LABELEXPO EUROPE BREAKS RECORDS

LEADER |5
LEADER
88 INVESTING IN IML
Investment in automation brings IML efficiency gains to German converter
98 LATIN AMERICA SHINES
Brazilian converters including Mack Color announce major investments
REGULARS
09 INBOX – Huge sums were raised for charity by
Herma’s hard riders
10 NEWS – MCC on acquisition trail with John Watson
and Gem & Cie
20 ENVIRONMENT NEWS – Munksjö website promotes
closed loop liner recycling
CONFIDENCE
BOUNCES BACK
Labelexpo Europe breathed new life into the labels
industry, a welcome sign that a corner seems to
have been turned in Europe following years of
gloom. All the major press manufacturers reported
unexpectedly high levels of sales and good leads,
demonstrating, as Nilpeter’s Jakob Landberg points
out, that converters are now increasing capacity and
not just replacing existing capacity as they were two
years ago.
The roots of the new optimism are numerous.
The Euro currency crisis seems to have blown over,
at least for the time being, and more European
economies seem set on a path of solid, if limited
growth after years of austerity.
In addition, Labelexpo Europe attracts leading
converters from developing nations, and there
were significant heavy machinery orders placed by
players including Baumgarten from Brazil and Ajanta
Packaging from India.
The influence of global visitors should not be
exaggerated however. Over 68 percent of visitors are
from Western Europe and 12 percent from Eastern
Europe.
There is also a sense that technology is moving so
fast, that converters need to keep investing to avoid
being left with equipment with unacceptably high
levels of waste and which cannot be integrated into a
Lean production environment.
Take conventional printing advances seen at
this year’s show. We saw two types of machine
emerge: super-efficient pressure-sensitive converting
machines without multi-substrate capability and
advanced automation, but with very rapid changeover
and short web paths cutting waste to minimal levels.
On the other hand were fully automated, multiprocess
models combining sophisticated pre-setting
and closed loop control with the ability to switch
seamlessly between label and packaging substrates.
Both types have the potential to obsolete less efficient
models and less automated models respectively,
Digital continues to evolve rapidly, but more in
the direction of a maturing technology rather than
a revolutionary one. With no real breakthrough in
imaging systems, we saw presses that were wider
(HP being a notable example) but more importantly
were more tightly integrated into fully automated
workflow systems with a definite tilt towards in-line
processing, including laser die-cutting and turret
rewinding.
Read our in-depth review in this issue and let us
know how you see technology trends developing.
151 BOB CRONIN – Partnerships can be a fruitful means
of expanding. What are the pitfalls?
160 CORPORATE CULTURE – DOES wealth always
disappear with the third generation?
ANDY THOMAS
GROUP MANAGING EDITOR
athomas@labelsandlabeling.com
NOVEMBER 2013 | L&L