Ceepackaging

Events

Strong interest in Fachpack

In terms of exhibitors and area, the packaging supplies product group and the associated machine concepts expanded particularly strongly. The mainly small and medium enterprises feel at home in Nürnberg and especially value the manageable representation costs and the concentration on three turbulent days of exhibiting.

Satisfied exhibitors: Investment backlog is clearing
The efficient German packaging industry was traditionally strongly represented, this time with another clear increase to 1,084 companies (+11 %). 241 foreign companies, mainly from the neighbouring countries of Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, France and the Czech Republic, also presented their products and services.

Uwe Klein, General Manager of Smurfit Kappa Wellpappe of Feucht: “The packaging supplies industry – an estimated 70 % of the German corrugated cardboard industry were present with their own stands at FachPack – convinced the experts with their professional presentation. Our over 40 employees alone attended to more than 1,000 visitors on the stand during the three days of the exhibition – a complete success.”

Peter Lökös from Sales at Hastamat Verpackungstechnik of Lahnau is also full of praise for the visitors to his stand: “As manufacturer of specialized machines for highly sensitive products and complete packaging lines, our export share is 70-80 %. We mainly wanted to approach new customers from Germany at FachPack. We received visits from project engineers and procurement and material management staff with concrete projects and clear budgets for short-term implementation. They often had the order with them. A huge investment backlog seems to be clearing.”

90 % of the exhibitors are satisfied with their overall exhibiting success and expect good
follow-up business. Due to the high frequency of visitors, 93 % of the companies at the exhibition made new contacts, according to the results of a survey by an independent institute.

Visitors came to Nürnberg with firm requests
The product spectrum was exactly right for 96 % of the FachPack visitors. They came mainly from the food and luxury foodstuffs, printing/paper processing, electrical, chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries and 90 % of them are involved in procurement decisions. Asked about their reasons for visiting, they mainly wanted to source information about new products, observe the market, extend their knowledge, cultivate business contacts, exchange views and prepare investment decisions. They were most interested in the product segments of packaging machinery, packaging materials, supplies and ancillaries, followed by labelling, marking and palletizing equipment, monitoring and test equipment and packaging recycling. Well over 70 % of the FachPack visitors also want to use the new products seen in Nürnberg in their own companies. 70 % of the interviewees also think the economic situation in the industry will continue to firm.

The three exhibitions reflect the complete in-house packaging process chain in one place for the third time. Although FachPack performs something like a “parent role” in the exhibition trio – on the market for 27 years, competent, recognized and successful, it is especially encouraging when the offspring also develop well and attract their due attention: Whereas almost all visitors took a look at FachPack, around a quarter also went to see each of the two “daughters”, PrintPack and LogIntern.

Hermann Vasen, Sales Manager of Klinkhammer Förderanlagen, Nürnberg: “LogIntern was a home game for us, which went very well. We discussed many firm projects on our stand…”

128 exhibitors registered direct for LogIntern in hall 7 this time, but a remarkable total of 330 exhibitors (!) also showed products relevant to LogIntern in other halls. The heart of the exhibition was the LogIDSquare. Under the basic theme of “Where Auto-ID meets Logistics”, 29 exhibitors and special exhibits presented the latest developments in the logistics industry and specifically in the auto-ID industry in a pavilion of about 1,000 m2.

Tea to go meets butter tube
The independent jury for the German Packaging Award 2006 was spoilt for choice with a real flood of innovations from 330 entries – 40 % more than last year. The judging criteria were functionality, degree of innovation, emotionality, cost-effectiveness, ecology and safety.
51 original, simple, intelligent, sturdy or smart packages were nominated. The best 24 were the happy winners of the German Packaging Award, which is organized by the Deutsches Verpackungsinstitut (dvi). The winners included the specially designed tea mug lid that guarantees tea without spilling when travelling, or the new application for aluminium tubes: the butter tube. Thomas Reiner, Chief Executive Officer of dvi, is rightly proud of the response attracted by the award in the industry and among journalists during the exhibition. “Successful awards can also be improved, so we are thinking of not only choosing smart solutions for future awards, but increasingly rewarding market success as well.”

Well packed is half the battle of selling: Definite growth for packaging supplies
Nothing is possible without it: It not only looks great, it has a place in its heart for children, old people and the handicapped, it protects, is practical, recyclable and low-cost – the ideal package. Some 2 % of the product value is already attributed to the package in Germany, and this figure rises to between 7 and 8 % in packaging-intensive industries like the food industry.

Growth in the German packaging industry in 2005 was again clearly above the general trend. According to GAVD (Gemeinschaftsausschuss Deutscher Verpackungshersteller), the production of packaging supplies and packaging ancillaries rose by 3.3 % to 16.9 million t. The total production value of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass packaging was 24.9 billion EUR, 3.6 % up on the previous year. Paper and cardboard packaging leads in terms of quantity (over 7.7 million t), whereas plastic packaging is the leader in value (10.5 billion EUR = 42.3 %), followed by paper and cardboard (8.3 billion EUR = 33.5 %).

German packaging machinery industry is world leader
Packaging machinery is also a growth industry. The worldwide production volume of the industry is some 19 billion EUR. According to the Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA), production by the German packaging machinery manufacturers has increased by a little more than 1 billion EUR (+33 %) since 1999. In 2005, the around 300 mainly small and medium enterprises with their 26,000 employees produced packaging machinery and plant worth approx. 4.23 billion EUR. Germany with a share of 23 % of world production is the leader, ahead of Italy (16 %) and the USA (13 %).

The growth is export-driven. After years of continuous growth, deliveries abroad rose again in 2005 to reach a volume of 3.8 billion EUR. This means the export rate is more than 80 % and well above that of the overall German mechanical engineering industry (64 %). The most important buyer country is the USA (558 million EUR), followed by Russia (216 million), Great Britain (197 million), France (178 million) and China (153 million).

Especially encouraging and noticeable at FachPack: Domestic demand in Germany has firmed again after a long hard haul. Richard Clemens, General Manager of the VDMA-Fachverband Nahrungsmittel- und Verpackungsmaschinen: “Germany is still the most important single market for most of our members despite export rates of 80 %.