This year, the 25th anniversary of Labelexpo, will see the biggest ever Labelexpo show to be held in Brussels - albeit a very different show to the very first event when the show was launched in London in 1980.

In the early 1980’s, the whole focus of the expo was related to the emerging and fast-growing self-adhesive label market. A market at that time was no more than 18% of total European label usage, with wet-glue applied labels very much the dominant technology.

Today, labels is dominated by self-adhesives - and label technologies such as sleeving, shrink, and wraparound film, which are growing at up to 20% or more per annum.

With these changes, Labelexpo has now become a key event that showcases all the growth label technologies - self-adhesives, in-mould, cut-and-stack film, wrap-around film, shrink, sleeving - as well as many related product decoration solutions such as stand-up pouches, cartons and unsupported film converting.

Reflecting this changing world of labels, press manufacturers are now showing converting lines with a greater variety, more specialised, incorporating advanced tension and temperature controls,multiple printing processes and evermore inline finishing options. What’s more, new label presses on the show will for the first time probably be largely servo-driven machines.
It’s not just conventional printing by flexo and UV flexo letterpress or screen that is on show but also digital label presses - perhaps 10% of all new label press installations are digital. Besides, there are digital pre-press solutions that were not even a reality in the early 1980’s.

Probably the major new area of interest at Labelexpo Europe will be a key focus on the manufacturing and use of RFID smart labels - with a special Smart Labels Pavilion and a Smart Labels Seminar Day on the 23rd September, focusing on a ‘How to’ approach, and highlighting the opportunities in a market anticipated to grow to over 1,000 billion tags by 2015.

With some 450 exhibitors and an anticipated 23,000 visitors coming it, the Brussels show is a totally global event for virtually everything to do with labels.
For further details visit www.labelexpo-europe.com