Packitoo report from drupa 2024: Key trends and lessons learned
Drupa 2024, held in Düsseldorf from May 28 to June 7, was a landmark event for the packaging industry. After an eight-year absence due to the pandemic, the show offered fresh perspectives and crucial innovations for industry professionals. We were present on the BOBST and Esko partner stands (many thanks to them). After two weeks and hundreds of meetings, here are the main trends and lessons we took away from the show.
Attendance Down, but Global Influence Maintained
With 170,000 visitors, drupa 2024 was down on the 260,000 recorded in 2016. This was due to lower attendance from the local German public (including a "bridge" from May 30 to June 02), but also to the organizers' move towards a much more international audience.
The decline in visitor numbers also seems to reflect sector consolidation on a global scale.
Despite this, the event has retained its role as a key platform for decision-makers from around the world, fostering exchanges and networking within the industry.
Rising power of packaging and "fusion" of technologies
Packaging has become a key sector at Drupa 2024. Printing machine manufacturers presented cutting-edge solutions tailored to this fast-growing market (see BOBST example below). The combination or hybridization of digital and analog technologies was particularly noteworthy, offering more flexible and efficient solutions for packaging production.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence at the Heart of Innovation
Drupa 2024 was marked by a strong focus on automation and artificial intelligence. The stands of leading machine manufacturers showcased significant advances in the robotization of production lines and software for better connecting information flows, right down to the machines. These technologies are aimed at creating the factories of the future, where production processes are increasingly automated and intelligent.
Lucien Moons, well known in the folding carton sector, emphasized in one of his many LinkedIn posts the importance of IoT and AI for predictive maintenance and process optimization, enabling a reduction in downtime and an increase in productivity. Some global players, like BOBST, put their IoT platform, BOBST Connect, squarely at the center of their stand - instead of bringing along their latest equipment.
Sustainability and digitalization: an inseparable duo
Sustainability was a central theme at this year's event, with innovative solutions aimed at reducing the environmental impact of print and packaging production. Digital technologies now facilitate more sustainable practices by optimizing the use of materials and reducing waste. François Martin, consultant to the printing and packaging industry, also notes that "sustainability, the central theme of drupa, was the subject of major advances, with principals now benefiting from new capabilities to reduce the environmental impact of the printing and production of their packaging."
Innovation through Collaboration
Drupa 2024 stands out for the numerous collaborations between suppliers that were highlighted. These partnerships made it possible to develop innovative solutions by combining the expertise of each. This collaborative approach was particularly beneficial for customers, offering them advanced, integrated solutions. This is what Patrick Henry brilliantly explains in the latest article from whattheythink.com.
And that's what our merger with BOBST, announced on April 30, is all about.
Conclusion & CEO's Editorial
Drupa 2024 was - in our view - a real success, laying the foundations for the smart factories of today and tomorrow, where digital and analog processes coexist harmoniously, powered by automation and AI.
At Packitoo, these trends represent a confirmation of what we've been telling you for years: the digitalization of the industry, not as an end in itself but as a necessary vector for growth and modernization. More than ever, we want to position ourselves as a key player in the innovation of our industry, and this includes keeping abreast of the latest technologies to offer our customers more sustainable and efficient solutions.
We're preparing you now to welcome this new era in production, where autonomous presses and intelligent production lines will still be supervised by humans, but will operate in a largely automated way.
Back in France, I'm seeing some constructive criticism of this show, which is "losing momentum" since it has welcomed the smallest number of visitors since its creation in 1951!
I can't tell you whether the "real" show model - as opposed to the "virtual" one - can or must change completely. In any case, I think that drupa is so emblematic and has been so structuring in the print and packaging sectors over the last 70 years that the level of demand is very high, and no one is satisfied with the decline in visitor numbers.
And it will remain so for some time to come, for those who make the effort to come to Dusseldörf. See you in 2028!
And if - like us - you're nostalgic for drupa...
If - like us - you're nostalgic for drupa, click below to immerse yourself in the show's unique atmosphere: