The debut of the combined trade fairs IPAP Printing & Packaging Expo – powered by drupa and pacprocess Tehran, as part of the interpack alliance, has markedly exceeded both exhibitors’ and visitors’ expectations and also prompted satisfied faces among the organisers Messe Düsseldorf and Barsaz Rooydad Pars Company (BRP). Some 7,500 experts were attracted to Iran’s most state-of-the-art exhibition centre Shahr-e-Aftab (Exhibiran International) from 12 to 15 October, where 167 exhibitors from 11 countries presented their products and services. The ranges included exhibits from the entire value chain of the packaging industry and related process industries (pacprocess) as well as printing technologies from the areas of Prepress/Print, Premedia/Multichannel, Postpress, Converting and Packaging, Materials, Equipment, Services and Infrastructure (IPAP). The trade fairs occupied 14,575 square metres of total exhibition space.
Exhibitors included national companies such as Vana Press, Shargh Sanat and Kooshesh Karan Machinery as well as international enterprises like Canon Middle East, Di Mauro, and Project Engineering. Commenting on this Hamed Irani, Director BRP, said: “The importance of the print and packaging industries cannot be rated high enough. They lay the foundation for the competitiveness of a wide variety of products and are closely tied to rising export revenue. The trade fair concept of pacprocess Tehran and IPAP went down very well and has created the pre-requisites for a positive development in these key industries.”
The debut of IPAP was so successful. This way we have created a sound basis for the trade fair allowing it to grow and gain in international appeal,” says Sabine Geldermann, Global Head of Printing Technologies at Messe Düsseldorf.
Pacprocess Tehran, which is part of the interpack alliance, was supported by several international associations including the Italian Machinery Manufacturers’ Association UCIMA, the cooperation partner for several interpack alliance trade fairs and exhibitors in Tehran.
“The first edition of pacprocess Tehran has laid the foundation for further successful trade fairs. The quality and quantity of visitors exceeded our expectations. The same also applies to the number of exhibitors and quality of organization. The meeting with local enterprises confirmed the avid interest in technology made in Italy, which will therefore also be on show at pacprocess Tehran next year,” commented Gian Paolo Crasta, Marketing & Communication Manager at UCIMA. Italian exhibitors this year included technology suppliers such as the Cama Group and Pieri.
Pacprocess was accompanied by a two-day innovationparc Forum programme, which was received well. The first day ardesse themes related to the specifici ties of the Iranian market while the second day was al about the SAVE FOOD Initiative. VDMA’s Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association acrively contributed to the programme with content. This offering was complemented by very well-attended “Island talks” delivered by some exhibitors on specific technology themes.
The involved associations not only gave good feedback on pacprocess Tehran but exhibitors also rated their participation as very positive.
A well educated, relatively young population of over 80 million people increasingly calls for high-quality packaged products that it is not possible to produce to a competitive standard using local companies’ existing, obsolete technology. This puts great pressure on local producers to invest. This means big opportunities especially for European investors and partners as these are highly appreciated by Iranians.
The coming edition of IPAP and pacprocess Tehran is scheduled for early October 2018 on the trade fair calendar.
Daniele Toni