Labelexpo Europe 2023 showcases vibrant industry
The first edition of Labelexpo Europe since 2019 has closed on a high note, with a total of 637 exhibitors taking part in the show, which took place between 11-14 September at Brussels Expo in Belgium. Spread across nine halls and covering 36,588 sqm of floor place, this year’s show featured over 250 product launches focused particularly on flexible packaging, digitisation and automation. The show was attended by 35,889 visitors from 138 countries. Countries such as Germany, France and Italy were especially well represented, with large visitor delegations.
Equipment manufacturers announced multiple sales across the four days and an exhibitor rebook rate of 96% was reported for Labelexpo Europe 2025.
Demonstrating how Labelexpo Europe is evolving into a package printing show, digital printing of paper-based flexible packaging materials was evident on the show floor, with paper-based packaging printed by Xeikon on the new TX-500 Titon toner press and Screen on the Truepress Pac520P – seen for the first time at a Labelexpo.
To mention just a few further exhibits:
HP launched the 200k mid-web digital press, successor to the hugely successful HP Indigo 20000. The company also ran a ‘digital pouch factory’ ecosystem demonstrating pouch manufacture and finishing of other unsupported films including shrink sleeve labels.
Flexo made a major comeback at this show, with Nilpeter, Lombardi and Bobst demonstrating printing of flexible packaging and unsupported label film materials on 26in/670mm mid-web UV flexo press lines on the show floor. Omet made the show debut of its KFlex modular flexo platform and Mark Andy launched the Pro Series flexo press, upgradable to a hybrid machine.
Other major show features for Labelexpo Europe 2023 included the Automation Arena which drew in large crowds to every one of its ten live demonstrations. Visitors witnessed a fully automated workflow from file creation to turret rewind with automated inspection and MIS integration, without any manual intervention. The participants included Cerm, Esko, Xeikon, Kurz, Grafotronic and Fedrigoni Self-Adhesive.
Another key show feature was the Flex Pack Trail, where visitors could deep dive into digital and conventional press technologies, flex pack material constructions, coating, laminating, ink and curing requirements, in-line and near-line decoration options, QC and migration testing.
Also well received was Flexo’s Future – ECG, a series of presentations on Expanded Color Gamut (ECG) printing led by Dr Kai Lankinen. This was supported by guided tours across the showfloor.
A joint presentation by Graphimecc and Avery Dennison on setting up a track and trace operation was also well attended.
Two expert-led Label Academy-hosted master classes covered the hot topics of flexible packaging and sustainable labels.
