Interpack 2011 closes successfully

Attendees at Interpack2011 gather for a demonstration of a packing machine.

Interpack 2011 closed as one of the most successful events in the 53-year history of the international trade fair for the packaging sector and related processing industries. This was the unanimous sentiment among the 2,700 exhibitors from 60 nations presenting their products in all 19 fully booked halls at the fairgrounds in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Exhibitors at interpack 2011 reported very good meetings with high-caliber visitors. Many of the attendees came with specific orders and exhibitors expect an extremely lucrative post-show business. Among the visitors were a particularly large number of international decision makers from the top management.

“At our stand, there was huge interest in our products. We generated 30 percent more contacts than at interpack 2008, including members from the top management, brand manufacturers and many potential new customers,” said Christian Traumann, president of interpack 2011 and managing director of exhibitor Multivac Sepp Haggenmüller. “We heard the same from numerous other exhibitors. Iterpack has confirmed the stability of the positive economic trends.”

The results of the visitor survey confirmed the impressions of the exhibitors. Particularly remarkable is the further significant increase in the proportion of decision makers compared to interpack 2008. Almost three quarters of the trade visitors were from the management level.

Interpack’s internationality underlined its status as the world’s most important trade fair for

Attendees were able to tour packing machinery at the show.

this sector. Over 100,000 (or 60 percent) of the 166,000 trade visitors travelled to interpack from countries outside of Germany. Sustainability, safety and convenience were the major topics in the exhibition halls.

“Interpack is indisputably the most important exhibition for the packaging industry – all the major companies from Europe, Asia and the U.S. are here,” said Ishida, Paul Griffin, marketing director. “We simply cannot afford not to exhibit at this show.”

Due to the Eurovision Song Contest, there was a shift in the pattern of visits. Many attendees visited interpack 2011 after the song contest ended on May 14 in a venue close to the fairgrounds.

A special highlight at interpack 2011 was the U.S. Pavilion, organized by Messe Düsseldorf North America. A total of 33 exhibitors showcased their latest technologies, and overall, 98 U.S. exhibitors took part in the trade fair.

The premiere of the SAVE FOOD campaign, which demonstrated how each stage in the packaging value chain can help in the worldwide fight against wasting of food, was organized by Messe Düsseldorf in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. Over 300 participants from all over the world, ranging from producers and the packaging industry to retailers and politicians as well as society and non-government organizations, took part in this congress. Speakers such as Ilse Aigner (Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection), Prof. Klaus Töpfer (former Executive Director of the UN Environment Program and Chairman of the Ethics Committee for Atomic Energy recently set up by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel) and Shraddha Shridhar Jadhav (Mayor of Mumbai), highlighted the problem of global food loss from various points of view.

The SaveFood campaign demonstrated how packing can help the fight the global wasting of food.

“The success of the SAVE FOOD initiative shows that we at Messe Düsseldorf have placed our international packaging expertise in a context enabling areas outside the packaging industry to benefit,” said Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, president and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. “We have set off a highly promising dialogue on one of the most important issues of our time. We shall continue to pursue the topic in cooperation with the FAO.”

The special themes INNOVATIONPARC PACKAGING and METAL PACKAGING PLAZA during interpack 2011 were also extremely popular. In five different shops on the themes of Health, Meaning, Aesthetics, Simplicity and Identity, INNOVATIONPARC PACKAGING brought together companies from across the value chain with the motto of “Quality of Life.” Developed specifically for the special show, best practices and visions for the future were presented by these stores. According to the participating companies and visitors, this concept created a unique forum for constructive talks and creative ideas.

The special theme METAL PACKAGING PLAZA, newly introduced at interpack 2011, was also devoted to dialogue and information. Numerous presentations were held in the central lecture forum, while suppliers and potential customers met in the lounge to discuss metal packaging. The METAL PACKAGING PLAZA thus became a central meeting place for anything relating to metal packaging, much to the satisfaction of the participating associations for metal packages, VMV and Empac.

“As always, the trade fair was perfectly organized. In our view, the quality of visitors was even better by far than in previous years,” said Theegarten-PACTEC, Markus Rustler, managing director. “We are extremely satisfied in that respect. We have definitely reached the groups we were targeting, made new contacts and reconnected with existing ones – we’re therefore one-hundred percent happy. You can count on us coming back in 2014!”

The next staging of interpack will take place in 2014 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Exact dates will be announced at a later date.