Labels & Labeling honors industry in awards ceremony

At Time Out Market Barcelona, a venue overlooking a marina on the Mediterranean Sea, three companies became the first recipients of the Labels & Labeling Global Awards. This year’s award ceremony, hosted by L&L for the first time, was one of many firsts for this year’s Labelexpo Europe show, which also saw a new venue and host city, an official expansion into the folding carton segment and the announcement of a new name.  

The L&L Global Awards took place during the Festa Barcelona welcome party on the opening evening of Labelexpo Europe 2025. Approximately 600 industry professionals attended the event, where they networked, danced to live music and savored tapas from some of the city’s best restaurants.

Three awards — recognizing innovation, sustainability and Converter of the Year — were presented to LemuGroup, Bio4Life and OPM Group, respectively.  

Each of the winners’ achievements not only sets new benchmarks in the industry but should also inspire others to push the boundaries of what’s possible

Andy Thomas-Emans, strategic director of the labels group at Informa Markets, served as chair of the L&L Global Awards judging panel. Other judges included Mark Glendenning, owner and CEO of Inland and chair of TLMI; Philippe Voet, CEO of Etivoet and chair of Finat; and Chelsea McDougall, group managing editor of L&L.  

The judges selected winners from a list of nominees picked by L&L’s global editorial team, who selected companies that had made significant contributions to the labeling industry, based on news coverage from throughout the year. The editors who compiled the nominee list were McDougall, Akanksha Meena, Adyasha Sinha, Yolanda Wang, Piotr Wnuk and Selah Zighelboim.  

‘The selection process for this year’s label award was particularly challenging, as the shortlisted companies all demonstrated remarkable innovation and excellence,’ McDougall says. ‘However, each of the winners’ achievements not only sets new benchmarks in the industry but should also inspire others to push the boundaries of what’s possible. The winners represent the best of the best in their field, and the recognitions are well deserved.’  

INNOVATION AWARD  

The Innovation Award, sponsored by Gallus/Heidelberg, recognizes an innovation that is novel, functional and impactful. This award was given to LemuGroup for its UltaCompact system, the company’s end-of-line automation technology.  

Headquartered in Spain, LemuGroup offers automatic and semi-automatic slitter rewinders, finishing machinery and RFID insertion equipment, in addition to its end-of-line technology. The UltraCompact system uses robotics to pack rolls into boxes and palletize them. It also incorporates inspection technology into its UltraCompact system for quality control, ensuring that defective rolls are not automatically packed into boxes.  

The company has been expanding globally, establishing its first US plant with a recent integration with Converting Equipment International.  

The judges noted that LemuGroup’s UltraCompact system provides significant benefits to label converters by enhancing automation, improving quality and helping with labor shortages. It enables label converters to shift employees away from the mundane task of packing rolls into boxes and palletizing them, into more value-added work.  

This award means a great deal. It’s been  a long journey, a lot of learning, and it’s  nice to be recognized by the industry for  the service and the commitment that we  put into the industry

‘We took it very seriously trying to automate our machinery, trying to automate all of our customers’ processes, and trying to improve their lives,’ says Iñaki Larrea, CEO of LemuGroup. ‘It has been a great honor to be awarded here.’  

The two companies shortlisted for this award were Mark Andy for its Digital Series HD High-Speed 1200 press and Esko for the Print Clone AI color matching tool.  

SUSTAINABILITY AWARD  

Bio4Life, a Dutch supplier of compostable self-adhesive materials, received the Sustainability Award, sponsored by Durst Group.  

This award recognizes a sustainable product or process that reduces environmental impact and advances recyclability, promoting a circular economy.  

Bio4Life received the Sustainability Award in recognition of its home compostable pressure-sensitive adhesive. This product is suitable for direct food contact applications and certified to break down in home-composting environments.  

The judges selected Bio4Life as its adhesive reduces packaging waste, meets EU PPWR requirements and offers a sustainable alternative to PS adhesives.  

This is the second time that Bio4Life has taken home a sustainability award from Labelexpo Europe, having received this honor at the 2014 show.  

‘Our adhesive, and products that will be made based on this adhesive, break down in the environment,’ Bio4Life co-owner Arjan Klapwijk says. ‘It’s not intentional that you throw them out in the environment, but if it happens — and it happens a lot — it will break down safely in CO2, water and compost, so that’s a real big advantage of our product.’  

‘It’s making the world a better place, and that’s something that we’re really proud of,’ adds Bio4Life co-owner Marcel de Oude.  

The other shortlisted companies for the Sustainability Award were Elkem for its recycled release liner silicones, and Polish converter Masterpress for the shrink sleeve magnetizable inks it developed in partnership with Magnomer.  

CONVERTER OF THE YEAR  

The final award of the evening, the Converter of the Year award, was given to OPM Group, a family-owned company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Flint Group sponsored this award.  

To receive this recognition, converters must meet specific criteria, including fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, developing and implementing training programs for individuals within the company, making contributions to community/charitable initiatives, sustainability initiatives within the company, and introducing innovative products or programs that contribute to end-user satisfaction.  

Chris Ellison, Labelexpo Europe’s flexible packaging ambassador, and Sue Ellison lead the OPM Group, with the next generation of the family actively involved.  

‘This award means a great deal,’ Chris Ellison says. ‘It’s been a long journey, a lot of learning, and it’s nice to be recognized by the industry for the service and the commitment that we put into the industry.’  

‘We’ve enjoyed bringing our family into the industry, too. It’s an amazing journey, but it’s never felt like a journey because we’ve done it together, and so it’s been easy in some ways,’ Sue Ellison says with a laugh.  

The other shortlisted nominees were Masterpress and German converter Schreiner Group.