Extrusion International 2-2017

18 Extrusion International 2/2017 INDUSTRY NEWS ICE Europe 2017 closes with increase in international attendance The 10th International Converting Exhibition, ICE Europe 2017, closed its doors, after three successful show days full of international business activities, networking and live dem- onstrations of the latest converting solutions. Once again, ICE Europe was a magnet for converting spe- cialists from all over the world. A total of 6,850 visitors from 68 countries attended the show. With 429 exhibitors from 28 countries, covering a net exhibition space of 11,000 m 2 , this year’s ICE Europe remained unchanged with respect to size compared to the previous show. A first analysis of the exhibitor feedback shows that a vast majority of the participating companies were highly satisfied with the results of this year’s exhibition. They praised the high quality of trade visitors and reported large numbers of international business contacts. 45% of exhibitors and 49% of visitors were from outside Germany; an all-time record in international attendance. The biggest exhibitor countries af- ter Germany were Italy, Great Britain, Switzerland, the USA, France and the Netherlands. Top ten visitor countries were Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. The first analysis shows that visitors mainly belonged to the following industry sectors: packaging, plastics, printing, pa- per, engineering, textiles / nonwovens, chemicals and auto- motive. When asked about their main areas of interest at the exhibition, visitors stated coating/laminating, slitting/ rewinding, accessories, materials, control/test and measure- ment, printing, finishing and drying/curing. ICE Europe 2017 Awards To celebrate the 10th edition of ICE Europe, exhibition or- ganisers Mack Brooks Exhibitions awarded prizes to four ex- hibiting companies for best practice, excellence, innovation and extraordinary performance in the converting industry. The ICE Jubilee Awards were presented on the first exhibi- tion day. The winners had been chosen through an online vote of the converting community via the exhibition web- site. A total of 39 entries from participating companies were shortlisted and some 1,300 converting specialists took part in the online voting and selected the winners in the four award categories Converting Solutions for New Materials, Industry 4.0, Green Technology and Innovative Partnerships. Winning company in the category ‘Converting Solutions for New Materials’ was Infiana Germany for their innovative an- tistatic release films. Companies which participated in the category ‘Industry 4.0’ had developed systems for digitalised production processes in the converting industry. The winner in this category was Derichs GmbH for their new ED-1 system that delivers data in real time. In the category ‘Green Technology’ Applied Materials Web Coating GmbH received the award for their TopBeam plat- form using electron beam evaporation and offering a solu- tion for applying transparent coatings with improved clear barrier performance for a variety of oxide materials. Kampf Schneid- & Wickeltechnik’s Converting 4.0 network was selected to receive the award in the category ‘Innovative Partnerships’. The open Kampf Converting 4.0 network was presented at ICE Europe 2017 for the very first time. Compa- nies of the network starter group are KAMPF, BST eltromat, Neuenhauser Vorwald, Paul&Co, Codecentric and XYQOM. Dates for the next show Most of this year’s exhibitors have already indicated on-site that they intend to exhibit again at the next International Converting Exhibition in Munich. ICE Europe 2019 will take place from 12 - 14 March 2019 at the Munich Trade Fair Cen- tre. The next exhibition in the ICE series of dedicated trade events for the converting industry will be ICE USA, held from 25 – 27 April 2017 in Orlando, Florida. Next year, Mack Brooks Exhi- bitions will organise ICE South East Asia, from 5 - 7 Septem- ber 2018, in Bangkok, Thailand. www.ice-x.com