 450, a cooperation contract as ‘preferred supplier’ for Gallus as well as many promising contacts. We look forward to providing our new technology to the label printing industry.”

Per Holsteen Larsen, head of communications, GM: “Once again, Labelexpo Europe proved to be the most important event for GM in regards to communication, sales and strategic co-operation. During the show, we sold four large converting units and a number of smaller auxiliary machines such as sheeters and corecutters, and we expect a lot from the 200+ hot leads we generated during the four days in Brussels. We experienced a lot of interest in our more complex units such as our DC330FB converting unit with integrated hot stamp and screen printer, our DC330HYBRID mounted with both conventional and laser die cutter. Furthermore, our new automatic knife box with fast setting of slitting knives via barcode reader proved to be quite the showstopper. No doubt this will keep us quite busy for now and we are already looking forward to going to Chicago next year.” 

Jazmin Cordero, marketing and event co-ordinator, Harper Corporation of America: “Global anilox roll supplier Harper Corporation of America is happy to report that its participation at Labelexpo Europe 2015 was a major success. The event provided attendees with the opportunity to learn about the latest products and services. Harper housed a display of its HIVE (High Imaging Volume Engravings) line of engravings series and its award-winning patented QD™ ink proofing and flatbed printing system, which generated a great deal of attention among event attendees.”

Ronen Zioni, marketing director, EMEA, HP Graphic Solutions Business: “For me, this year’s Labelexpo Europe tradeshow proved that labels and packaging remains one of the most exciting markets to be in today. What’s more, it showed how digital print is the clear choice for those seeking run length flexibility and the ability to service a wide range of changing end-customer/brand requirements. Reflecting this trend, and further demonstrating HP Indigo’s position as the digital technology of choice, HP took numerous show floor orders for a variety of presses including the HP Indigo WS6800, 20000 and 30000 Digital Presses. We also used Labelexpo to highlight our new technologies, including the HP SmartStream Mosaic software, which enables the automatic creation of millions of unique designs. This was incredibly well received by the market, facilitating new application and revenue opportunities. Labelexpo Europe 2015 didn’t disappoint, we had a great show.”

Claudia Lindtner, management assistant / marketing manager, HUECK FOLIEN: “This year’s Labelexpo Europe was a very successful event with a lot of interesting contacts and discussions for HUECK FOLIEN. One of the highlights in Brussels was the presentation of the company’s latest product development “PAXAFE”. This innovative product is a facestock material for security labels based on paper which shows an invisible tamper evident pattern.”

Paddy O’Hara, director of technology, IIJ: “The show was a great success for IIJ, which has a fast-growing reputation in the label markets as well as further afield. Visitors flocked to our stand and we’ve taken away many good quality leads. We’re also expecting to confirm the sale of the actual machine we had on our stand to a UK customer who wants installation before Christmas. We were delighted also that the show gave us the opportunity to launch Spilker into the digital cold foil market for label production with help also from Kurz. Successful results were achieved with cold foil at 25m / min, using our 142 color print system and Konica Minolta latest printheads for the variable data for Spilker’s system running at the show. Results have been extremely impressive. Visitors saw the results themselves on our stand and really appreciated the incredible quality being produced.“

Nathan Daniel, global sales manager (label equipment), Impression Technology Europe: “As always the Labelexpo Europe show provided an excellent stage for our company to showcase new products. This year saw over 300 individual leads generated at the Impression Technology Europe booth. The show saw the debut of two standout pieces of equipment, the Vortex 850R MP, a low cost inline label printing and finishing solution powered by a Memjet engine and the Eclipse DC220 standalone semi-rotary finishing unit, the latest member of the world renowned Eclipse finishing range. The new additions proved exceptionally popular, with the first ever Eclipse DC220 being sold within two hours of the show opening. The market leading Eclipse LF3 Digital finisher and its larger relation the LF350 saw a continued high level of interest which we expect to translate into good sales figures over the coming months. Labelexpo was also our first public appearance as the master distributor for the EMEA region of RTI Digital’s narrow format Memjet label printer range, Vortex.”

