Greg Hrinya, Editor06.05.23
FINAT successfully hosted its 63rd annual in-person conference in Vienna, Austria, from May 31-June 2. The event, which marked the seventh iteration of the European Label Forum, welcomed more than 300 attendees from across the globe, who gathered for education, networking, and a partner tabletop exhibit.
The tabletop exhibit featured a wide range of suppliers, from press manufacturers like Domino, Durst, Gallus, Mark Andy, Nilpeter, and Omet, to substrate suppliers like Avery Dennison, Fedrigoni, and UPM Raflatac, to finishing and converting machinery specialists such as ABG, Grafotronic, and Kocher+Beck. Representatives were on-hand from Label Traxx and Martin Automatic, as well.
The European Label Forum 2023 also honored Jules Lejeune, who has spent more than 25 years as the managing director of FINAT.
Industry experts tackled all the latest hot-button topics and trends impacting the label and package printing space. The supply chain, sustainability, and global economic uncertainty were top-of-mind for speakers.
“Change” was certainly one of the key mantras that connected all of the speakers. “In the coming years, and even this year, a lot of things will change,” explained Philippe Voet, president, FINAT. “Change is coming in at speeds we can’t even imagine.”
Voet cited a recent IBM study, which illustrated many of the challenges keeping CEOs across the globe up at night. For example, 51% of CEOs said sustainability will be the biggest challenge of the next 2-3 years, up from 32% in 2021. Regulations, cyber security, new technologies, and continued supply chain disruptions are other future concerns.
Meanwhile, Lejeune delivered an overview of the global label industry during the opening morning’s session. According to Lejeune, a total of 8.1 billion square meters of self-adhesive labelstock were consumed in Europe in 2022, with consumption being twice as high as what the industry saw in 2022. From a growth standpoint, Europe saw a 28% jump in filmic labelstock.
To illustrate label consumption, Lejeune noted that each EU citizen consumes up to 50 labels per week, which could be a conservative estimate.
There are numerous label drivers, both in Europe and across the globe. Changing consumer attitudes, environmental awareness, online shopping, and the use of smartphones have all impacted the industry. And as Voet commented, sustainability will continue to be at the forefront of innovation.
“Sustainability is a main driver for our industry,” noted Lejeune. “We see industry guidelines for recyclability, and industry programs are joining forces to fulfill compliance and act together in a proactive way.”
Converters agreed, although price will remain a consideration when moving to more sustainable materials. “We will produce in a new ecological and a sustainable way,” stated Isidore Leiser, CEO and owner, Stratus Packaging Group. “We have to adapt to new markets and products, delivering new solutions to our customers. We have to help our customers with that transition, which I find to be quite difficult. Customers are often only concerned with the short-term, which is price. Since the biggest concern is inflation, they want to produce products more cheaply.”
“Our employees too want our company to be more green, so we have to adapt to that,” added Leiser.
Corey Reardon, president and CEO, AWA Alexander Watson Associates, provided a 30,000 foot view of label manufacturing, citing the “economic headwinds and uncertainty facing our industry.”
“The European labeling market we see a lot of volatility for supply and demand across all labeling formats,” said Reardon. “Pressure sensitive labeling has seen more volatility than other formats. However, the good news is we see a slight upturn in the data in Q1 for pressure sensitive labeling.”
Many of the challenges trace back to the supply chain, specifically with destocking. “What we’re seeing in the market is not demand going negative, but production going negative primarily because of stocking levels throughout the value chain,” explained Reardon. “It’s a much more complex value chain, with more players than in other formats. Our expectation is we’ll see slight improvements coming out of Q2, and hopefully by Q124 we’ll see more supply and demand balance with more predictability moving forward in 2024.”
According to AWA’s data, 71% of converters say rising energy costs have negatively impacted their business, and 62% say sales have decreased because of clients’ inventory stockpiling. Meanwhile, 76% have seen a decrease in market demand.
There is good news for suppliers, though. The intent seems to be there from converters to invest in new technology to better position their businesses for the future.
“Investment in the industry is still relatively buoyant,” said Reardon. “We do see some investment pushed out to 2025, but there still is investment in the industry, which is a positive sign. The industry is poised to make investments in new technology where it’s necessary.”
“The good thing about investments is they’re always done,” added Jakob Landberg, sales director, Nilpeter. “And in bad times, people are investing to become more effective and less labor intensive. People invest to increase their capacity, so it’s my optimistic view that there are a lot of projects coming that will be covered by all the technologies we supply to the market.”
Technology will also play a big role in addressing the workforce challenge, remarked Landberg. “Throughout our customer base, there’s a desire for new blood who don’t want to get their fingers dirty,” he stated. “We want our industry to be seen as more sexy and automated. It’s hard to get skilled labor so we’re trying to robotize production, who can run our equipment by young people with a touchscreen who are used to that technology. So, we’re focused on development.”
