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SPP participation in FEFCO 2023 Technical Seminar in Lyon

On October 25-27, 2023, in France, at the Centre de Congres de Lyon, FEFCO (Furopean Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers) organized another edition of the industry’s Technical Seminar. This year’s event with a conference and exhibition profile was held under the motto: “Shaping our future through innovation.” In keeping with tradition, the choice of location, determination of the program structure was recommended by industry specialists who represent national organizations and are actively involved in the Federation’s Operations & Innovation Committee, chaired by Marc Van Damme (VPK Packaging). The main sponsor of the realized event was Metsa Board. Participants represented a variety of players operating in the corrugated packaging industry: corrugated board manufacturers and converters, business partners across the supply chain (machinery manufacturers – process line designers – peripheral equipment and components (for cutting / die cutting / labeling / marking / sensors and monitoring sensors / conveyors / digital printing), experts from the R&D sector, specialized quality certification bodies, institutions supporting the development of innovation, companies offering support for process management automation, IT specialists, representatives from the communications and marketing sector.

This year’s organizational and program formula carried out over 3 days included 4 panel blocks, conducted with the participation of leading leaders and experts in the paperboard and packaging industry, so that their attractive course was able to attract the attention of a huge number of listeners each time.

Unlike the structure of the program traditionally implemented in previous years, on the first day of this year’s Seminar (25.10.), the substantive part of the three-day debates opened with a meeting with European leaders of our industry, entitled “High-level-panel discussion on innovation and reuse.” On the following days (26-27.10.), panel blocks dedicated to the discussion of challenges and problems were scheduled, which were carried out alternately with presentations by company representatives in a convention of “spot-light sessions.” The thematic area of the consecutive panels was formulated in slogans under such titles as: “Innovation in energy reduction” – 25.10. / “Innovations and corrugators”. – 26.10. / “Innovations in converting” – 26.10. / “Innovation driven by changing environment, markets and supply chains” – 27.10.23.

The 3-day program included more than 60 spot-lights sessions. In keeping with established custom, the organizers made sure to create an environment for networking, both during breaks in the conference pool debates and in the exhibition hall.

The third day of the Seminar (27.10.) included the announcement of the winners of the competitions, which are carried out traditionally in 5 different categories: Innovation Award, Sustainability Award, Best Presentation Award, Most Inspiring New Member Award and Life Time Achievement. A summary of the event by FEFCO shows that as many as 1150 people registered to participate in the program of this year’s event, a record attendance compared to previous editions of the Technician Seminar (2021: Copenhagen / 2019: Geneva). In the exhibition infrastructure zone, 110 exhibitors installed in 165 booths displayed their offers, who came from 41 countries from both Europe and other continents.

Representatives of SPP member companies Aquila Radomsko-VPK, Eurobox Poland, Mondi Świecie, TFP, TOP-Thimm Opakowania, Werner Kenkel also participated in the course of the event. The office of our Association was represented by J. Turski (director general of SPP).