Xeikon Café Europe 2019 once again proves to be a leading event in the packaging industry’s calendar. With a creatively crafted conference programme providing a 360° view of the trends, challenges and solutions for today’s packaging industry and an application-driven technical Academy, this multi-vendor, educational and networking event attracted close to 1.000 visitors over the 3 days – this included over 500 label and packaging converters attending from over 55 countries.
Leading the way to discovering packaging innovation
”We are delighted with the success of this year’s Xeikon Café Europe. Once again it has shown its value to the industry with a substantial increase in visitors”, says Danny Mertens of Xeikon Café. “We are dedicated to sharing our knowledge and expertise in packaging innovation and digital production, and each year we plan ahead to evolve and improve the visitor experience. For 2019 we further streamlined our Conference and Academy programmes inviting speakers that provide ‘spot on’ and challenging insights, intellectual entertainment and food for thought. This year a key discussion addressed the significant changes in consumer behaviour and communication that are impacting brand packaging and subsequently packaging production.”
Mertens continues: “The event delivered something for everyone whether newcomers to digital processes or those with more experience. It was clear that many of the visitors discovered new applications and production possibilities. We clearly recognise the need from the industry for straight-forward objective, hands-on information – both from a technical and a business perspective. It was particularly rewarding this year to see the label and packaging converters taking the chance to learn and connect and be inspired. Their enthusiasm was evident from the interaction and the many questions asked while they attended Xeikon Café’s demonstrations and discussions. We have had great feedback this year from both visitors and exhibitors. Media & partner feedback stated this is becoming the biggest event on the planet dedicated to digital production in labels & packaging”.
What visitors had to say
Aljan de Boer, Head of Inspiration at Trendsactive and this year’s Conference keynote speaker enjoyed the three-day event and said: “There was a very strong vibe amongst visitors searching for new insights. They were looking for new things to inspire their future direction and wanted to explore new perspectives. I also found it great to see such a varied bunch of printing professionals from such a wide range of regions”.
For AB Graphic, this was the fourth Xeikon Café they have attended as an exhibitor. Mark Hyde, UK Ireland and Australasia Sales Manager, stated: “We have had a lot of interest from visitors who are keen to develop creative labels with our embellishment capabilities. We try to be a one-stop shop for them with easy to use, high quality and affordable systems and that has certainly been part of the many conversations we have been having”.
It was the first attendance for converting equipment specialist Lemorau. They exhibited their finishing solutions. Susana Teixeira, CFO, states: “We saw the Xeikon Café advertising year after year, and it seemed the perfect environment for our solutions, so this year we decided to join as exhibitors. We like the broad scope of visitors coming from a wide range of sectors and countries, that are looking for good quality, robust solutions at a good price, and I’m pleased to close the event with lots of leads to follow-up on”.
For Dmitri Belov of Moscow printer Sarmatia LLC, it is the second time he has visited the Xeikon Café. He comments: “We came here with a number of questions about our digital equipment from Xeikon, and have met a lot of useful people that helped us answer those questions. The Xeikon Café is a unique event where we can meet up with many people from different companies and share information and experiences. It is a real working environment which is important”.
