ETI Converting celebrated the grand opening of its new European headquarters in Getaria, Spain, on May 14, 2024. The event marked a significant milestone in the company’s global expansion and commitment to serving the European market.

The schedule brought together a distinguished group of guests, including suppliers, collaborators, existing clients, and potential customers eager to get a first-hand look at ETI’s latest technology. The program started with a presentation by Maxime Bayzelon, president of ETI Converting, who provided an overview of the company’s history and the strategic vision behind the European expansion. This was followed by a speech from Jokin Iruretagoiena, GM for Europe, and Szymon Ignarski, business development manager for Europe, who outlined ETI’s solutions and the possibilities unlocked by in-house coating capabilities.

“The grand opening of our European headquarters in Getaria marks another pivotal moment in ETI Converting’s global growth strategy,” said Bayzelon. “This state-of-the-art facility strengthens our commitment to providing exceptional service and support to our European customers. By fostering closer collaboration and streamlining operations, we are confident that this expansion will empower us to deliver even greater value and innovation to the European label printing market.”

Plus, drupa, the world’s largest printing exhibition, returned to Messe Düsseldorf in Germany amid much anticipation after an eight-year absence.

Taking place on May 28 to June 7, the 11-day show received 170,000 visitors from 174 countries, according to the organizers, while 1,643 exhibitors from 52 nations showcased their products and technology. International visitors made up 80% of attendees – a record figure. After Europe, Asia was the most strongly represented region with 22% of visitors, followed by America with 12%. More than 50% of attendees came from the printing industry, while the packaging sector was the second-most represented with a share that “increased significantly.”

Visitor numbers were down from 260,000 at the last show in 2016, a fall of almost 35%. The number of exhibitors fell by just over 10%, from 1,828. (The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.)

There are plenty of mitigating circumstances behind the decline in these numbers, of course – not least inflation and industry consolidation. B2B events in general are yet to return to pre-pandemic numbers.

But visitor numbers have always been a crude metric by which to judge the success of a tradeshow – as any exhibitor will tell you, quality matters more than quantity. Despite the fall in visitors, exhibitors spoken to by your correspondent – who attended the first four days of the show while working with Danish film company Inkish TV – were universally positive in their feedback, frequently citing both the wide geographic spread of attendees and the high level of decision-makers.

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