Labelexpo Americas, which took place September 10-12 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, USA, just outside of Chicago, was hailed as a success by show organizers. The tradeshow covered five halls and more than 185,000-square-feet of floor space. A total of 12,215 visitors, arriving from 73 countries, attended the three-day show.

The 18th edition of Labelexpo Americas also featured a wide range of educational sessions, designed to promote the last trends in the label and package printing industry.

To learn more about the event, L&NW caught up with Tasha Ventimiglia, Labelexpo Americas group director.

L&NW: What were your impressions of Labelexpo Americas 2024?
TV: We were thrilled with Labelexpo Americas 2024. We were proud of the amount of equipment that was running and on display this year, and all of our new feature areas that were highlighted on the floor – in particular the Flexpack @ Labelexpo feature and our RFID Experience. We are happy to report that we have rebooked over 83% of our space into Labelexpo Americas 2026, which is a great indication that the event was a success with our customers. 

We had a third-party research group conduct a post-show survey, and over 90% of attendees reported that they were very satisfied with the event this year. This score surpasses all benchmarks.  We want to thank all our exhibitors who committed to Labelexpo Americas this year and brought such a wide range of equipment to the event and, of course, a big thank you to everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend Labelexpo Americas. We know that it was an extremely busy year for everyone and for that we thank you. 

L&NW: How did this show differ from the one in 2022?
TV: We had so many new additions to this year’s event, including our networking keynote luncheon and breakfast session. Our Innovation Stage onsite was a huge success, the dedicated Flexpack @ Labelexpo brought brand new equipment to our show, and so did the RFID Experience. These features were all brand new to the show this year. We also were happy to see that Mark Andy, Nilpeter, and ETI all contributed to bringing flexo equipment back to Labelexpo Americas. Not only did they commit to bringing this to Labelexpo, but they all had extremely successful events.

L&NW: What feedback did you receive for your educational content and various zones?
TV: We had great feedback on our educational content at Labelexpo Americas this year. Almost half of our attendees surveyed mentioned that one of the reasons they come to Labelexpo is to increase their industry knowledge and attend educational sessions.

We had a wider range of education available this year than we ever had in the past. Our RFID workshop sold out weeks before the event, and we had to add additional spots to fill the need. The Innovation Stage was new this year and offered suppliers the opportunity to discuss their latest products. We continue to value our partnership with TLMI, who continues to bring the latest content by key companies and players in the label and packaging environment.
 
L&NW: What impact do you believe conflicting shows like PRINTING United and SuperCorr had on attendance?
TV: While having multiple events over the same dates is certainly not ideal, we did not see big impacts on the attendance at Labelexpo Americas due to this. This year, we welcomed more converters and almost double the number of brand owners and designers than previous editions, who came to see this technology in action. These new innovations, collaborations, and machinery are why more than three-quarters of attendees count Labelexpo Americas as an important industry event to attend.

Multiple events did make it difficult for suppliers to be in two places at once. We are continuing our pattern of having Labelexpo America on the second week of September – as we have done in the past – and we are not aware of any other events over the same dates as Labelexpo in 2026.

L&NW: What technologies did you see the most interest in on the show floor?
TV: Highlights were wider web flexographic equipment, hybrid and digital equipment and the new flexible packaging equipment. Martin Automatic, Lemu, ETI, and Lundberg had an amazing setup at Labelexpo this year, which was a great interest – they showcased printing a finished label from a blank web and had it palletized by a robot ready for delivery. This was done by linking four stands together, and it was a real commercial job. It was pretty remarkable what they achieved onsite.