Karin Dippel, head of corporate communications, Inometa: “Closing the booth at Labelexpo Europe 2015 INOMETA can announce one of the best results since our first participation. Honoring the excellent quality and customer support clients from all branches and from all over the world visited INOMETA stand to pick up information about our innovations and newest technology. Focus during this year’s show on the INOMETA booth has been on different roller coatings for printing and converting but also our newest Anilox engraving technics and the outstanding new mounting sleeves and adapters for all machine types.” 

Kai Schildwächter, sales director, ITW Foils Europe: “At the eye catching booth of ITW Foils & Thermal Films there was lots of activity. We were impressed by the number of visitors and the great interest in our products, especially our new versatile hot stamping foil ‘GS Premium’, which we officially launched during this exhibition. It was a real pleasure and we enjoyed many inspiring conversations. We consider our participation at Labelexpo Europe 2015 a great success and the number of generated leads (+45% (!) compared to Labelexpo 2013) exceeded all our expectations.”

Koichi Yoshihama, Iwasaki International Inc: “It was really great show because we were able to introduce a new machine to a lot of people, and got more than 50 hot inquiries and also could have several contracts. The influence of Labelexpo is very large. We surely say that we will be join next Labelexpo.”

Sally-Anne Heaford, J M Heaford: “Heafords had another record breaking Labelexpo Europe at their tenth consecutive show. Once again the award winning and innovative “FTS” Narrow Web Flexo Plate Mounter, which radically simplifies and speeds up the mounting process, was seen by hundreds of visitors to the stand. The ease of use, repeatable accuracy and speed offer buyers semi-automation. Having introduced the FTS at Labelexpo 2013 the ROI in less than a year has been proven and many customers are now purchasing multiple units. The new digital cameras and Digital Vision System enhance the interface further. We are now very busy responding to all the show inquiries.” 

Meri Anckar, Jujo Thermal: “Jujo Thermal Ltd wants to thank all its visitors at Labelexpo Europe 2015. We exhibited new products and new concepts at the show, such as thermal film, top coated products, non-phenol products and security products. These solutions received a very positive reaction among our visitors. We are delighted that so many people visited our stand, and for the opportunity to serve existing customers and to meet several new players.”

Kasia Gozdzinska, sales manager, JURMET: “Jurment Company has exhibited at Labelexpo Europe six times and this year’s show was certainly the best for us in terms of generated sales leads, new distributors gained and direct sales. Compared to the previous show we gained 73% more sales leads. Some of them already placed an order. In fact during the show we finalized four sales of our newest multipurpose slitter-rewinder Langer3 designed to slit foils, labels, paper and aluminum film. We expect to receive more new orders just after the show as the machine's  unique features such as working speed 450m/min. unwind diameter 800mm, rewind diameter 600mm and  working width up to 600mm suit most of our customers active in label market. Moreover our newest CATER-d programmable core cutter designed for 1" and 3" ID cores was also of great interest as its robust construction allows to slit up to 20mm wall thick.”

Hiroaki Tabata, senior manager, professional print planning, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe: “Our participation at Labelexpo Europe exceeded all our expectations. We achieved our maximum target with regards to generated leads and sales outlooks are very promising. The expo visitors confirmed the need of the market for a toner based engine in the mid-range – verifying that our bizhub PRESS C71cf is an ideal label printer for profitable short to mid runs for an affordable investment. Labelexpo delivered on the promise to be the event of the industry and we are convinced to have made the right decision with an investment into our extraordinarily well-received booth at the show.”

Ilaria Fenino, sales manager and co-founder, Labeltech: "Labelexpo Europe 2015 was the most exciting and rewarding since LABELTECH has been exhibiting. We couldn't be happier with the results! We were overwhelmed with the record breaking amount of sales leads taken and with the positive feedback received from show attendees for our new EIGER330 die cut to register unit. A special thanks to everyone that expressed interest in our products, you made Labelexpo Europe 2015 a success for LABELTECH. We’re already planning for Labelexpo Europe 2017 where we will welcome our visitors in a bigger booth! 

Raúl Silvestre, product manager, Lartec: “LARTEC would like to thank its visitors and event organizers for making Labelexpo Europe 2015 the most successful ever. It was the perfect opportunity to meet existing customers and distributors face-to-face, as well as helping us to generate hundreds of new business leads. LARTEC signed contracts for the distribution of its products in several new countries, as well as signing agreements to supply flexible dies to some of the world’s leading label manufacturers. Using Labelexpo to promote our innovative range of debossing, texturing and micro-text dies proved to be an overwhelming success, generating huge interest amongst label printers. The Altius range of flexible dies also proved to be extremely popular with visitors, resulting in many orders being placed during the expo itself. Customer feedback has given us several ideas for new product innovation, so we look forward to exhibiting some of them at Labelexpo Europe 2017!”

