Companies specialising in packaging and label applications have reported a successful PacPrint13, with many sporting “Sold” stickers on the equipment on their stands even before the show closed on Saturday.
Organisers and participants in the show, which ran over five days in Melbourne last week, also reported visitor numbers had exceeded their expectations, despite being down compared to numbers at the previous PacPrint event in 2009.
At the close of PacPrint13, organisers reported a respectable 13,427 visitors had made the trip to the show, slightly lower than the overall tally from the previous edition.
They pointed, however, to a high proportion of decision makers making up the numbers. Research during the show indicated 17 per cent of visitors identified themselves as CEO or MD of their company, another 17 per cent as business owners or partner and a further 14 per cent as being in management positions – making just under a half of all visitors to the show key decision makers.
“PacPrint13 has provided a positive and optimistic ‘shot in the arm’ for the industry in a time of unprecedented transition,” PacPrint13 chairman, Ian Martin, said.
“There has been a constant buzz around the stands, not only generated by good numbers of visitors, but by the genuine interest and expectation shown by those people in what PacPrint exhibitors had to offer.”
The positive vibe was echoed by exhibitors from the packaging sector interviewed at the event by PKN.
Napier, New Zealand, UV flexographic label and packaging printing specialist, Printstock, for example, said it had been pleased with inquiries at its stand.
“We have had lots of inquiries, we are getting about 50 per cent hit rates here,” managing director Graham Eagle told PKN.
He said the show was proving a platform for the company to build up its business in Australia.
Venus Packaging, a Melbourne-based specialist in shrink wrapping and palletising equipment, said it benefited by standing out from its more print-focused competitors.
“Here, we are like an oasis. People get fatigued by the large numbers of printing machines at the show, and feel refreshed and interested to see shrink wrapping and palletising equipment on our stand. It's sure helped as raise our profile,” Venus marketing manager, Wayne Shearer, said.
Business was also brisk on the showfloor itself, with a number of leading companies recording major sales from their stands.
Aldus Engineering and Esko Graphics, for example, proudly displayed sold signs on some of their showcase exhibition floor machines.
Jet Technologies, for its part, said it had scored a major sale of its PlateRite FX870 MkII flexographic press, developed in partnership with Screen, at PacPrint.
Thebarton, South Australia, company Signature Labels ordered the PlateRite machine on the penultimate day of the show.
Jet's technical account manager Wes Scott said Signature had conducted plate trials on the technology before the show, culminating in a vote of confidence by the placing of the order at PacPrint.
Jet Technologies director Jack Malki said the sale, on top of the installation of the company's show machine with a Sydney-based printer immediately after PacPrint, had demonstrated the value of its partnership with Screen.
“It has been a good PacPrint for us on a range of products but to take another order is the icing on the cake,” he said.
