Packaging
Grafitalia and Gulf Print: a positive report from Gasperini
Monday 15. June 2009 - In January we already anticipated some of our aims for year 2009. Everybody knows how hard the current economic situation is, beyond the media trumpeting (most of times incompetent and morbid) which seems to "self-feed", above the "real" line, this period of crisis. Nevertheless, we confirmed our presence at the two most important print shows of 2009: Grafitalia and Gulf Print.
With reference to our personal point of view on the market, Grafitalia 2009 (this time grouped with Converflex, Plast and Ipack-Ima) was predicted to be the most unsuccessful…. but we were wrong. In fact, both in regard to numbers of visitors (more than the latest 2006 show) and average quality of our leads (from Europe and Middle-East), this expo was far better than our expectations. Unfortunately we still have to underline (like 3 years ago) the unbelievable disorganization of the road network all around the new exhibition centre in Rho, whereas buildings and parking were good.
Here is a summary of our 5-days experience. Similarly to Drupa, visitors had often a specific and targeted interest. Customers were increasingly looking for personalized products, special finishing, high value-added projects. We are noticing – with our satisfaction – that only in recent times people are looking for ideas that we started developing more than 10 years ago!
In other words, we are talking about new applications for thermography, die stamping / intaglio, micro-textured foiling and multilevel / artistic emboss. Fashion hang tags, book covers, certificates, anti-counterfeiting projects, packaging, labels, publishing…. In each specific field it is possible to develop something new and creative. The ones who will be able to take the chance now, will definitely get a competitive edge.
During the show, we received many visits both of new customers (we are already working with some of them) who appreciated the quality and beauty of our displayed samples, and also of our established customers, who congratulated on the high technical level of our dies, including the magnesium ones.
Finally, we would like to mention Centrexpo and the Italian Foreign Trade Institute (ICE), which worked to ensure a good presence of delegations from several countries outside Europe. Unfortunately, we noted that the average interest of visitors invited by ICE (all of them had full stay expenses paid by the organization) proved to be quite “ephemeral”. Many people probably rendered this occasion as a tourist trip, more than a business mission. However, beyond the official Grafitalia numbers (the empty spaces left at the eleventh hour by the exhibitors were clearly visible), the assessment is unexpectedly positive and – we hope – encouraging for the future.
The trend noted in Grafitalia has been further confirmed a week later at Gulf Print & Gulf Pack. In a smaller but definitely growing (and “hungry” for new technologies) market, such as the Middle East one, our success has been simply exciting. Quality, creativity, competence, curiosity, trial and error: Emirates are every bit as good as the “Western World”!
Multilevel emboss, micro-texture and, in the main, everything allows to stand above standard offset (or digital printing) has been very much appreciated. We are in touch with interesting contacts, and we are now developing a synergy partnership with some of them, in order to promote our special finishing technologies in the Gulf area.
Finally, considering our experience in Milan and Dubai, we would like to send an optimistic message for the near future. The “on demand” print finishing field is in countertrend, if related to the current stagnation and recession period. Once more, we would like to underline the relevance of the high value-added achievable with our techniques… Nowadays, the earning power of standard print is dramatically decreasing.