Iñaki Larrea, commercial department, LEMU: “it was the first edition for our company LEMU at Labelexpo Europe. It was a great surprise for the number and the quality of the visitors; real decision makers. For sure we will be exhibiting again at the next show in 2017.”

Matthias Thor, sales, Matho: “Matho had the most successful Labelexpo Europe since the first participation in 1997 with numerous promising contacts and sales contracts during the show. Amongst others PakMarkas from Lithuania ordered a central waste extraction system CP-6000 for the extraction of self-adhesive matrix from five printing presses and six edge trim machines. During the show Matho demonstrated the complete cutting unit series Cuttopipe and introduced with great feedback the new baler Cuttopress CP-2000. Interested customers were impressed from its technical details, capabilities and reasonable price. This new baler is designed for mid-size label converters to handle the sticky waste from up to five presses and pack it together to a highly-compact bale. This concept will offer customers a lot of benefits to handle the waste in an efficient way.”

Iain Cameron, marketing director, Meech International: “Following the recent launch of our new ionizing bar (the Hyperion 924IPS) and power supplies for anti-static equipment (906 & 907 units), our goal for Labelexpo Europe 2015 was to demonstrate to multiple businesses how Meech’s latest technologies could be employed in the labeling sector to reduce contamination and improve end product quality. Judging from the number of visitors we’ve had on our stand, not to mention the amount of leads we’ve generated throughout the event, we can confidently say that we’ve successfully achieved our goal. Labelexpo is an excellent platform for spotting new business opportunities, as well as for catching up with key industry figures and comparing views on this constantly evolving sector.”

Wim van den Bosch, CEO, MPS: “With its large and broad attendance of narrow web printers and converters, Labelexpo Europe gave MPS an ideal opportunity to debut our new highly automated EF Neo flexo press and the SYMJET digital/flexo press with an integrated Domino digital N610i inkjet printer. In addition to numerous orders from existing and new customers, and an unprecedented number of visitors from all over the world, we celebrated on our stand the first order for the SYMJET digital/flexo press purchased by German printer Optikett. Our partnerships with industry-leading brands to develop several new technology solutions that were also showcased at Labelexpo Europe, in addition to our support of Label Academy and the Linerless Trail, shows our clear focus and support for future ready and innovative printing solutions to help our customers reach success with new growth opportunities.”

Dominique Martin, directeur general, Neryos: “Our first appearance at Labelexpo Europe was a great success. We introduced a new digital cutting system. The design and performance have attracted visitors. Neryos will thus be able to strengthen its international presence. We have already made an appointment for the next edition in 2017.” 

Peter Eriksen, COO, Nilpeter: "Nilpeter is best known for flexo, offset and combination presses, but also our previous digital printing solutions. By only displaying the PANORAMA line at this year’s Labelexpo Europe, Nilpeter strongly stresses its commitment to this new digital product line. Nilpeter has developed a very strong digital platform that deserves full attention, which was rewarded by a fantastic feedback from the market. We are very pleased with this year’s Labelexpo. The number of visitors and printers that are looking to invest in new technology is the highest in many years. We are quite satisfied with this year’s sales to both existing and new customers representing the global label and flexible packaging printing market."

Chiara Prati, sales & marketing director, Prati: “An intense four days in Brussels at the most successful Labelexpo Europe yet. This is how I’d like to sum it all up. We sealed numerous contracts and expect to conclude outstanding business over the next couple of months at the head offices in Faenza. A lot of effort was put into this exhibition, so I am happy to say we expect a busy autumn and decisively positive results at the end of the year.” 

