Labelexpo Europe 2011 Breaks All Records

Labelexpo Europe 2011, which took place 28 September – 1 October in Brussels, has broken all previous records in terms of visitors, exhibitors and equipment sales; making it the largest and most successful label event to date. Labelexpo Europe 2011, which took place 28 September – 1 October in Brussels, has broken all previous records in terms of visitors, exhibitors and equipment sales; making it the largest and most successful label event to date.
 
In total, 28,636 visitors from 118 countries attended this year’s show – an increase of 18.6 per cent over 2009’s show. Labelexpo Europe also attracted 550 exhibitors (up from 544 in 2009) and occupying six exhibition halls at Brussels Expo, was the largest in its 30 year history.
 
By the end of the show, 81.3 per cent of the exhibiting space was already been rebooked for Labelexpo Europe 2013 as exhibitors reported buoyant trade with a high level of machinery and material sales being made.
 
With several hundred new product launches, Labelexpo Europe again proved to be number one show for live demonstrations. Complementing the on-stand demos, the show included two new major feature areas - the Digital Print Workshops and the Package Printing Zone.
 
A huge hit, the Digital Print Workshops gave visitors the unique chance to see three printing technologies (dry toner, electro-ink and inkjet) compared against each other during live machine demonstrations run by an independent moderator. The equally popular Package Printing Zone ran seminar sessions and working machinery demonstrations that were designed to introduce label printers to opportunities in short to medium run package printing.

Roger Pellow, Labelexpo Managing Director said: “I would like to thank everyone involved with Labelexpo Europe for their help and support in making 2011’s show the biggest and best yet. With such a large increase in visitor and exhibitor numbers, Labelexpo Europe continues to live up to its tagline of the greatest show on earth.”
 
He continues: “Despite the economic climate, Labelexpo Europe is still the major platform for doing business, networking and seeing new technology and product launches. This year’s show has clearly demonstrated that our industry is continuing to innovate and that the people within it have a can do attitude. Likewise, printers/converters and manufacturers are still investing in their equipment and services. With so much innovation taking place in the marketplace, Labelexpo Europe remains the must-attend event for anyone in the label sector and also the product decorating industry.”

Quotes from exhibitors and visitors at Labelexpo Europe 2011:
 
Dominic G Meina, 3M Europe said: “Regarding the show I can say that in more than 20 years attending and organising Labelexpo Europe that this for us was the best yet. All visitors to our stand were very impressed by our new products and approaches to the performance label business and we are expecting great things as we follow up with all our customers.”
 
Tony Bell, A B Graphic International Ltd said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 exceeded all our expectations with regards to the interest shown and orders taken for our equipment. This is our major event on the show calendar and we had our largest ever stand accommodating 19 pieces of equipment with additional equipment on the HP stand as well as in the Digital Print Workshop. We’re pleased with the encouraging results from the show especially as we are doubling our UK manufacturing facility.”
 
Simon Godbold, Ashe Converting Equipment said: “We were located in Hall 7 for the first time during this year’s show and the number of final decision makers for new finishing equipment seen on the stand was very pleasing. Two of the four separate machines exhibited during the show was sold directly during the opening times and further sales are expected in the coming months from the leads generated at the show.”
 
Ralf Hipp, Atlantic Zeiser said: “Atlantic Zeiser focused on innovative and profitable solutions for its versatile drop-on-demand UV-inkjet printing technology in security and commercial label printing. We were very satisfied by the interest shown at the event, and in particular, the attention from a professional audience regarding flexible solutions while printing and coding labels. Visitors were keen to realize quick turnaround times in variable data printing on different substrates and formats. The quality of the contacts was consistently high as was the international character of the trade fair.”
 
Allan Dabscheck, Austab Labels Pty Ltd said: “Well! I have to say that this Labelexpo Europe has really taken my breath away. I was well and truly surprised at the volume of 'new’ exhibitors, and their enthusiasm to do business. The friendliness of all participants was almost overwhelming.”

Berkeley Machinery said: “We received some good orders and enquiries at the show.  Many of the customers that visited our stand were customers who had already visited our new facility in the UK and were looking to buy further products from our range of machines as they were very pleased with the performance of our machines.” 
 
