On the evening before the show started, the organizing team of Labelexpo announced a change to the show’s name, now known as Loupe, in recognition of the changes in the market. Trends that have been apparent for the past decade have compelled board and flexible packaging converters to consider narrow and mid-web flexo and digital presses as alternatives to their conventional offset, CI flexo, and gravure technology machines.
The trends of short-run and hybrid decoration of packaging across various substrates have created an opportunity for many former narrow web flexo press manufacturers, who have been at the heart of this unique set of exhibitions across continents and have now embraced wider, digital, hybrid, and automated machines. In addition, regional changes in economic and packaging growth have put this legacy show in a unique position of having multiple label and packaging events in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, where a significant number of vendors participate in more than one show.
The Barcelona Fira is a larger and more modern facility than Brussels, and although the ground staff is new, the organizing team is very visible. Press conference and new press announcements on the morning of the first day included new press announcements by Durst and Gallus, which, while being demonstrated on their stands, are a quarter or two away from first shipments.
From a first look around the show and initial meetings, it seems the excitement at Labelexpo Europe is clearly on the digital side. In Hall 3, I have traversed the length so far, and it is clear that the biggest crowds are at digital stands such as Durst and Epson. Well-known Indian and Asian flexible, board, and label converters are visible at the show, and the first sales to our market have been announced, including Domino India selling its first N730i 1200 dpi digital label press to an unnamed in-mold label converter from Western India already using Domino’s monochrome inkjet press. The installation is to take place in December.
Durst’s new Tau G3 platform delivers 1200 x 1200 dpi native resolution, while the Tau G3 Core reaches 61 meters a minute, and the Tau G3 Peak achieves 80 meters a minute and can optionally be expanded to 100 meters a minute depending on configuration. Print widths range from 244 mm to 510 mm, and for color flexibility, the Tau G3 supports CMYK plus extended gamut options – Orange, Violet, Green, and White – available with both UV and LED curing. Combined with compatibility for substrates from paper to films and aluminum foils within a 20 to 500 µm thickness range, implies interesting application diversity across labels and flexible packaging.
At the morning press conference on the Gallus stand at Labelexpo, Dario Urbanetti spoke about the company’s modular concept that gives it the ability to configure and integrate technologies from its approximately twenty partners. Two new presses were announced, firstly, the Gallus Five, a high-performance hybrid press, integrating digital flexibility with industrial-level productivity that is available for order but will be delivered in six months. It was shown on the stand with a Kurz inline foiler. The second new machine is the Gallus Alpha, a compact digital-only press for entrants into digital label production. The Alpha is also available to order and configure, with delivery anticipated in a three-month timeframe.
