Larger and more representative of the entire packaging value chain, also including process and logistics, and with effective responses to the challenge of sustainability. That's what it will be like hispack 2024, which will take place from May 7 to 10 at the Gran Via venue of Fira de Barcelona and which already has the confirmed participation of the leading companies in the Spanish packaging industry. At the same time, the Barcelona show has launched several actions to increase its national and international draw power.
Organized by Fira de Barcelona In collaboration with Graphispack Association, Hispack plans to bring together more than 720 exhibitors and 1.250 brands represented in pavilions 2 and 3 of the Gran Via exhibition center. With half a year left until its celebration, the fair has already contracted nearly 25.000m2 net, that is, 80% of the planned commercial area, and the confirmed participation of almost 500 companies.
So far, 71% of the signatures from the last edition, held in 2022, are repeated, and a hundred new companies from the materials, premium packaging, automation and robotics segments have joined the list of exhibitors. Likewise, companies from 20 countries are counted. In addition to Spain, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France and Portugal are the countries that contribute the most exhibitors for now.
El president of the organizing committee of Hispack 2024, Jordi Bernabeu, ensures: "The show faces next year's edition with very good expectations and a wide and well-sectored offer. We will be the only packaging fair at European level in the first half of 2024, an opportunity to internationally project the innovation of Spanish packaging solutions providers and to massively attract national demand.”
Five sectors
As in 2022, Hispack will structure its commercial offer around five sectors: Packaging Machinery & Process with machinery, equipment and technology for the manufacturing of containers and packaging, as well as product packaging processes and operations; Labeling & Bottling with machinery and equipment for bottling, labeling, coding and marking; Logistics, Automation & Robotics, with intralogistics, handling, storage, distribution and transportation equipment, as well as industrial automation systems; Industrial Packaging, with solutions and materials for secondary or tertiary packaging of industrial products; and Brand Packaging, with materials, containers, cases, closures, formats, designs, POS and premium pack so that brands can differentiate themselves at the point of sale and optimize the experience of using their products.
The director of Hispack, Xavier Pascual, highlights the good response and broad sectoral support that translates into “a high representativeness and quality of the offer at the leading fair in the Iberian packaging market, which a priori is a guarantee to attract a greater number of visitors with decision-making power and purchase prescription of different industrial sectors that use packaging solutions, in addition to large distribution and retail.”
More visitors
Hispack has set itself the challenge of exceeding 27.000 visitors and has already launched different actions to connect with final packaging brands and industrial SMEs from all the Autonomous Communities, as well as with international professionals with projects to purchase packaging solutions so that they know the offer from Spanish suppliers. In this sense, Hispack plans to grow 10% in the number of national visitors and 12% in international visitors.
To this end, Hispack is carrying out work to identify the 100 large companies that consume packaging elements in each Autonomous Community to invite them to the event in a personalized way, facilitating their visit with travel discounts, other incentives and services such as the creation of agendas. of tailored meetings. Likewise, Hispack maintains collaboration agreements with different associations linked to demand sectors (food, beverages, cosmetics, drugstores, chemicals, automotive, construction, retail, etc.) to connect with professionals from companies in these specialties, mainly with a linked technical profile. to production.
New internationalization plan
On the international front, Hispack once again joins forces with Amec to carry out its invitation program for international buyers and prescribers, focusing on Morocco, Tunisia, Poland and Mexico, four markets of interest for Spanish exports of machinery and packaging materials. and packaging. In addition, the campaign will be launched “Why Spanish Solutions” to promote the competitive advantages of Spanish packaging machinery and the Hispack show as the best showcase to discover them. All this, taking advantage of the assets, contacts and experience of previous editions through the Fira de Barcelona and Amec delegations abroad.
As a novelty, Hispack will present Japan as an opportunity market for Spanish packaging, activating avenues of industrial cooperation between supply and demand companies from both countries, and generating knowledge about innovation and trends. At the same time, the international professional's visiting experience will be significantly improved, since the show aims to create a specific content agenda for them.
Sustainability drives packaging
In the activities section, Hispack will have the knowledge space “Unboxingwhose presentations will focus on sustainability, as a monographic topic that covers the entire packaging life cycle. We will talk about materials, designs, strategies, innovation and the sustainability of packaging applied in final industries. Related to this last point, the call for applications has already been opened “Best in class” program which will recognize several client companies of Hispack exhibitors as examples of good practices in the incorporation of packaging solutions with a high innovative and transformative impact on their products and processes. There will also be other conferences and activities organized by associations such as Aerce, the Packaging Cluster or the Beauty Cluster. Another notable initiative will be the themed itineraries available to visitors to make visible and explain first-hand the innovation presented by exhibitors at the fair. The interested public can register for the guided tours within established schedules or take the route on their own using a map that will identify the essential stops.
At the same time, the Barcelona show is also working on the organization of the “Engineer Day” with the aim of attracting technical engineering profiles linked to the production, operations and R&D areas of different industrial sectors that use packaging. For this group, Hispack will organize a specific program of activities that will take place on May 8. That same day, Packaging Night will be held, a sector networking event that plans to bring together more than a thousand people. Previously, the Liderpack 2023 Awards will be presented, the most important Packaging and POS awards in Spain.
Finally, Hispack will update the study on the packaging industry in Spain, a bibliographic tool that includes the main economic and business figures of the sector. On this occasion, the report will also incorporate a sectoral Barometer that will take the pulse of the market in terms of business based on the opinions of company representatives, experts and entities linked to the world of packaging and packaging in our country.
