Record Breaking Attendance at Label Summit Latin America 2012
Label Summit Latin America reached new heights as it attracted a record breaking 729 attendees and 70 exhibitors. Held in Guadalajara for the first time between 17-18 April, it was the fifth Summit to be held in Mexico.
The Summit boasted its highest ever number of exhibitors with 70 international and local suppliers including: ARclad, Avery Dennison, Green Bay Mexico, HP, Industrial Papelera Venus SA de CV, Max Daetwyler de Mexico, Sun Chemical Mexico and UPM Raflatac taking part in the table-top format exhibition.
Global markets and the changing role of the label converter dominated the first morning. Proceedings were opened with a keynote presentation from Avery Dennison’s Darrell Hughes. Titled ‘The Innovation Imperative’, Hughes highlighted the case for change in Latin America as well as touching on several key issues facing the global marketplace such as growing demand for shorter runs and brands actively targeting emerging market countries and economies. ACOBAN’s Edgar Martinez Villarreal discussed the effects of globalization on the Mexican label industry and urged converters to invest in Mexico’s infrastructure with new technologies and better quality control. Fabian Silva from AMETIQ addressed the opportunities and challenges facing converters in the current economic climate.
Day one’s converter panel discussion examined serving foreign markets and how to differentiate from the competition. Day one closed with an overview of intelligent label and packaging solutions with Innovia Film’s Marco Estrada Carranza looking at the benefits of high performance interactive printed electronic labels and Filip Weymans of Xeikon outlining security options with multi-layered programs.
Environmental concerns and the argument for suitability programs were high on the agenda too. Labelexpo managing director Roger Pellow’s welcome address encouraged converters to champion compliance and sustainability across the supply chain; a subject which was reiterated throughout the Summit’s duration as the matter was also tackled by UPM Raflatac, Lobo Impresores and heavily debated on the materials panel discussion.
Day two’s morning sessions assessed the future of technology within the industry. Hewlett-Packard Indigo co-presented a customer case study with Procter & Gamble on digital print technologies and meeting the rising demand for short runs. Alexander James from Harper GraphicSolutions shared recent flexo technology developments in conventional printing. The afternoon’s focus was on the power of print and the new opportunities for label and package printing with presentations on strategic packaging design and the role of Latin American converters in beverage labeling.
Roger Pellow, Labelexpo managing director sums up: “The opportunity for growth across Latin America is exceptional and this year’s Label Summit Latin America neatly underlines this as it has been our biggest and most successful Summit to date. Holding it for the first time in Guadalajara, which is very much a major manufacturing hub in Mexico, has undoubtedly been beneficial and attracted new delegates.”
He continues: “It was evident from this year’s Summit that converters need to embrace change and adopt a sustainability program and develop industry compliance across the supply chain. The environment is a serious concern and more needs to be done not just in Latin America, but globally if these growth rates are to continue. Mexico and Latin America in general are well placed to compete with other emerging markets such as China and India, but they need to formulate good business plans and invest in new technologies to ensure their future growth.”
Quotes from exhibitors and visitors at Label Summit Latin America 2012:
ACOBAN: “It was a huge success for ACOBAN!! We are very hopeful that with the amount of people that came around our stand we will continue to grow and motivate people in a positive way.”
ARclad SA: “Label Summit Latin America was an extraordinary opportunity for ARclad. We received many new leads as well as seeing well-known customers. A very good opportunity for us, as a taste of Labelexpo Americas in Chicago. Very well organized!”
DCM Group: “For DCM USIMECA ATN, Label Summit Latin America 2012 was really positive. In only two days we registered more than 60 leads and prospective visits for narrow-web printing, generated 30 quotation requests for printing/converting/sleeve machines, the agreement to visit five key label customers and negotiated three equipment sales.”
Gallus: "Label Summit Latin America in Guadalajara was of great value for Gallus. It is an excellent networking platform to meet customers who usually are unable to attend the Label Summit in Mexico City. The well-founded conference underlined the necessity to invest in latest machinery - quick job change and little waste - to reach a higher productivity in label printing. Furthermore it became clear that high-quality and value-added label production is a good opportunity to differentiate in the Latin American market, where up until now most of the high-quality labels with high refinement are still imported.”
Industrial Papelera Venus: “For us, the last Label Summit Latin America in Guadalajara was an excellent exhibition to show our new label-stock products. We were busy all the time with high quality visitors. For sure we will continue attending this show. Thanks for everything.”
Nuova GIDUE S.r.l.: “We had an excellent attendance at our booth, and we could discuss with many converters who were interested in our innovative technologies. The Label Summit Latin America conference was a perfect display of the Latin American market with open and informative reports which gave in two days a clear and comprehensive vision of the Mexican and the Latin American Label industry. We could also find excellent people to expand our distribution network. Label Summits are gate openers for suppliers, converters and distributors to a true reciprocal exchange of information, in a relaxed and effective environment. Every detail is organized for matching successful business relations. Everybody can take home some result. From GIDUE’s side, the comment is… well done!”
PRATI: “Label Summit Latin America was a major success for PRATI as there was much interest in our finishing solutions for self-adhesive labels. Label converters understood the value of our solutions which contribute to increased productivity at a low cost. Label Summit Latin America was an excellent opportunity to meet face to face with customers and prospects, which led to healthy sales and strong leads. Latin America is a very important market for us. We plan to expand our operations in the region, so that we can provide even better support to its print service providers.”
SwiftColor Label: “The SwiftColor Label Printer team was delighted to be part of 2012’s Label Summit Latin America in Mexico. We had a lot of inquiries and many business opportunities. We believe that we would have a great future in color digital printing field with SwiftColor’s 4” and 8” digital continuous inkjet printers because of attending this event.”