Andreas Hoffmann, managing director, Primera Europe: “Under the heading ‘Technology saves the day!’ this year’s Labelexpo Europe wanted to create a place where the impossible is possible, where new label printing technologies can solve even the most complex challenges. Primera Technology, a leading manufacturer of speciality printers, remained faithful to the motto and tried to inspire all visitors with its presentation during the four days in Brussels. We are confident that Labelexpo visitors saw an advanced collection of label printers, like the LX2000e, our newest and fastest pigment inkjet label using the BS5609 section 3 certified ink, label applicators and label substrates Primera Technology ever assembled and that they discovered innovative ways of taking their business to new heights. Primera Technology is expecting a great demand for both its dry-toner and inkjet-based color label printers as well as for its label applicators in the upcoming weeks and months.”

Sarah Harriman, marketing & communications manager, Pulse Roll Label Products: “A fantastic show - the busiest, biggest and best Labelexpo Europe yet for Pulse Roll Label Products! Exhibiting helped to reinforce our reputation as a significant player in the international label ink market. The launch of our new PureTone ink system stimulated tremendous interest and our live demos proved very popular. A total of 32 color matches were made all with a dE of less than 2, using a 5 to 6 volume anilox, highlighting the strength of our new PureTone mixing bases. One customer made a return visit with a color they were struggling to match on-press and which we matched, first time, with a dE of 0.7. A great platform for meeting existing and potential customers and for discussion with our global partners. Quality contacts in new markets were generated as well as many exciting sales opportunities for our ink and varnish products in both existing and new markets.”  

Sami Hartley, national & international sales support, Reel to Reel: “Reel to Reel had its busiest ever Labelexpo Europe with over 1300 visitors to the stand which consisted of over 15 different countries. Due to the amount of customers that attended we came away with over 500 enquiries/leads, due to the success we have now booked and doubled the size of our stand for Labelexpo Europe 2017. We would like to thank all visitors who attended our stand who made this year a massive success.”

Jürgen W. Bohn, sales, Rosas Maschinenbau GmbH: “Labelexpo Europe 2013 was already a really successful trade fair for Rosas but 2015 exceeded our high expectations many times over. Hundreds of visitors with clear ideas, professional unrushed talks, great interest in our “custom made machines” with very concrete intentions to buy and to top it all off, we were even able to sell several machines. Thanks to our visitors and the organizers for a successful Labelexpo Europe 2015. We’ve already booked again for 2017.”

Marco Aengenvoort, managing director, ROTOCONTROL: “This was our third edition of Labelexpo Europe, and the large number of confirmed orders at the show and generated new leads was outstanding. As a German company, Labelexpo Europe provides a convenient venue to demonstrate our range of finishing machines for label inspection, slitting, rewinding, die cutting, overprinting, digital and booklet printed labels to a large audience of narrow web converters. The five finishing machines in our stand attracted a lot of attention, and the event also provided a unique opportunity to showcase our supplier’s technology. The Labelexpo Global Series offers excellent pre-show marketing opportunities to help share what technology exhibitors will present, and they keep the buzz alive with ongoing posts and reshares leading up and during the event from their @Labelexpo Twitter account. We look forward to returning again in 2017!”

Doris Machmer, assistant corporate development, marketing, RUCO: “Printing ink specialist RUCO is delighted with its participation at this year’s Labelexpo Europe. Presented on an eye-catching, modern exhibition stand, the company’s solutions for narrow web applications in the labeling and packaging sector attracted a large number of trade visitors. It was the low-migration product portfolio in particular that met with huge interest. Designed for critical applications with high demands for consumer protection and environmental friendliness, this portfolio takes special account of the fact that labels are produced mainly in combination printing.  In addition to low-migration inks for UV rotary screen printing and UV flexo printing, it also includes a low-migration opaque white and a new UV screen printing ink series that complies with the “Nestlé Guidance Note on Packaging Inks”. The numerous high-quality customer inquiries received for this range of products even surpassed RUCO’s expectations and show that the company has hit the bull’s eye with regard to customer requirements.” 

Brian Filler, president, Screen Europe: “This has been a phenomenal show for Screen Europe. At the last Labelexpo Europe two years ago we entered the label market for the first time with the launch of the Truepress Jet L-350UV digital label press. Since then we have sold 30 presses worldwide and have earned our place as a premier label press manufacturer. At this show we met companies from all over the world looking to invest in digital technology and we sold a press every day, including a second system to Rever in Spain, and one to UK trade specialist Baker Labels. For companies looking to invest in digital there is a lot of choice and it’s those manufacturers that can offer the best combination of precision, productivity and price that are attracting the most interest.” 

