Packaging Matters - Get in the loop
This was the motto of the joint flexible packaging conference held by W&H together with the Polish flexible printer PDO. At the Sugar Factory of Znin, an art hotel in a beautiful industry building from last century, the conference looked into the future of flexible packaging.
The topic of sustainability being in the focus. With well-known experts from packaging associations like Natureef or Pack4Food as well as presenters with a suppliers´ point of view we looked into the relevance of packaging today, the challenges it faces and measures to be taken to be ready for the future.
Dr. Peter Ragaert (Pack4Food Association, Belgium) and Prof. Artur Bartkowiak (Natureef Association, Poland) gave an overview of sustainable products and their political dimensions.
Suppliers from the printing industry introduced their measures and solutions for sustainable production in printing.
The question of whether the packaging industry has reached the end of its life sparked a lively discussion among the panelists presenting the whole process chain. The different viewpoints on the subject looked at the big question from different angles, but in the end, despite different viewpoints, there was one common sense: the EU Green Deal for 2030 is a step in the right direction and even holds an economical opportunity for the polish market.
Windmöller & Hölscher finally added the machine builders´ point of view by giving the full perspective along the process chain from extrusion, printing to converting. As a system provider, we gave insights into producing sustainable printing substrates: film from recycled material or film that is recyclable. Followed by deep-dives into the challenges and solutions of printing efficiently on these sustainable materials.
On the second day, we put printing theory into practice. At the premises of PDO and on their MIRAFLEX II M 10 with downstream flexo unit the audience got a live demonstration of the latest technology in CI Flexo: Before answering questions from the audience our printing expert Stefan Brinkmeier and the operating team presented a job changeover and various features live on the running press.
We would like to thank all our guests and partners who attended this conference for Polish printers and members of the flexible packaging industry. We are delighted about the positive feedback we received and that participants were able to benefit from our event for their daily work. We ourselves enjoyed the many meetings and valuable discussions.
Impressions