Lucia Marani, Bieffebi said: It was the first time we’ve shown at Labelexpo Europe. We had a great success with a very good response from the customers attending as we presented a new generation mounting machine for the label industry (narrow web).”
 
Jasmin Fuchs, Bostik SMDU said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was a tremendous success for Bostik. With visitors from more than 45 countries worldwide Bostik presented solutions that differentiate for growing markets requirements with high level of performance.”
 
Uwe Luedemann, cab said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was as always the leading show for labels and manufacturing in the world. Lots of visitors from all sides of the world, very good new contacts and a great meeting place with many existing partners. Good place to meet and to do business. We were able to show our new 2-color transfer printers XC6 and have already booked the booth for 2013!”
 
Giovanni Cama, Cason Converting said: “It was our first time at Labelexpo Europe and we showed our slitter rewinder which has been developed for the label industry. Amazingly the slitter attracted visitors from all over the world to our booth and, best of all; they were totally unknown to us. Hundreds of new leads we would never had otherwise.”
 
Thomas Jensen, Convertec Graphic Technics said: “The new DigiBraille unit, from Convertec Graphic Technics, was premiered at Labelexpo Europe 2011 and was received with great enthusiasm and generated more interest than hoped for during the show. Being able to print Digital Braille at 50 m/min or higher with inspection along with the ease of programming, high dot quality and the ability to print on any type of labels was well received.”
 
Jacques Dutard, Degraf Group - Italy said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 has been an excellent show, extremely positive under the business profile. All our team have been busy during the whole exhibition, we met our distributors from the five continents, the visitors we welcomed on our booth were “the decision maker” in their company, so discussions were always very constructive and of quality. We have already rebooked for 2013; Labelexpo Europe is a MUST for our company!”
 
Anders Haag, Delta Industrial Services said: “Booth traffic was steady and most of the attendees seemed very interested in the custom Delta Mod-Tech® converting and packaging system demo. The attendees were definitely looking for ways to improve their business and many seemed to be in the buying stage. Overall, Labelexpo Europe provided the right people to talk to and good quality leads from all across Europe.” 
 
Adir Ariel, DigiFlex Ltd said: “The DigiFlex booth was packed during the entire show, beyond opening hours. We were told it was the major focal point of the pre-press industry. Everyone came to see our exciting, innovative technology. Thanks to our technology and to the co-operation with our distributor, Jet Europe, we had hundreds of visitors, sold the first two systems in Europe and we will sell many more.”
 
Jessica Gong, Edale Ltd said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 saw the biggest stand presence for Edale and the most enquiries from a show to date! The number of visitors that came to our stand led to a huge volume of enquiries and sales leads and we are thrilled with the overwhelming response received towards the Edale FL-350 flexo press which we officially launched during the show.”
 
Oliver Luedtke, EFI said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was the best to date. EFI was launching the new Jetrion 4900 integrated digital printing and laser finishing press and our stand was busy from the first day to the very last moment. We took a record number of sales leads.”
 
Luciano Ramaccioni de Sousa, Errepi said: “Errepi’s third time at Labelexpo Europe has been a great success. Many visitors came to our stand and showed a lot of interest in our products, especially in our cores cutter machine, our non-stop turret rewinder and flexo printing machine. For the first time we could sign contracts during the exhibition with European and Asian companies. We also found distributors for our products all over the world. Thank you Labelexpo!”
 
Jef Stoffels, EskoArtwork said:"EskoArtwork's solutions in digital flexo, prepress and workflow attracted a lot of visitor interaction generating a great number of good conversations. What made the show again a stand out event for us was the high level of visitor engagement that created a rewarding number of sales leads."
 
Kevin Frydryk, ExxonMobil Chemical said: “Labelexpo Europe provided the perfect platform to present our range of OPP label application technologies including Label-Lyte™ and Digilyte™ OPP films. It also enabled us to discuss our ongoing program of technology development which is focused on delivering new products that address key customer requirements on product performance, decoration, and labeling efficiency.” 
 
Kurt Walker, President, FINAT said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 sets new bench mark to any similar event in our industry. The increasing number of visitors and exhibitors prove that it is the label show worldwide. Especially in fast changing times, as we face right now, it is important that the converters and suppliers have a platform to meet and get a view on new technologies and processes. Congratulations and thanks to Tarsus and the people involved in this great show.”
 
