The Business Design Centre in Islington, London, opened its doors to easyFairs’ packaging show for the third time. Amongst the many innovations and exciting new packaging products were several suppliers to the flexo printing industry. By Neel Madsen.
Stretching over two days, October 4 and 5, the 2012 edition of Packaging Innovations returned to Islington in north London with an impressive 27% rise in visitor numbers.
The show focused on four key areas, Packaging Innovations, Brand & Design Village, Luxury Packaging and Contract Pack, with packaging buyers from major names such as Estée Lauder, Manchester United, Sainsbury’s, Stella McCartney, Waitrose, Lush, Bacardi and Tesco attending.
Best of British was celebrated with a competition handing out gold, silver and bronze medals to the best Olympic and Jubilee themed special edition packs from this year. A panel of experts led by Robert Opie, founder of the Museum of Brands, judged the products on display and awarded gold to Jubilee Ma’amite with for its ‘Yes Ma’am, no Ma’am’ limited edition jars.
A diverse programme of presentations and debates was presented throughout the show covering all aspects of packaging and branding. In the learnShops and the Keynote Theatre, topics included everything from the environmental impact of packaging, recycling and the ethical consumer to corporate responsibility, finding skills and helping brands to innovate in the new digital age, semiotics and online packaging.
New exhibitors included YRG Group, which recently added the Eclipse Marketing Solutions division to its portfolio. The company was promoting its sales sample and mock up packaging product capabilities linked to its pre-press solutions, which include HD Flexo, virtualisation software and flexo sleeve systems.
Steve Buxton, director of YRG Solutions, said, ‘This is the first time YRG has taken a stand at the event and we were very pleased with the quantity and quality of people who attended the show and the interest in our business solutions. When everything has settled down, we will appraise whether we achieved our objectives for the event, but overall we can say that our initial reaction is very positive.’
David Galton, chairman of EFIA, agreed, ‘I thought that both the atmosphere of the show and mood of the delegates attending were very upbeat and positive. The EFIA stand was much busier than anticipated and visitors went away with information about the new Academy 2 distance learning system, which is modular and allows the student to accrue points towards three levels of qualification.’
The Big Packaging Debate also returned and this year asked ‘Who buys design and does good design ever get considered as an asset?’ The panel consisted of Kevin Vyse, managing director, IoPP, Tim Terry, managing partner, WebbdeVlam, Angus Montgomery, editor, Design Week, Sue Berry, packaging development manager, Molton Brown, Phil Huggett, own brand packaging manager, Wilkinson and Gordon Henman, packaging technical manager, Marks & Spencer.
Print your circuits
One new and exciting avenue for flexo is in the printed electronics sector. At the show, pre-press company Reproflex 3 and labels and packaging printers OPM Group presented the results of a collaboration with Novalia Printed Electronics, a Cambridge based technology company with expertise in the field.
OPM said that it has been working successfully with Novalia for over two years, providing printing expertise and a stable press platform within a secure facility, enabling Novalia to further develop its printed electronics technology.
Novalia had designed a demonstrator to illustrate true interactivity in print. The system offers a real crossmedia interface where human interaction with print communicates with the digital world and with the online world. In layman’s terms, the audience was presented with a box with circuits printed on it covered by a label. When the label is pressed, it activates the circuits and the device then communicates with an iPad, which plays an audio track. Both the circuits and the label were printed using Kodak’s Flexcel NX and Spotless technologies, which have been championed by Reproflex 3 and OPM Group.
Andrew Hewitson, R3, said, ‘For printed electronics, the NX plate ink delivery system helps with smooth even ink coverage. This has two benefits. First, it saves on the very expensive conductive inks, and secondly, even ink coverage equals excellent consistent conductivity. The necessary fine detail of the circuitry is also achieved due to the high resolution and square spot technology of the NX system.’
The entire project was printed on OPM’s Nilpeter FA-4 direct servo drive UV combination press and the label graphics were printed from four colour process plus matt and gloss varnish using Uvaflex Y77/71 LM UV flexo inks from Zeller+Gmelin with Kodak Flexcel NX 225 line screen plates.
Printed electronics with flexo opens up a whole host of new markets for converters, and brand owners are beginning to wake up to the many possibilities the technology offers. One visitor remarked, ‘Printed electronics have many applications, not just for packaging. The problem is how to bridge the gap between having the technology and convincing companies to invest in it, but I can see an exciting future in this market.’
Continued success
Within the space of just a few years, the Packaging Innovations brand has gone from strength to strength. As Anthony White, consultant director from Tech Media, said, ‘The show has filled a gap in the market between large NEC shows and small table top shows. It provides something for everyone from converters to suppliers and has a great vibrant atmosphere. The buzz at the show was really impressive and the show organisation superb.’
Paul Bates, Esko’s UK and Eire business manager, a regular exhibitor at the show, said, ‘We have been at every Packaging Innovations event since the first concept show and each time it is stronger. Importantly it attracts high level decision makers and enables us to interact with a different audience. We are meeting the customers’ customers, which from an evangelising point of view is worth its weight in gold.’
Matt Benyon, managing director at easyFairs UK, said, ‘There has been an incredible buzz around the show and, although this was just our third edition, it has already truly established itself as the place to meet all those involved in branding, design and inspirational packaging. We had a tremendous response from buyers, with packed aisles and stands throughout the show; which of course resulted in our very happy exhibitors rebooking their stands for next year – 74% to be precise.’
The next Packaging Innovations show takes place on February 27 and 28, 2013 at the NEC Birmingham. It is co-located with EcoPack, PackTech, Contract Pack and Print Innovations plus new for 2013, Labelling Innovations.
