The Shanghai World of Packaging (swop) 2023, which took place from 22 to 24. November was held in the Shanghai New International Expo Center, met with great response from the international processing and packaging industry. As part of the interpack alliance, it also benefited from the interpack network and was able to establish itself as a valuable platform for the industry.
The swop was jointly organized by Messe Düsseldorf (Shanghai) Co, Ltd. and Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. During the three days of the fair, leading industry representatives, experts and visitors from all over the world met to discuss the latest technologies and trends in the industry. The successful conclusion of the fair marks another milestone in the packaging industry. From now on, swop will take place annually.
Around 30,000 trade visitors
With an exhibition area of more than 62,000 square metres, swop attracted almost 900 exhibitors from Germany and abroad this year and welcomed 30,000 visitors from 99 countries and regions – compared to 22,997 in 2019. The three-day event thus recorded a remarkable increase in visitors of 14 percent compared to the previous event.
Leading Chinese and international companies such as Multivac, Demag, KUKA, YOUNGSUN, TEDERIC, Eiahe and ZHONGYA caused a major rush at the fair. The German Pavilion was again staffed by top-class companies. HOERAUF, HERMA, Novexx, WOLF and Herrmann presented the latest innovative packaging systems, materials and products, among other renowned exhibitors. They showed trends in processing and packaging as well as advanced solutions from Germany.
Positive results after four years of preparation
swop was supported by more than 100 national and international industry associations, for example from the food, chemical, plastics, printing and packaging sectors. In addition, around 300 groups of visitors from China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America and Europe were received at the fair.
Thomas Dohse, Director of interpack at Messe Düsseldorf, said at the end of the trade fair: “I am delighted that swop, as a member of the interpack alliance, has achieved new records in the exhibition space as well as the number of exhibitors and visitor numbers. It was a pleasure for us to meet so many industry participants in person who returned to swop after a break four years.”
Guo Haixiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai Packaging Technology Association (SPTA), which has been an important partner of swop since 2015, said: “The feedback from the exhibitors of packaging machinery has been very positive, and many companies have already announced themselves for next year.”
Marco Lu, Business Unit Manager at Multivac, one of the leading providers of processing and packaging solutions, confirms this: “We have a long and strong connection to interpack and have been on swop again this year. We have also had positive experiences with the trade fair.”
Jeff Yuan, Key Account Manager Consumer of KUKA ROBOTICS, also drew a positive conclusion: “We were able to welcome numerous international delegations at our stand and the quality of the visitors was very high.”
Packaging trends of the future
With a focus on sustainable packaging and the reduction of CO2 emissions, a new topic was introduced at swop 2023 – the “Green Power Zone”. More than 150 exhibitors presented a variety of environmentally friendly packaging materials, production facilities and solutions that support packaging companies and brands in achieving their sustainability goals.
Celine To, General Manager of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd, gave an overview of the trend topics at this year’s swop: “The highlights included sustainable packaging, AI applications in packaging design and the future trends of intelligent and digitized packaging solutions to increase efficiency.”
FMGG Infinity Zone
With over 2,000 member companies in the FMCG industry, the Packaging Family is the leading platform in this segment. For the fourth time she cooperated with swop. The FMCG Infinity Zone combined more than 400 suppliers of high-quality packaging materials and products. Here the bestsellers among the environmentally friendly packaging products were presented. For the first time ODM/OEM Zone showed brand owners innovative materials, products, and designs and helped them meet the ever-changing requirements of consumers.
Wu Lin, the founder of the “PKG Family – the Packaging Family”, said that this year a valuable ecosystem for the FMCG industry chain was created in the FMCG Infinity Zone. The brand-new OEM/ODM zone showcased solutions to improve the entire supply chain.
Intelligent packaging of the future
Another premiere at swop 2023 was the Smart Packaging Zone, which showed numerous intelligent plastic and paper packaging, packaging machines and finishing lines. These not only meet all requirements for intelligent packaging but also enable efficiency increases and cost reductions.
SAVE FOOD Forum: A significant highlight among numerous other accompanying events
During the fair, the more than ten industry forums, the technology sessions and more than 60 topic discussions were fully booked with 1,820 participants. Experts, scientists and decision-makers from the business sector were invited to discuss and analyse the trend topics of the packaging industry in detail.
One highlight was the SAVE FOOD Forum. The SAVE FOOD initiative was jointly established in 2011 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Messe Düsseldorf and interpack. The aim is to promote innovation, to support interdisciplinary dialogue in order to reduce the worldwide waste and loss of food and thus contribute to the fight against the global food crisis.
Experts, scientists and representatives from various organizations and companies were invited to the SAVE FOOD China Forum. The FAO, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), UNITED CAPS, Multivac, Bizerba, Tomra, the Chinese Agricultural University, the World Resources Institute and the Sino-German Centre for Agriculture (DCZ) came together to discuss topics such as packaging to reduce food loss and waste, the transformation of agricultural and food systems by reducing food loss and waste and much more.