The tabletop exhibit featured a wide range of suppliers, from press manufacturers like Domino, Durst, Gallus, Mark Andy, Nilpeter, and Omet, to substrate suppliers like Avery Dennison, Fedrigoni, and UPM Raflatac, to finishing and converting machinery specialists such as ABG, Grafotronic, and Kocher+Beck. Representatives were on-hand from Label Traxx and Martin Automatic, as well.
The European Label Forum 2023 also honored Jules Lejeune, who has spent more than 25 years as the managing director of FINAT.
Industry experts tackled all the latest hot-button topics and trends impacting the label and package printing space. The supply chain, sustainability, and global economic uncertainty were top-of-mind for speakers.
“Change” was certainly one of the key mantras that connected all of the speakers. “In the coming years, and even this year, a lot of things will change,” explained Philippe Voet, president, FINAT. “Change is coming in at speeds we can’t even imagine.”
Voet cited a recent IBM study, which illustrated many of the challenges keeping CEOs across the globe up at night. For example, 51% of CEOs said sustainability will be the biggest challenge of the next 2-3 years, up from 32% in 2021. Regulations, cyber security, new technologies, and continued supply chain disruptions are other future concerns.
Meanwhile, Lejeune delivered an overview of the global label industry during the opening morning’s session. According to Lejeune, a total of 8.1 billion square meters of self-adhesive labelstock were consumed in Europe in 2022, with consumption being twice as high as what the industry saw in 2022. From a growth standpoint, Europe saw a 28% jump in filmic labelstock.
To illustrate label consumption, Lejeune noted that each EU citizen consumes up to 50 labels per week, which could be a conservative estimate.
There are numerous label drivers, both in Europe and across the globe. Changing consumer attitudes, environmental awareness, online shopping, and the use of smartphones have all impacted the industry. And as Voet commented, sustainability will continue to be at the forefront of innovation.
“Sustainability is a main driver for our industry,” noted Lejeune. “We see industry guidelines for recyclability, and industry programs are joining forces to fulfill compliance and act together in a proactive way.”
Converters agreed, although price will remain a consideration when moving to more sustainable materials. “We will produce in a new ecological and a sustainable way,” stated Isidore Leiser, CEO and owner, Stratus Packaging Group. “We have to adapt to new markets and products, delivering new solutions to our customers. We have to help our customers with that transition, which I find to be quite difficult. Customers are often only concerned with the short-term, which is price. Since the biggest concern is inflation, they want to produce products more cheaply.”
“Our employees too want our company to be more green, so we have to adapt to that,” added Leiser.
Corey Reardon, president and CEO, AWA Alexander Watson Associates, provided a 30,000 foot view of label manufacturing, citing the “economic headwinds and uncertainty facing our industry.”
“The European labeling market we see a lot of volatility for supply and demand across all labeling formats,” said Reardon. “Pressure sensitive labeling has seen more volatility than other formats. However, the good news is we see a slight upturn in the data in Q1 for pressure sensitive labeling.”
Many of the challenges trace back to the supply chain, specifically with destocking. “What we’re seeing in the market is not demand going negative, but production going negative primarily because of stocking levels throughout the value chain,” explained Reardon. “It’s a much more complex value chain, with more players than in other formats. Our expectation is we’ll see slight improvements coming out of Q2, and hopefully by Q124 we’ll see more supply and demand balance with more predictability moving forward in 2024.”
According to AWA’s data, 71% of converters say rising energy costs have negatively impacted their business, and 62% say sales have decreased because of clients’ inventory stockpiling. Meanwhile, 76% have seen a decrease in market demand.
There is good news for suppliers, though. The intent seems to be there from converters to invest in new technology to better position their businesses for the future.
“Investment in the industry is still relatively buoyant,” said Reardon. “We do see some investment pushed out to 2025, but there still is investment in the industry, which is a positive sign. The industry is poised to make investments in new technology where it’s necessary.”
“The good thing about investments is they’re always done,” added Jakob Landberg, sales director, Nilpeter. “And in bad times, people are investing to become more effective and less labor intensive. People invest to increase their capacity, so it’s my optimistic view that there are a lot of projects coming that will be covered by all the technologies we supply to the market.”
Technology will also play a big role in addressing the workforce challenge, remarked Landberg. “Throughout our customer base, there’s a desire for new blood who don’t want to get their fingers dirty,” he stated. “We want our industry to be seen as more sexy and automated. It’s hard to get skilled labor so we’re trying to robotize production, who can run our equipment by young people with a touchscreen who are used to that technology. So, we’re focused on development.”