Dawn Safford, marketing executive, Shuttleworth: “Shuttleworth Business Systems, the UK’s leading supplier of Management Information Systems to the label industry, reported receiving a good number of high quality leads from a vibrant Labelexpo Europe 2015 exhibition last week. Labelexpo provided a perfect showcase for Shuttleworth’s latest MIS developments all of which are designed to improve efficiencies within a label manufacturer’s business. We are seeing more and more customers from around the globe exploring the benefits of how an MIS can improve workflow, save time, increase efficiencies and minimize errors.”   

Isabel Ferreira, SISTRADE: “For the fourth time, SISTRADE was an exhibitor at Labelexpo Europe, during the fair, SISTRADE seeks to strengthen its position in the international market as supplier of MIS|ERP 100% Web software for label and packaging printing industry, strengthening the relationship with the customers and encouraging new business opportunities. It was a unique opportunity to present the latest innovations in the technical area of label and packaging printing, with special focus on the graphical process and technical datasheets, combined as the specific estimating (parameterized) according to the product type (label) versus the production control in real time.”

Ajay Mehta, managing director, SMI Coated Products: “We were truly on a roll through the expo. We ended up meeting over 60 new prospective printers from different parts of the world besides meeting our existing friends from the industry. And all of them spent good time at our booth, understanding and appreciating our capabilities and wide range of products we have to offer. Of special interest were the filmic label stock solutions as well as label stock solutions using filmic release liners. We are more than happy with the fantastic response generated at the show. We compliment and thank Labelexpo for waving the magic wand and creating the best ever Labelexpo to date. It was truly a wonderful show and has raised the bar much higher. Expectations for future shows will be a challenge for the group.”

Petr Blasko, marketing manager, Soma Engineering: “SOMA reports on a successful Labelexpo Europe where the company’s Optima flexographic printing press made its debut to the international label industry. A dedicated machine developed for short run print jobs the Optima is optimized to run a wide range of label stocks, paper and film packaging materials. The press cost effectively bridges the gap between narrow and wide web printing for products such as in-mold and wrap around labels, shrink sleeves, retort pouches and sachets as well as paper sacks, cups and plates. The only central impression flexographic printing press to run live jobs throughout Labelexpo, the 820 mm Optima model quick job changeover was demonstrated three times daily, in full production mode. We should like to thank everyone who visited our stand.” 

Jonathan Sexton, sales and marketing director narrow web and screen, Sun Chemical Europe: “It’s been another great Labelexpo for Sun Chemical. Stand traffic was up on the last show in 2013 with record visitor numbers this year. So too was the quality of leads taken, with a significant proportion of high value meetings and new business opportunities, which supported our decision to opt for a larger and more open style stand. There was particular interest in our color and ink management solutions including the new ColorBox tools and Pantone Live as well as the new Polare ink dispenser.  Food compliant solutions and our brand enhancement offerings from the SunInspire special effects range and our security technologies also attracted a lot of inquiries. Digital was another key area of interest during the show, with our SunJet digital inkjet team proving extremely busy throughout the event.” 

Corinne Rougeau, marketing communication coordinator, Taghleef Industries: “Labelexpo Europe 2015 was a great opportunity for Taghleef Industries to launch its brand new metallic IML film solution called Titanium™. Interest was tremendous, also in several other Ti solutions like our Ultra High Yield IML film LIU or our metallized PSL solution LZP. Our specialized films NATIVIA™ a bio-based film for IML and Derprosa SoFT TOUcH™ Brands were also a hit. The show was the perfect platform to meet long-standing partners, to bring us high quality contacts, new international connections and great exposure as a front runner in BoPP labels. Coming up next the 2016 Labelexpo Americas in Chicago and Brussels again in 2017. Meet us there!” 

Lee Ward, global sales director, Tharstern: “Labelexpo Europe provided us with an important platform to demonstrate the benefits of our latest Management Information System (MIS) for labels. This now has enhanced functionality for producing roll label quotes using intelligent calculation algorithm that automatically analyses different production routes, processes and margins. The show gave our team another opportunity to explain how Tharstern customers can streamline their production workflow and create efficiencies that will increase the profits of each job as well as provide accurate costings. It was good to find first-hand how the label sector increasingly understands the many benefits of using an MIS platform from Tharstern that seamlessly fits into other workflows. We have taken away from the show some good quality leads that we’re confident of turning into real sales of our world-acclaimed integrated solution that saves time, speeds up production processes and increases sales and profitability.” 

