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“We Aim to Make Room for Change in the Packaging Industry”
On Wednesday morning, Heike Slotta, Executive Director Exhibitions, gave an interim assessment to the European trade press: the FACHPACK boss was delighted with the trade fair so far and impressed by the exhibitors’ innovations. She also looked ahead to the next FACHPACK year.
FACHPACK visitors can experience live what packaging can do and what efforts the packaging industry is making to meet the growing demands of politicians and consumers, said Heike Slotta, Executive Director Exhibitions, on Wednesday afternoon at an event with representatives of the trade press from Germany and abroad. In Nuremberg, she said, the industry was demonstrating its innovative strength and its transformation towards a changed, more sustainable packaging world. “We want to give space to this change,” said Slotta, explaining the guiding theme of ‘Transition in Packaging’, which will once again be the motto of next year's FACHPACK.
Slotta was very satisfied with the course of FACHPACK 2024 so far. 1,463 exhibitors are taking part this year in eleven exhibition halls. 47 percent of exhibitors come from abroad, the core of FACHPACK is in the European economic area. “Our TOP exhibitor countries after Germany are: Turkey, Italy, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Greece.”
A third of the exhibitors are represented in the technology halls, showing, for example, filling machines, labeling systems, or palletizing technology. 56 percent of exhibitors will be showing their products in the packaging and packaging materials area - covering all types of materials. These two areas are complemented by packaging printing and finishing as well as intralogistics, for example storage, conveying and sorting systems, and services for the packaging industry such as contract packaging.
Two Trade Fairs – One Admission Fee
“Visitors to FACHPACK come from industries that have a lot to pack. Be it industrial or consumer goods. In particular, the food and feed, pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetics, technical articles, medical technology, electronic devices, but also the automotive sector, and mechanical and equipment engineering.” Slotta added that ten percent of visitors now came from the automotive sector – something that only a few people were aware of.
It was also important to her that the mission statement was taken up in the forums as well. Because there, too, it became clear that people with a passion for their industry were coming together at FACHPACK, that "trade fairs are melting points for new ideas, that the future becomes tangible here."
Slotta also looked ahead to next year: FACHPACK 2025 will take place from September 23 to 25 in co-location with POWTECH TECHNOHPARM 2025. “Processing and packaging are coming together again. We know from 2022 that more than 35 percent of our visitors attended both events,” explained Slotta. The new Women4Packaging network is also to be continued next year, with more details still being worked out.
Expert: Global Trend towards Sustainability
Jenny Walther-Thoss, who has been Senior Consultant Sustainability at Berndt + Partner Consultants for four years and worked for the environmental organization WWF for several years, had previously explained the importance of the PPWR for European companies. Although packaging only accounted for less than three percent of a food's ecological footprint, companies should pay even more attention to sustainability than before. This was because the social view of packaging was different to the internal view. In addition, as the expert pointed out on the basis of current figures, countries such as China, India and Thailand were also making enormous efforts to use fewer materials. Reducing packaging was, therefore, a global trend.
