Labelexpo Europe 2025, held in Barcelona from 16-19 September, will now include folding carton technology alongside labels and flexible packaging. This is a natural evolution based on inline and digital technologies which are set to disrupt the traditional folding carton industry in much the same way they did with flexible packaging. As part of this move, Labelexpo has announced a strategic partnership with Brunton Business Publications Ltd, publisher of Folding Carton Industry magazine. This partnership will allow Labelexpo to communicate directly with the folding carton industry and brings on board the unmatched industry expertise of its Managing Director, Dan Brunton.

Andrew Thomas-Evans, Strategic Director at Informa Markets Labels & Packaging Group, explains that folding cartons are overwhelmingly printed on sheetfed presses followed by off-line operations such as creasing and die cutting, hot stamping and embossing. These multiple process steps add to lead time and create a lot of work-in-progress (WIP) as pallets are moved between workstations. The technologies which could revolutionise this traditional workflow are core Labelexpo technologies: inline flexo and rotary offset, digital and hybrid. 

He believes that Labelexpo could speed the adoption of digital printing for folding cartons, just as it did for labels and flexible packaging. The addition of folding cartons to Labelexpo is also likely to galvanise developments in short-run converting systems and digital embellishment. We should also not forget that by far the biggest volumes of wet glue labels and in-mold labels are printed on sheetfed offset presses. One result of bringing folding cartons into Labelexpo will be an increased focus on the high levels of automation on these presses as well as new in-line coating and foiling systems.

Read his entire discussion here.