LABELEXPO SET TO OPEN ITS DOORS

The global label printing show, Labelexpo, will open its doors on Monday, with the Brussels show set to be the biggest in its history – there are 600 exhibitors on the expo floor.

Labelexpo take place Monday to Thursday at the Brussels expo centre, its final outing there before a move to Barcelona in 2025. Visitors, which will include a sizeable number of printers from Australia and New Zealand, are promised a show rich in technology, opportunity and education, all aimed to help drive their businesses forward.

In addition to its labels focus, this year's show will almost certainly expand on the packaging element that was evident in the 2019 expo, where attendees saw equipment that could produce both. Thanks to digital printing technology, labels is now a field that is open to printers of all sizes, from franchises and copy shops, up to major commercial print groups.

Label print businesses and commercial printers in labels have had a good few years, with Covid providing a boom in labelling. This will be the first Labelexpo show in Europe since before Covid in 2019. It will also be the last at the iconic Brussels expo centre, the art deco buildings that have hosted the show since 1980 will be a memory after next Friday. Labelexpo is moving to Barcelona, with the 2025 show the first to be held there.

Along with demonstrations of the latest printing and converting equipment at next week's show, there will be masterclasses and special events focused on automation and flexible packaging.

Tickets to the show cost €95. Some 600 exhibitors have already signed up, with more to come, and will take all the space in nine halls at the Brussels expo centre. Always popular with the ANZ label printing fraternity, this year’s Labelexpo will be, says the organiser, “a technological showcase of epic proportions”.

New equipment to be seen at Labelexpo Europe includes the world premieres of the HP Indigo V12 and 200K presses, the Xeikon CX500t Titon toner press, the Screen Truepress PAC520P water-based packaging press, the Gallus LabelOne, its entry level digital label press, and the Konica Minolta AccurioLabel 400.

Mark Andy will launch its new flexo press, the Pro Series, for cost-effective self-adhesive label production, while Nilpeter is showcasing what it claims is the next generation of printing innovation, with its FA-26 and FA-17, for short-run flexible packaging and labels.

Names new to Australia and New Zealand will be on show, such as Etirama, who will have its ervo-driven SPS3 press, which has a 350mm web width, and can be equipped with up to 10 colours, and includes options such as cold foil, delam/relam, lamination, sheeter and turn bar for reverse printing. Similarly, Dilli will have its digital inkjet Picasso, which can print on maximum print width of 330mm, at maximum speed of 50 metres a minute.

Jade Grace, portfolio director of Labelexpo Global Series, said, “We are delighted to be running Labelexpo Europe again, and can promise visitors an extraordinary show across nine halls.

“We will see an explosion of cutting-edge technology launched at the show, everything from pre-press to materials, digital and conventional print, and converting technology.

“Add to this a world-leading series of educational events, and our focus on automation and flexible packaging for label converters, and you have an unmissable Labelexpo experience.”

The last Labelexpo in Brussels took place pre-Covid, four years ago, and the show was notable for the crossover between label printing and packaging, with many new technologies at the show able to produce both, opening new worlds of opportunities to print businesses.

This time around, that theme will continue, but even more so, along with a proliferation of software solutions, many of them cloud-based.

Andy Thomas-Emans, strategic director at Labelexpo Global Series, added, “We are already seeing key technology themes emerging at Labelexpo Europe 2023. Diversification across labels and flexible packaging technologies, digital embellishment, workflow and machine automation, real-time data collection over the Cloud and sustainability across multiple fronts, from LED-UV to more new materials and adhesives choices. This will be a landmark show for the future direction of our industry.”

The organiser says the nine halls “will be alive” with machinery and product launches from industry giants, including Bobst, Canon, Epson, HP, Gallus, Kurz, Nilpeter, Mark Andy, Omet, Screen and Xeikon. It says this will be a showcase of innovation “on a seriously grand scale”.

Printers attending the show can expect special features, master classes, and chances to network with leading voices. Discussions will focus on the latest trends, with the industry sharing ideas and insights with the people shaping the future of label and package printing.

The event is currently free of all Covid restrictions.