Tobias Theurerl, managing director, theurer.com: “Fantastic event with industry experts from all over the world seeking for business automation resulting in our best Labelexpo ever.” 

Ron J. Rijkuiter, sales, TTR Euroworks: “We would like to thank everyone for taking time to visit our stand during Labelexpo Europe 2015 in Brussels. We enjoyed meeting everyone and were glad that they had the chance to see our products and some of our completed projects during the exhibition, as well as to discuss their requirements. We welcomed over 250 multi-industry companies from 36 countries with overwhelming interest in our new products as PIY-Ribbons and Flamitex. We can already conclude that this was our best Labelexpo Europe ever. Of course we booked for 2017 and will surprise the market again with new products and innovations.”

Volker Schlevoigt, managing director, Unilux Europe: "We had a very successful show this year, as measured by the number of people and quality of visitors who were able to see our new strobes in our booth and on machines running throughout the show. Labelexpo gave us the platform to show this technology in the most effective way possible, and exposure to an audience that would take us months to visit personally.”

Kishore Nawar, United Speciality Inks: “United Speciality Inks from India had a very successful and interesting Labelexpo Europe. It gave us an opportunity for strengthening our network and expand it further. United Speciality Inks had showcased its UV curable inks, speciality inks and security inks. There was very good response from the printers and distributors across the globe to our speciality inks. The hot products were UV flexo inks, scented inks (fragrance inks), thermochromix (temperature sensitive inks) and invisible inks (security inks). The company is set to establish its global foot print as a result of the exhibition.”

Mauri Suomela, VP, commercial management, UPM Raflatac EMEIA: “Labelexpo Europe was once again a great success for UPM Raflatac. All four days were extremely busy and our label experts had the pleasure to meet label industry stakeholders from all over the globe. The show was also a great platform to introduce some of our latest product developments such as the ultra-thin VANISH™ films and the new solvent-free adhesive technology for high-performance applications. At Labelexpo, we were also happy to announce Coveris as the winner of our RafCycle® Award that is presented in recognition of excellence in recycling and environmental performance. We certainly enjoyed the positive feel at this year’s show and look forward to further success at Labelexpo Europe in 2017.” 

Richard Barham, chief customer officer, Xaar plc: “The global launch of our new versatile Xaar Print Bar System at Labelexpo Europe created a huge amount of interest from press manufacturers, integrators and end user label converters – all wanting to add inline digital capability to their analogue web and sheet-fed label presses; the era of the hybrid digital press has clearly arrived. We could not have asked for a better debut. Plus, Labelexpo was a superb showcase for the Xaar 1002 printhead with our patented TF Technology™ as Dantex, Durst, EFI, Edale/FFEI, INX, and SPG Prints all showed innovative Xaar-enabled digital label presses. This show confirmed the power of inkjet within the global label industry.  It marks the start of a new era as converters accelerate their investment in digital, either for the first time or by expanding their digital facilities with new-generation presses, and look to add digital functionality to their existing analogue equipment.”   

Wim Meas, CEO, Xeikon: “Labelexpo Europe once again confirmed to be the leading event for this industry for both technology and business. The past 10 years Labelexpo has helped a lot to drive us in creating solutions for the label printing industry. It now really has become our heartbeat for future product development and launch.”

Thomas Reinking, sales director, Zecher: “At this year’s Labelexpo Europe many customers followed our invitation and took the opportunity to inform themselves at our stand about the different anilox roller solutions for the label industry. We had the pleasure to welcome many international customers, with a share of more than 85%, who did not only travel to Brussels from within Europe, but from all over the world. Printing professionals use Labelexpo to receive comprehensive information about their entire printing portfolio, including the anilox roller, and to get a head start on the new technology presented. For Zecher, Labelexpo is the perfect platform to connect with our customers, especially with the machine manufacturers. We are using the exhibition to strengthen our close partnerships and to implement cooperative projects. Labelexpo Europe 2015 was a huge success and we are already looking forward to being part of the show in 2017!”