What’s going on in “packaging City”

Data and facts out of interpack 2017. Overall exhibition space expands, as well as Italian presence. New location for Components, more space for Industry 4.0, Save Food consolidates.

All things come to repeat themselves in a script that sees interpack as an undisputed leader among heavy-hitting fairs.
The crisis-proof event is set to wow once again this year: it seems incredible, but yet again the latest edition will be the largest yet, featuring an even more extensive offer of solutions and updates tailored to the needs of the global market of materials and machinery for processing and packaging.

As a satisfied Bernd Jablonowski had a chance to stress (carrying on a tradition by presenting the event at an evening organized by Messe Duesseldorf’s historic Italian representative, Honegger): «I don’t know where, but we have somehow managed to fit in an additional 170 exhibitors, nearly 3000 square meters of newly occupied exhibition space, which is to say 2.5% more than in 2014».

A decidedly comforting sign for the processing and packaging industries, and consequently for the Italian economy as a whole, is the increased presence of Italians at the fair.

«With 36,400 square meters of exhibition space and a 10% increase in attendance compared to the previous edition, Italian operators have reaffirmed their presence at the fair, along with the Germans, the largest group overall. Together, the two nationalities cover 110,000 square meters dedicated to processing and packaging».

Jablonowski went on to describe the new location of Components, now in its second edition as a side event in synergy with interpack. This year it was hosted in a new pavilion set up at the center of the fair, enabling it to offer solutions to the most visible requests that have been raised by operators. The result? Here too, double the space compared to the first edition (with a strong Italian presence, albeit reduced by three even as the occupied space has expanded).

Visitors expectations are also very high, with a rise in online pre-registrations.

Beyond these “dizzying” numbers, the head of Messe Duesseldorf’s Global Portfolio Packaging & Processing insisted upon interpack’s unique character as a mirror of an auspicious period for industry and general positive feeling.

«We have the numbers to prove that the current outlook for European industry is decidedly better than it was in 2014. This is comforting and justifies our confidence that the fair will be a success. But we are also aware that reasons for uncertainty persist, such as political instability in certain regions that could potentially affect business in the immediate future.
That’s why we have done our best to ensure that interpack continues to offer solutions and serve as an ideal bridge between the present and the future. An example of this is the innovationparc Forum and Safe Food, an initiative developed in order to promote discussion on topics like food waste and sustainability, involving the participation of political and economic actors of the supply chain...
For instance, space will be dedicated to Industry 4.0 in order to show how intelligence “within” but also “beyond” machines is evolving... This is territory that remains partially unexplored, ripe for fuller study and discovery».
In concluding his remarks, Jablonowski called attention to Messe Duesseldorf’s international orientation (over 70% of exhibitors and visitors at the various events organized by the German company hail from regions across the globe), while also expressing with genuine emotion his great appreciation for the Italian companies and sector associations with which his company hopes to form even stronger bonds in future.