For the fourth time, and I believe not for the last, the BO PET segment participated in the FachPack trade fair in Nuremberg. This is the largest packaging trade fair in Germany and its size matches. Approximately 1,600 companies exhibit at this fair, which is over its three days visited by about 44,000 professionals from all over Europe and the Middle East.
The trade fair is always held in two consecutive years then takes a year off, filled by another well-known fair InterPack. This year, we have completed five years of exhibiting our products and news in the field of food and other packaging.
This year, we decided to give our exhibition a new, innovative style. We covered the plastic part formed by our metallised membranes with only basic information about the production possibilities of BO PET technology. Free space, gloss and a location near the pavilion entrance then ensured great recognisability and visibility over a longer distance.
We welcomed more than 40 of our existing customers at our stand and managed to arrange very promising discussions about new projects. We also attracted former customers, and arranged deals directly at the stand. Further plans for new company projects are now on the table and getting closer to implementation.
The trade fair allowed us to visit the stands of our potential customers to see their products, which has given us better ideas for using other properties of membranes than our customers first thought. In consequence, they might also represent added value for a new customer’s first products. It will be necessary now to transform these new contacts from pieces of paper bearing the initials of traders into long-term cooperations full of promising projects.
We also had the opportunity to visit the stands of our competitors from Europe as well as those from the Middle East. It was interesting to read about the multitude of products with prefixes such as bio-, recycle-, r-, sustainable and the likes.
Our competitors also came to see our stand, not only thanks to Fatra’s reputation in the international field, but also due to the visual effects created by our materials incorporated directly in the structure itself.
As in previous years, we also promoted profiles at our stand. Their dealers praised the fair and took the promise of interesting orders. We believe that they will be realised.
In general, there are concerns about the weakening German economy and the automotive industry that were also reflected in discussions at our stand. Only the following period will show how these market influences will affect our production at Fatra.
