Last week the first-ever Labelexpo Mexico took place at the World Trade Center, Mexico City, and the energy on the show floor was palpable. Crowded booths and show floor aisles brought excitement interest, affirming the health and strong growth trajectory of the Mexican label market.

Several well-known North America and Europe-based suppliers exhibited at Labelexpo Mexico, in addition to a plethora of Chinese exhibitors specializing in everything from labelstock, presses, finishing equipment and prepress.

As a first-ever show, Labelexpo Mexico exhibitors reported being extremely pleased with booth traffic and lead generation. Press and equipment demonstrations took place throughout the event, and some suppliers even marked the occasion with new product launches.

Notably – and a departure from the most recent Labelexpo Americas – flexo label presses were on displayed and demoed, in addition to a host of digital machinery.

Gary Peterson, senior account manager, Variable Data Solutions, Domino, noted the enthusiasm for flexo within the Mexican label market, a region Domino has had great success installing its k600i variable data printer. “With the booming tequila and agriculture markets, flexo is thriving. These are long run sectors that also require variable data. For example, tax stamps must be placed on every bottle of tequila produced in Mexico – for both imports and exports. In the berry industry, every clamshell label must be affixed with unique codes.

“Agriculture has always been big in Mexico, but with the state of the supply chain, all of the labels and packaging is now being done domestically. The Domino k600i is a perfect fit for these applications, so it’s been a very strong market for us,” Peterso said.

Products launched and showcased at Labelexpo Mexico
AstroNova, with its brands QuickLabel, TrojanLabel and GetLabels, released a new addition to its line-up at Labelexpo Mexico. QuickLabel showcased the newly released QL-E100, an introductory, compact and portable color-label printer. Featuring a touchscreen interface, the QL-E100 is user-friendly and produces high-quality, professional results. Additionally, QuickLabel is also showing the QL-120X, which includes a two-year warranty, and the QL-300, the first-ever 5-color label printer (CMYK+W). TrojanLabel is exhibiting the T2-C, the first-ever high-capacity label press with a footprint compact enough for a table-top, which can run consistent, high-volume, 24/7 production.

Kocher+Beck presented at the show its new GapMaster EM, in addition to displaying its magnetic diecutting technology including cylinders and flexible dies. This new GapMaster EM is reverse compatible with any previously installed model of K+B GapMaster. The mechanical adjustment handle is replaced with the EM retrofit gearbox providing digital technology with maximum precision.  The adjustment step ranges from 0.25µm to 10µm.

GM (Grafisk Maskinfabrik) unveiled its DC330Mini compact finishing machine. The DC330Mini demonstrates flexibility and high productivity with onboard UV flexo varnish, lamination, cold foil, diecutting, slitting, and dual rewinding capabilities. Taking up just 2.7 meters (8.8 feet) in length due to the short web path, it features servo-driven tension control and offers excellent registration. It is also suitable for running in line with a digital press or GM’s own hot foil and screen embellishment units.

Uffe Nielsen, CEO of GM, said, ‘We already have a strong customer base in Mexico, Central and South America, so it’s only natural that we’ll be part of the line-up at the first Labelexpo trade show in this part of the world. Latam is one of our fastest-growing markets, so we wouldn’t want to miss out on such a great opportunity to further highlight our established presence here, connect with our partners, and of course, show our finishing innovations to even more potential customers.

Mark Andy demonstrated its Digital Pro 3 flexo/toner hybrid machine that is aimed at label converters moving into digital label production for the first time, and those that are looking for additional or replacement capacity for their legacy presses. DPro 3 is an ideal entry-level to mid-market system that offers a low cost to print ratio from its compact footprint. The digital toner engine offers CMYK printing at 1,200 DPI and can be complemented by a flexo unit before and after digital print to allow, for example, a flexo white to be laid down followed by a flexo spot color, or cold foil, or lamination.

DPro 3 has the option of full- or semi-rotary die-cutting and can be fitted with a sheeter stacker and a crush knife assembly for slitting. Capable of 77ft/min (23.4m/min) and with no click charge, the press has an efficient inbuilt UV LED lamp and has no clean-room requirements. Easy to operate with the RIP accepting all existing PDFs at the click of a button, DPro 3 handles PS stocks, BOPP, PET, and PP with equal ease.

Mactac promoted its ranges of pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) materials. The company offers a wide array of roll-to-roll PSA-coated papers and films in various weights and thicknesses, textures, colors and opacity levels and conformability/rigidity ranges. Its products can be found in hundreds of industries and applications, such as durable goods labeling, product identification, barcoding and instruction labeling, security and safety labeling, health and beauty products, food and beverage labeling, and more.

Grafotronic featured at Labelexpo Mexico its DCL2 and boon-Raptor machine. The DCL2 is a fully modular machine for finishing pre-printed labels. Each module has its own tension control and is therefore 100 percent independent. Each module is easily retrofittable onsite at any time. The DCL2 is not only extremely versatile – it also offers maximum productivity and the broadest options in widths, from 350mm to 670mm wide, and speed up to 200m/min in full rotary mode or 150m/min with new semi-rotary die-cutting module – The One. The boon-Raptor is a high-speed (up to 300 sheets/min) roll-to-sheet machine for self-adhesive material and film. It is a precision sheeter able to work in-line or off-line as a stand-alone system.

As the show wrapped up, exhibitors and attendees alike celebrated a successful inaugural Labelexpo Mexico, and are already looking forward to the next one. Vibrant Mexico City has proven to be an ideal setting for the industry’s premier event series.