Celebrating 35 years of Labelexpo

The majority of respondents to an online poll earlier this year told L&L that they had been attending Labelexpo events for a decade or less, although a quarter had been attending for 20 years or more, with half of those present for more than 31 years.

As such, it seemed timely in the lead-up to Labelexpo Europe 2015, the 35th anniversary of Labelexpo being born, and 30 years since the flagship show (Labelexpo Europe) moved to Brussels, Belgium, to ask friends of the show and the industry for their memories:

‘Successively my father and I have been managing the offices of Finat since 1970. I can therefore safely say that together, we have probably attended all of the Labelexpo Europe editions, even before the show was called Labelexpo and came ashore to Europe in Brussels. And outside Europe, we have attended quite a few Labelexpo events in North America and Asia too. Initially, Labelexpo Europe provided the newly emerging self-adhesive printing and converting technology its own platform outside ‘mainstream’ printing at drupa. But especially during the past 25 years, the show has gone from strength to strength, against the current in media and exhibition land. Since our Labelexpo partnership was established in the early 1990s, Finat as the leading label industry association in Europe has been proudly supporting the world’s largest label industry event and we hope to continue this partnership for several more years to come. Memories of the many shows we have attended are numerous, but most precious of all however have been the many occasions where the show in Brussels has brought together the global label industry community. After all there are not many occasions where business leaders from the industry world-wide get together, and for this reason the Labelexpo shows have been the perfect occasion to hold meetings of the L9 group of regional label associations. There are not many industries where the ‘golden triangle’ of business, trade media and association communities is working so well.’

- Jules Lejeune, Finat

'Labelexpo is a part of our success story. We bought our first Shiki PC 45 there and because we already had jobs to do it was urgent that we started working with it. We borrowed a vehicle and after the show closed we loaded it and drove through the night to our village, where we installed it and started working immediately to satisfy our customer. Many machines have followed and all important investment decisions are made at Labelexpo events. The label world needs Labelexpo.'

- Thomas Hagmaier, Hagmaier Etiketten & Druck/Finat president

‘I started at Nilpeter approximately one month before my first Labelexpo. As this was my entry to the label industry, I was pretty wet behind the ears. But I was amazed how all parts – all angles – of the industry were gathered in one place. This was the first show where Nilpeter showed cool UV and mono-web in a label press which created quite an interest. Since then I have been to at least one Labelexpo a year, but more often than not two a year. My best memory from the show is when we rang the bell 42 times.’

- Jakob Landberg, Nilpeter

‘As a newcomer to the industry, and with my history in commercial printing, the first impressions of the show were funny: ‘What is this? Every machine looks like a miniature version of “real” printing machines’. But after visiting for two days I realized that the technical possibilities of these machines are extremely high. It was a big surprise to me to see what different products on those machines can be produced. My former experience was to buy a machine for one special product and I realized that the 'sticky business’ is much more flexible. A former salesman of Jackstädt told me after my first week in the label business: ‘Welcome to the label industry, you will stay in this colorful industry for your whole life – it´s a sticky business.’ And he was/is right. It’s the most flexible and interesting niche in the printing industry.’

- Frank Neumann, GundlachLogo – Logo Etiketten

‘I attended Labelexpo India due to the Finat YMC event, which has been supported by Tarsus. My first experience with Labelexpo was amazing. The show in Brussels is the greatest show I have ever seen in the labeling industry. The atmosphere is great, ringing bells, innovations, meeting friends and the Label Industry Global Awards event with amazing entertainment.’

- Dana Kilarska, Purgina Slovakia

The above selection were featured in L&L issue 4, 2015. Read the full article in the online magazine here.

The following selected thoughts have been additionally collected from an active discussion on the L&L LinkedIn group:

'I went to the first exhibition at the Horticultural Halls in London. Those were the days.'

- Paul Greenwood, independent

'We have been at Labelexpo since it all began. This makes Mark Andy a ‘Labelexpo Lifer’ for certain. We have watched the industry change, evolve and grow and couldn't be more delighted to continue the tradition this year.'

- Mary Sullivan, Mark Andy

'I think my first Labelexpo visit was 1989. That year we bought our first 'big' label press. It was a 6-color Comco Captain. At that time, there was no discussion about digital.'

- O. Jean-Marie Peters, Labelor

'We bought our first label press on Drupa 1995, directly from the show. Later on we found there was going to be Labelexpo in the fall of the same year. When the time came, we went there by car and on the spot found there were no hotel available. Those were really pioneer days for us. Since then, we have visited the show every two years and, as I look back, this is going to be our 20-year anniversary. We have bought few machines there, found interesting trends and materials, and found many business friends.'

- Josef Trs, Tecom Paper

'My first time at Labelexpo was in Brussels in 1997 as a visitor, and since 2001 every time as an exhibitor.'

- Dan Erni, Gallus

'My first Labelexpo was in 2013, exhibiting our inks and varnishes. A great introduction to the label industry for me and I'm looking forward to the next one in September.'

- Sarah Harriman, Pulse Roll Label Products

'My first was Chicago in the early 1990s, but it was my first in Brussels the following year that really impressed me. Brussels still wows me.'

- J. Scott Scarbrough, Forward Optics

'My first in Brussels was in 1991. I also attended all Indian shows since 2002, the Asian shows since 1998, and most of the US shows since 1996.'

- Wolfgang Klos-Geiger, consultant

Read more memories, and contribute your own, when visitng the L&L LinkedIn group by clicking here