With around 2,000 trade visitors and more than 85 exhibitors, EMPACK Dortmund 2018 celebrated a successful premiere as a regional trade fair for the packaging industry.
Over 85 exhibitors presented their latest packaging solutions, innovations and products at Messe Dortmund on 24 and 25 January 2018.
„The packaging industry and its suppliers represent the fifth-largest industrial sector in Germany, so it was important to us to establish a regionally focused trade fair in Germany as a technology nation,“ emphasised EMPACK project manager Tom Friedrich from the organiser Easyfairs Deutschland GmbH. The reactions show that this was well received by exhibitors, expert partners and trade visitors alike. „EMPACK Dortmund 2018 perfectly fulfilled our expectations as an innovation leader in strapping technology. The quantity and especially the quality of the visitors were exceptionally high for a regional trade fair,“ reports Frank Mutschler, Head of Market Communication at exhibitor MOSCA GmbH.
An initial visitor survey conducted on site confirmed the concept of targeting the Markets in North Rhine-Westphalia, Northern and Central Germany and Parts of the BeNeLux countries to open up new markets. 81% of trade visitors rated EMPACK Dortmund as good or very good. 83 per cent of exhibitors rated the trade fair as an „important sales platform“ and a „must-attend event“.
Supporting programme scores
„Our high-quality lecture programme certainly contributed to this,“ Friedrich is convinced. Together with the organiser, numerous Expertise partner, The trade fair will bring together presentations from science and practice, such as the Fraunhofer IML, the German Packaging Institute dvi or the industry association AIM-D, which will be presented in the supporting programme on both days of the fair. Latest trends and developments conveyed. Topics such as „The pallet in the focus of digitalisation“ or „Packaging 4.0“ were just as well attended as practical presentations such as „Made for recycling or reducing food losses“.
Dr Volker Lange, Head of Packaging and Retail Logistics AutoID Technologies at Fraunhofer IML, confirms that the participants were also satisfied: „EMPACK Dortmund fully met our expectations as a regional trade fair. The topics addressed met with a high level of interest among visitors and form the basis for potential future work and projects.“
Trade fair concept Intralogistics supplemented
The successful debut of EMPACK Dortmund 2018 provides the organiser Easyfairs with a promising basis for the future. Follow-up event 2019, which are centred around the topic Intralogistics will be expanded. Because intralogistics processes such as material flows and storage are closely linked to decisions relating to product and transport packaging, Tom Friedrich sees „numerous sensible and useful Synergies, which will certainly appeal to many more target groups as exhibitors and visitors to our trade fair.“
Next year, EMPACK Dortmund will take place together with Logistics & Distribution Dortmund on 8 and 9 May 2019 at the Dortmund Exhibition Centre.
