Positive response to ICE Europe 2011

Positive response to ICE Europe 2011

ICE Europe 2011 recorded its biggest year ever as the show closed on November 10, with visitors, exhibitors and floor space growing. 
 
The 7th International Converting Exhibition was staged at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, having moved from the M,O,C also in Munich, and saw a seven percent growth in visitor numbers, 17 percent in exhibitor numbers and 24 percent in exhibition space compared to the previous event in 2009.
 
Major industry sectors represented by visitors were package printing, packaging, engineering, the paper industry, the chemical industry and textiles/nonwovens.  Organizer Mack Brooks said categories visitors were primarily interested in were coating and laminating, slitting/rewinding, accessories, control/test/measurement and materials.
 
Nicola Hamann, exhibition director of ICE Europe on behalf of organizer Mack Brooks Exhibitions, said: ‘We are particularly delighted to be able to report a further seven percent increase in visitor numbers on top of the 27 percent increase we already had at the show in 2009. 
 
‘We are pleased to be able to report that ICE Europe 2011 was also more international than ever: 44 percent of the exhibitors and 47 percent of the visitors came from outside Germany.  This is an increase of four percent in international visitors compared to last time, while the traditionally high percentage of foreign exhibitors remained stable.’

Visitors were drawn to the show for a number of different reasons, including the unveiling of the new Titan SR9-DT dual turret slitter rewinder, which has been designed to offer converters, especially those of flexible packaging, increased slitting productivity, design modularity and rewind reel quality.  New features include reduced power consumption and enhancements in sustainability.
 
The SR9-DT (pictured, below) has a unique turret rewind design with automatic cutting and taping of web tails, and Roger Astell, senior manager, communication at Atlas Converting Equipment, said the Titan SR9-DT is the fastest shafted secondary slitter rewinder available in the world for converters in the flexible packaging market, with the capacity to handle 1km each minute (1,000m/min).   

Astell added that the SR9-DT can handle a number of different narrow web substrates, including foils, laminated and metallized products, and has a dual turret design with each featuring two rewind shafts that are rotated automatically within 30 seconds once the reels are full, so making the machine, and converters, more productive.  The DT will be followed by single turret and single shaft versions as part of the SR9 series of equipment in order to suit different applications, Astell said.
 
BST International (pictured, below) was in attendance for only the second time having debuted at ICE Europe in 2009, and was demonstrating its technologies for measurement, inspection, guidance and control. 


 
Its stand focused on existing technologies, such as its CLS Pro 600 digital sensor and EMS 23 actuator, and allowed it the opportunity to advance its existing relationships with customers in attendance at ICE Europe 2011.  New technologies from BST are being prepared to debut at next year’s Drupa, and BST’s marketing contact Sabine Sladky said: ‘It was a good opportunity to deepen our contacts and have discussions about projects we are already involved with, plus new ones.’
 
ASHE Converting Equipment had its Sapphire S2 duplex slitter rewinder on show, as well as advertising for agents on its stand.  The company’s Chris Plant said it was looking for agents in a number of countries, particularly Turkey and Russia, noting that it was still deciding on whether to use an agent in Russia or employ someone direct to handle that market. 
 
Elsewhere at the show, the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, a German research and development organization, presented a new packaging film with a barrier layer made of whey protein.  This product was developed as part of the EU Wheylayer project and means that the use of synthetic polymers as barrier coatings on conventional packaging substrates can now be avoided.  The multilayer film, which can be used to manufacture flexible transparent packaging systems for foods, is said to be a world first. 
 
The formulations and processes that have been developed in a laboratory and pilot plant scale will soon be transferred to an industrial scale so that the new whey-based material can be used in the near future by the packaging industry, Fraunhofer IVV said.  Fraunhofer IVV is also working on replacing EVOH (ethylene - vinyl alcohol copolymer) in thermoformed laminates by a barrier film based on whey protein.

Meech International used its presence to showcase its TakClean contact web cleaning system for the narrow web market.  It features elastomer contact cleaning rollers and perforated adhesive rolls that work in conjunction with static control technology.  Adam Battrick, cleaning systems business unit director at Meech, said: ‘It’s suitable for use with most narrow web applications.  Like our other products, it is also waste efficient as the operator only needs to remove the contaminated length of adhesive roll on changeover.’
 
Lang Laser showed a number of flexible packaging products (pictured, right) that had been manufactured using its laser-based system for industrial material processing for cutting, perforation, scoring, structuring and marking, and Micro Laser Tech (MLT) was talking up its laser system for selective weakening too.  MLT’s Monique Evans said this was as it receives a lot of demand for solutions for easy open packaging, particularly from the food and tobacco sectors.

Material handling systems were on show at ICE Europe 2011, with a number of different companies showing their systems.  This included Cason Handling, a new business unit within Cason Companies, which had a small machine (pictured, left) on show to demonstrate its technology.  This was shown moving small reels on to a mini pallet, and highlighted the automated systems that can be installed within a converting plant to prepare products for palletization. 


 
Dotec was showing its LiftAssist range (pictured, above), which a spokesperson on the stand said features a simple control system for ease of use and a gyroscopic unit that means the load is always held at a constant orientation.  In addition, the LiftAssist system requires the operator to only lift one percent of the load weight.  Others on show with material handling systems included Delmac, Zeilhofer and Rolpex.
 
Starfoil Technology, Soma Engineering, Kroenert, Folex, Morchem and Roto Swiss Tech were also highlights at ICE Europe 2011, with busy stands and technologies on show.
 
Hamann, the exhibition director of ICE Europe for Mack Brooks Exhibitions, concluded: ‘This year’s exhibition has therefore clearly made another step forward: it is firmly positioned as the leading international trade fair for the worldwide converting industry, with the new venue adding to the professional flair of the exhibition.’

For photo highlights from ICE Europe 2011, click here