Megatrends such as demographic change and climate change are also having a significant impact on the transformation of the printing and paper industry. Nevertheless, paper and printed products will continue to be needed in many areas of life in the future. Sustainability plays a key role here; one of the central themes of the special Touchpoint Sustainability forum at drupa 2024 in Düsseldorf.
With a comprehensive overview of the industry, various examples of best practice and a varied stage programme, Touchpoint Sustainability will show what is possible today, where the industry is heading and that sustainability makes economic sense for companies, regardless of the company, from 28 May to 7 June 2024.
High pressure to change – digitalisation and sustainability as drivers
The current challenges and the increasing demands of end customers must be met with innovations in mechanical and plant engineering. This can create new business models, reduce energy and material consumption and lower the error rate.
“In principle, paper and packaging will continue to play a central role in people’s lives. However, there is massive pressure to change, driven primarily by two factors: digitalisation and sustainability,” explains Thomas Schiemann, Managing Director of the VDMA Printing and Paper Technology Association.
Focus on sustainability
One driver for the transformation of the industry is the topic of sustainability, an important decision-making factor for consumers. Two topics play a key role here. On the one hand, specific consumer expectations must be addressed in order to survive on the market in the long term and maintain brand value. On the other hand, more sustainable processes and products, especially in combination with digital solutions, offer great potential for making processes more cost-effective. The transformation in the paper and printing industry is therefore already moving towards a circular economy.
The role of the industry within the sustainable transformation will also be a topic at the Touchpoint Sustainability special forum. “The industry has good prospects for the future – but it needs to be prepared. There is hardly any other topic that concerns us as much at drupa 2024 and in the entire mechanical and plant engineering industry as sustainability, not only from an ecological but also from an economic perspective. We are therefore delighted to create a cross-industry platform for dialogue, discussion and knowledge transfer on the future of the printing and paper industry with the Sustainability touchpoint,” says Thomas Schiemann, who is responsible for this touchpoint.
The 400m² special forum at the trade fair is organised by the VDMA Printing and Paper Technology Association and showcases a variety of best practice examples and innovative solutions for greater sustainability throughout the entire value chain. Industry players will present current solutions and ideas for the future in use cases and a varied stage programme.
Global production on the rise
The overall growth of the global print market – even adjusted for inflation – will actually accelerate slightly in the next five years compared to the corresponding previous years. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is expected to increase worldwide from 0.5 to 1.7 per cent. For Western Europe, Smithers, a multinational provider of market information and data, expects stable, almost unchanged development. Asia, by far the largest market, is expected to grow at an average rate of around 3 per cent per year until 2028, together with Africa, and will therefore have the highest growth rates. In North America, the market volume, which was recently reported as slightly declining, is expected to stabilise again. This assessment is supported by the fact that the majority of global long-term investments by leading brands have been made in Asia in particular.
Drupa
The international print and packaging industry will meet at drupa from 28 May to 7 June 2024 under the umbrella of the megatrends of sustainability and digitalisation. The world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies stands for inspiration, innovation, high-calibre knowledge transfer and intensive networking. This is where top international decision-makers from the industry come together to discuss the latest technology trends and ground-breaking developments.