Lee Macnamara, FLEXcon said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 has been a great success for FLEXcon. Our new hands-on ‘technical table’ was a hive of activity where customers were encouraged to interact with our products, testing them in real life applications. This really helps to bring products to life for customers – sparking numerous discussions. As a result, there has been great interest in our new high temperature polyimide range and our label solutions for paintmasking applications. Labelexpo Europe is a truly unmissable event in our diary!”
 
Nina Shapinova, FLEXO Plus & Packaging International magazines said: “It was a really great show - in the point of view of professionals. We have a lot of very positive feedback from Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Kazakhstanian and Moldavian label printers. All of them plan to visit the next exhibition - as the main and most useful show for label & packaging printers.”
 
Line Sig, Flexo Wash said: “We have never experienced such a great Labelexpo Europe. This year we have seen more visitors and sold more machines than ever before. We are very satisfied with Labelexpo and are already looking forward to the next one!”
 
Gary Hughes, Fraser Anti-Static said: “It was our first Labelexpo Europe and a success for us not in terms of numbers of enquiries, but rather their quality.”
 
Nigel Walsh, Heights UK Ltd said: “The company was overwhelmed with the number of visitors to its stand and had an excellent reception to its new Manta 660 format inline processor for waterwash flexo and letterpress plates. The leads ranged from end users, dealers up to major plate manufacturing companies. With over 85 leads generated over the four days the quality of visitors was excellent.”
 
Impression Technology Europe (ITE) said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 can only be described as a success by Impression Technology Europe. The company was showing the latest models from the Rapid Labels Systems range and found the exhibition to be the perfect launch pad with visitors from over 59 countries, half of those being from within its European sales boundary.”
 
Mathias von Bargen, Intercoat said: “With more than 400 high-quality leads in total it was the best Labelexpo Europe for Intercoat ever. The launch of our new wine labeling PSA premium paper product range was a big success as it came with a complete product catalogue specifically addressed to printers of wine labels. In addition, the live printing demonstration on the HP Indigo booth was a great success.”
 
Andrea Huerfeld, KANZAN Spezialpapiere GmbH said: “Again this year’s Labelexpo Europe was successful for KANZAN. The concept to create an extraordinary stand with the focus on communications in a relaxed atmosphere was very well accepted by the visitors. Although there is uncertainty in the market, KANZAN was able to strengthen its relationship with current customers and build up new, interesting contacts. We are looking forward to Labelexpo Europe 2013.”
 
David Croft, KODAK said: “Kodak inspired brand owners and production staff alike at Labelexpo Europe 2011. Visitors were impressed by our broad product portfolio for the packaging market and we took a significant number of leads in the four days. Our Kodak K-Zone on the stand caused excitement with customers showing how to add real business value to their various product discussions.”
 
Jo Andersen, KPG Europe Limited said: “Coinciding with their sponsorship of the Print Packaging Zone, KPG decided to show a packaging press for the first time at Labelexpo Europe. This strategy allows maximum press utilization and excellent return on investment (ROI).  This CID press generated great interest from label producers recognizing the need to widen their existing markets. Following the launch of the Euroflex 'One Press' the company already has orders for installations early next year.  
In addition, the number of enquiries we received for our digital printing system exceeded all our expectations.“
 
Vivek Kapoor, President, Label Manufacturers Association of India (LAMI) said: “Great show - a truly global show. Good work done by whole team. I wish you keep growing. The awards venue and whole ambience was great.”
 
Ilaria Fenino, Labeltech sas di Gabriele D'Onofrio & C. said: “Our first time at Labelexpo Erurope, with the new company name, exceeded our expectations. It was the perfect chance to introduce ourselves, to meet existing customers and to create new business opportunities. Our customized inspection and finishing machine awakened a huge interest. We launched our innovative inspection system, Furu, based on fiber optics that received a very encouraging feedback from our visitors. Thanks to the several inputs collected from end users, we are already developing new product ideas.”
 
Paul Brauss, Mark Andy Inc said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was the perfect storm for Mark Andy and Rotoflex.  Our line-up of Mark Andy Performance Series continues to grow in sales and popularity throughout the world.  We closed our 112^th Performance Series sale during the show!  Our Rotoflex line of inspection/rewind equipment also enjoyed a large audience for its Genesis upgrades and web handling system.  We are excited with our results and consider Labelexpo Europe the premier global selling exhibition.”
 
