ICE Europe closes its ninth edition with a participation greater than any before.
7,040 visitors, an increase of 7% and from 71 countries, and 439 exhibitors (+10%) from 26 different nations over 11 thousand sqm, met March 10 to 12 at the Munich exhibition center to create a lively event, entirely dedicated to paper, film and foil converting. A similar trend was seen the second CCE International, also organized by Mack Brooks Exhibitions, over the same days and in the same location. Focused on corrugated and carton processing technologies, it brought together 156 exhibitors from 22 countries and 2,410 visitors from 62 different countries (the latter up 18%), reflecting the interest aroused by one of the few fairs dedicated to this sector.
Flows and areas of interest This year too, Nicola Hamann, director of ICE Europe, was able to report the high overall satisfaction (most of the exhibitors have announced plans to attend the coming edition) and the many contracts signed during the event. One of the most significant features was the high rate of internationalization: half of the visitors and 44% of exhibitors came from countries other than Germany. In particular, the people at Mack Brooks emphasize, the greatest flow of foreign operators was from Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France, UK, Poland, Holland, Turkey and Spain, for the most from companies in the packaging industry. Also well represented the engineering, paper, print and packaging, chemical and non-woven fabric segments. According to official statistics, visitors’ interests focused primarily on coating and laminating, slitting and winding, control, test and measurement, flexo and gravure printing solutions as well as materials.
Overview of CCE As ever the quality of visitors to CCE International proved excellent. On top of that the number of exhibitors and the area occupied has increased by one-third; the three-day event also saw the holding of a series of update seminars, focused on digital printing technologies, folding and gluing as well as die cutting. A full 64% of CCE visitors and 82% of CCE exhibitors came from beyond Germany, the latter mainly from Italy, Germany, China, the UK and the Netherlands. The former, however, as well as being from Germany, were from Italy, Poland, UK, Spain, Austria, France, Czech Republic, Turkey and Switzerland, representing the food and beverage (45%), transport and logistics (26%), household appliances and electronics (24%), cosmetics (21%), furniture (20%) and pharmaceutical (18%) segments.
The main areas of interest for operators visiting CCE were corrugated cardboard converting (45%), printing (41%), corrugators (38%), folding carton converting equipment (33%), materials and consumables (32%) and machinery and plant control systems (27%).
Coming events The organizers declare their full satisfaction and announce a repeat in the East: CCE South East Asia will be held at the International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Bangkok 21 to 23 September 2016, and will present the entire corrugated and folding board processing chain.
In turn the new edition of ICE Europe will take place March 21 to 23, 2017, as ever at the Munich Trade Fair Centre, alongside CCE. It will be followed by ICE USA (Orlando, Florida, 25 to 27 April 2017), while next year will be the scene of ICE Asia, 19 to 21 October 2016, in Shanghai.
