Premiere Staging of PACK PRINT a Success
BANGKOK, Thailand—The premiere staging of PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand achieved its objective to become a forum for the region’s packaging and printing sectors: 285 exhibitors from 25 countries displayed their latest technologies on 161,400 square feet of gross exhibit space to some 20,000 trade visitors from 62 countries. The attendees included official delegations from Vietnam, the Philippines, and India.
The event’s three co-organizers Messe Düsseldorf Asia, the Thai Packaging Association and the Thai Printing Association were pleased with the results of PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2007. “The three organizers have worked closely to make this show a great success for exhibitors and visitors. The level of technology on display was impressive,” commented Anek Vidhayasirinun, president of the Thai Packaging Association. Kriengkrai Thienukul, president of the Thai Printing Association, added: “We want to make Thailand the printing hub of Asia and therefore, any show we hold here needs to be truly international. PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL has delivered on this count.” According to Gernot Ringling, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf Asia “A lot of big names have taken notice of the show and we hope they too will see it as a launch pad for packaging and printing in Asia.”
Exhibiting companies at PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL 2007 reported positive results. Koji Takanashi, Senior Manager for Regional Business Imaging Solution at Canon Singapore, reported that the event “turned out to be a tremendous milestone for Canon in Southeast Asia.” He added that Canon launched its imagePRESS C7000VP with great success and on the first two days sales of the imagePRESS C7000VP was “beyond our expectation, reaching double digit sales by the end of the exhibition.”
Songsith Hovijit, managing director of SM Graphic Center, said, “Overall, the show went beyond our expectations. The quality of the visitors was very good.” SM Graphic reported selling 15 machines during the trade fair. Other exhibitors reporting positive sales include Sri Aksorn, Creation Machinery, Agfa Graphics, NK Press, Kodak, King General Machinery, KBA, Sanki Machinery and Sanxin Printing Machinery.
“PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL was a well-organized event. There was a good mix of regional visitors from countries like India, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, in addition to the local attendees,” observed Gwendolyn Tan, marketing communications executive, at Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group, Southeast Asia. “We are pleased with the exceptional media coverage, particularly for Kodak’s contract signing ceremony with TKS Siam Press Management Co., Ltd.—which helped raise the profile of both our companies.”
“On Saturday we had to do two extra demonstrations of our sheet-fed offset press due to requests from show attendees. We also noticed that printing company owners were bringing more of their staff to PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL to sample the latest technologies,” explained Saiyakoop Sartporn, VP of Ryobi representative in Thailand Cyber Graphics.
Stefan Segger, managing director of KBA Asia Pacific, stated, “For our company, which is a relative newcomer to Asia in terms of a direct presence, PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL functioned as an important platform to improve market awareness and we will see in six months what the results are. Show visitors were happy to see us here as an alternative source of offset printing solutions and we look forward to PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL growing in the future.”
Kosol Chotikarn, executive director at Techno Global Graphics Co., Ltd., pointed out, “We noticed a definite upswing in visitor quality compared to previous shows in Thailand and attendance was better balanced between printing and packaging. In the past, potential visitors seemed to be confused as to what the various shows stood for but with PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL, it is clear that both packaging and printing are being served well.”
“We are glad to be here and very impressed by the organizational level. We are also pleased with the visitor turnout. We’ve seen trade attendees from the Middle East, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam, and we’ve received several very strong sales leads,” reported Lintec Bkk Pte Ltd. general manager Taitei Yoshida.
Kwan Khee Sern, area sales manager for GBC’s Industrial Printing & Finishing Group, noted that visitor traffic was much better than he had seen in previous shows. “We also noted the diversity of countries of origin and talked to numerous serious potential clients,” he said.
“All the relevant customers for us were here and we were surprised to see some from other Asian nations. We look forward to Messe Düsseldorf Asia taking the show to the next level and transforming it into a truly regional event. We would like to see 50 percent of the visitors from outside of Thailand,” stated MAN Ferrostaal (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Managing Director Fritz Kistler.
Even though the company already has a high profile in the region, it was important for Müller Martini (Thailand) Co., Ltd., to have a presence at PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL in order to reaffirm its strong presence and improve awareness in the market. “To this end, our expectations were met,” commented General Manager Chalermchai Tetcharoenpanit.
Agfa Graphics’ Sales Director Ray Cheng said, “The exhibition was very well organized. We trust the professionalism of Messe Duesseldorf in bringing international visitors to PACK PRINT INTERNATIONAL. We were able to reach many customers and will definitely exhibit in the next trade fair.”