Bernd Brunken, MELZER maschinenbau GmbH said: “Many thanks from the MELZER team to all our customers, visitors and the organizer´s team. Once again Labelexpo Europe proved to be the platform for competence and innovation. Many visitors could see MELZER´s success in smart label converting by demonstrating the fastest and most efficient 6-track UHF label production line. Looking forward to the next great show!“
 
Eric Hoendervangers, MPS said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was extremely well attended. The visitors were focused and knew what to look for. Excellent sales figures (over 25% more sales compared to 2009) as well as an overwhelming leads-database were the results for MPS. A great show for a great industry!”
 
Andreas Hitzler, Muller Martini Druckmaschinen GmbH said: “Muller Martini attracted more visitors than ever to its stand at Labelexpo Europe 2011, the world’s largest show for the label industry. Our stand was very well attended on all four days and we made a lot of new contacts. The VSOP printing unit, which was used to showcase infinitely variable size offset printing and its applications, met with great interest.”
 
Amit Ahuja, Multitec said: “Our stand was busy with visitors from the first day as we had probably the only mechanical press on the show and this was running with perfect register at top speed of 150m/minute. We were very happy with the response received and our idea of keeping it simple was well received by the visitors.”
 
Claudia Marcoli, NANOVIS GmbH said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 by far exceeded our expectations in a very positive way. The growing interest in green, sustainable production technologies and live demonstrations of our new NANOCLEANER proved to be a key issue for sales opportunities. We registered twice as many quality contacts than we expected, from  over 40 countries! Many thanks to the organizers who provided excellent infrastructure and support from beginning to end. We will be back next time – with new products, live demos and a larger stand!” 
 
Amy Liu, Nicely Machinery said: “It is the third time that NICELY has attended Labelexpo Europe and is ready to show at Labelexpo Asia by end of 2011. Labelexpo is always the best show for NICELY to meet up with customers from all different countries and to announce its latest innovations for the label industry. This year, NICELY is even happier having received a contract for a set of slitters with spool winder for the European market.”
 
Hanna Kounev, Nikka Research Deutschland GmbH said: “Located between halls 7 and 9 (7M120), Nikka Research presented inspection solutions for traditional and digital printing. Real life applications were demonstrated in cooperation with our partners Emis, Gidue, Grafotronic, Nilpeter, Prati and Rotocontrol. We thank the many new customers for orders at the show and our existing customers for their repeat orders and positive feedback! As result, we have doubled our show sales compared to the last Labelexpo Europe.”
 
Jakob Landberg, Nilpeter said: “Labelexpo Europe 2011 was more successful than we dared to hope for. In the current financial climate, our industry looks forward more optimistically than the rest of the world. During the short, hectic show we managed to sell 22 machines from our entire product portfolio – with a nice wide geographic spread. We had a great opportunity to communicate all of our novelties and were well accepted.”

OWN-X said: “This year Labelexpo Europe has documented the changes to digital printing. Hall 9 was the busiest of all halls, UV inkjet and digital printing dominated the show. We had over thousands visitors from 62 countries, and we sold printers. This show was a milestone in our business. This new technology has captured many peoples’ interest; we also found new resellers and customers. It was exciting and valuable for OWN-X. Congratulations to Labelexpo team for the excellent organization.”
 
Holly Poplawski, PC Industries said: “We had a great experience at Labelexpo Europe. Our Guardian off line proofing and 100% inspection systems drew the most interest, and we closed the show with several orders and great sales leads. We also had the opportunity to meet with prospective agents to improve our expanding marketplace. PC Industries was impressed with the overall attendance and quality of visitors to our stand. We look forward to 2013.”
 
Chiara Prati, PRATI said: “We are extremely satisfied with results at Labelexpo Europe. The 21 machines sold confirm our customers' confidence in PRATI. The show gave us the opportunity to reinforce relationships with customers, partners and establish new partnerships. A lot of interest was received by the SATURN Linerless, a cost-effective and reliable solution for slitting, inspecting and rewinding of linerless labels. We see a lot of potential growth of this environmentally sustainable solution."
 
Katrin Hoffmann, Primera Technology Europe said: “Labelexpo Europe was a huge success for us. We didn’t think that our first time attendance in 2009 could be topped, but this year’s show did it. We presented our CX/FX1200e solution and our stand was crowded all day long with high-qualified visitors. We also introduced new products and the response was amazing. Labelexpo is the perfect show for our products and the success speaks for itself. Therefore, we rebooked for 2013 with a stand double the size of this year.”

Claire Seward, Pulse Roll Label Products said: “Our visit Labelexpo Europe 2011 proved a huge success. Our newly designed stand attracted many visitors interested in our products and services. Staff were busy with enquiries from prospective customers and distributors for our linerless, peel and read varnishes and digital range. Orders were placed for our digital range without any trials being undertaken on the strength of verbal recommendations from our partnership with HP. Our products were also used on the stands of other exhibitors to the show.”
 
Debbie Jones, Railex (Filing) Ltd said: “We were overwhelmed with the quality of the leads achieved at Labelexpo Europe 2011 and the stand was always busy.  The products designed for storing valuable cutters and flexible dies have attracted a lot of attention as label printers appreciate the time and money saved by having the correct filing solution. We had leads from over 25 countries and a lot of enthusiastic comments from visitors to our stand.”
 
Brent Fischmann, RotoMetrics said: “This year’s Labelexpo Europe was especially significant to RotoMetrics and Gerhardt as it was the first opportunity to present the combined range of new technology and product innovations to the industry's largest global audience.  The show marked a successful debut of the company’s new line of AccuStar™ flexible and we also saw tremendous interest in the new AccuStrike™ anvil including live demonstrations with AB Graphics, Mark Andy and Nilpeter.”
 
Anika Noack, RUCO Druckfarben said: “After the last successful fair appearances, RUCO is also satisfied with this year’s fair course. The colleagues on the stand led numerous informative and interesting discussions; furthermore existing customer contacts in the course of the fair were deepened. All in all Labelexpo Europe 2011 was a successful fair. We introduced our low migration inks UVFX-MA, 965UV/MA as well as our new opaque white 900UV1437.”
 
Bryan Aplin, Shuttleworth Business Systems said: “Labelexpo Europe has delivered excellent quality leads which we are busy following up. We have also had excellent feedback from our customers around the globe including India and South Africa who were able to view the latest label developments and solutions helping to add value to their business, increase business levels and profitability.”
 
 Ajay Mehta, SMI Coated Products said: “Participating at Labelexpo Europe has presented us with a fantastic platform and opportunity to meet leading printers from different parts of the globe. We are overwhelmed by the response to our self-adhesive products. The sheer magnitude and quality of visitors at the show is a reflection of the respect the Labelexpo team commands in the label industry. Their contribution in promoting the self-adhesive industry is well recognized and deeply appreciated. 500 plus exhibitors and close to 30000 visitors takes a well-organized team.”
 
Mariette Ferreira, Sun Chemical Ltd said: “Labelexpo Europe provided us with the perfect audience to demonstrate our capabilities in the growing mid and narrow web packing applications as well as core labels. The number and particularly the quality of the leads we captured made this show a valuable investment for us.” 
 
Gavin Jones, Tectonic International Ltd said: “Labelexpo Europe is always a great shop front for our range of products and this year was no exception! The launch of our ‘industry first’ K3digital Print Inspection System with its live video streaming to WiFi, excited customers old and new who were delighted to introduce iPad system control into their busy production environments. Orders for our FLEXICO V5 Plate Mountain Machine were received from four continents which indicates the level of interest worldwide.”
 
Harveer Sahni, Weldon Celloplast Limited said: “A very fruitful event. Visitor quality at Labelexpo Europe was immensely improved. Serious buyers and less of those finding reason to holiday in Brussels lead to making it a very satisfying show. Most of those who visited were short of time because of more exhibitors and better presentations. A truly, great show!”
 
Tapio Kolunsarka, UPM Raflatac EMEA said: ”Despite the challenging economic situation surrounding Europe these days, Labelexpo Europe 2011 nevertheless brought out the collective drive and enthusiasm in the industry. We saw plenty of people poised to push the label to the limit and we liked that!”