Successful Staging: Swop 2023 Paves Way for Annual Event

As a member of the interpack alliance, the world’s leading processing and packaging exhibition, swop (Shanghai World of Packaging) 2023 was successfully held at SNIEC (Shanghai New International Expo Center) from November 22 – 24. swop 2023 attracted nearly 900 domestic and foreign exhibitors on 62,000 square meters of exhibit space and about 30,000 professional visitors from 99 countries and regions. This marks a 14% increase in visitor participation compared to the last edition in 2019.

swop is co-organized by Messe Düsseldorf (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd. The three-day exhibition attracted industry leaders, professionals, and visitors from all over the world to discuss the latest technologies and developments in the processing and packaging industry. The trade fair was supported by over 100 domestic and international industry associations in the food, chemical, plastics, printing and packaging sector and welcomed around 300 visitor groups from China, Southeast Asian countries, the Middle East, South America and Europe.

Thomas Dohse, Director of interpack at Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, said: “I am pleased to see that swop, as a member of the interpack alliance, has reached a new record with exhibition space and exhibitor and visitor numbers. We were excited to meet face-to-face with exhibitors and visitors who were finally back to swop after a 4-year absence.”

Guo Haixiang, Deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Packaging Technology Association (SPTA), which has also been a key partner of swop since 2015, stated: “The feedback from the packaging machinery exhibitors was very positive, and many companies have already been consulting for next year’s exhibition.”

Leading Chinese and international companies at wop 2023 included Multivac, Demag, KUKA, YOUNGSUN, TEDERIC, Eiahe, and ZHONGYA. The German Pavilion again included renowned companies such as HOERAUF, HERMA, Novexx, WOLF and Herrmann.

Marco Lu, business unit manager from Multivac, commented: “We have built a strong bond with interpack for a very long time and were happy to be part of swop this year. Also, we had positive outcomes from the show.”

Jeff Yuan, Key Account Manager-Consumer from KUKA ROBOTICS, added: “We have welcomed numerous international delegations to our stand and the quality of visitors was extremely high.”

Packaging trends of the future

With a focus on sustainable packaging and the reduction of CO2 emissions, a new themed area was introduced at swop 2023 : the “Green Power Zone”. More than 150 exhibitors presented a variety of eco-friendly packaging materials, production equipment and solutions to help packaging companies and brands achieve their sustainability goals.

Celine To, General Manager of Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd, gave an overview of the trend topics at this year’s swop: the highlights included sustainable packaging, AI applications in packaging design and the future trends of intelligent and digitalized packaging solutions to increase efficiency.

FMGG Infinity Zone

With over 2,000 members in the fast-moving consumer goods industry (FMCG), the Packaging Family, as a pioneering platform in the industry, partnered with swop for the fourth time. The “FMCG Infinity Zone” featured over 400 packaging materials and product suppliers exhibiting popular eco-friendly packaging products. New was the ODM/OEM zone to show brand owners innovative materials, products and designs to assist them in meeting the constantly evolving demands of FMCG consumers. Wu Lin, founder of “PKG Family – the Packaging Family”, explained that a valuable ecosystem for the FMCG industry chain was created this year in the FMCG Infinity Zone. The brand new OEM/ODM zone showcased solutions to improve the entire supply chain.

Intelligent packaging of the future

Another premiere at swop 2023 was the “Smart Packaging Zone”, in which numerous intelligent plastic and paper packaging, packaging machinery and finishing systems were exhibited. These not only meet all the requirements for intelligent packaging, but also enable efficiency increases and cost reductions.

SAVE FOOD Forum

During swop 2023, more than 10 industry forums, new technology exchange sessions and over 60 thematic discussions were all fully packed with 1,820 participants. Among the highlights was the SAVE FOOD Forum. “SAVE FOOD” is a global initiative jointly launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Messe Düsseldorf and interpack. The aim is to promote innovation and support interdisciplinary dialog in order to reduce global food waste and losses and thus contribute to the fight against the global food crisis.

The 3rd SAVE FOOD China Forum invited experts, scientist and representatives from several organizations and companies. FAO, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), UNITED CAPS, Multivac, Bizerba, Tomra, China Agricultural University, the World Resources Institute, Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ) came together to exchange insights on topics such as packaging for reducing food loss and waste, transforming agri-food systems by reducing food loss and waste.

Zhang Zhongjun, Assistant FAO Representative of the FAO China Office, stated that the cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders in the food supply chain are essential to reduce food loss and waste. Packaging is necessary to combine technology and innovation and packaging brings the initiative of saving food from field to fork.

For the first time, the SAVE FOOD Initiative presented the SAVE FOOD DESIGN AWARD and SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN AWARD to exhibitors at swop. The SAVE FOOD DESIGN AWARD acknowledged innovative products that minimize food waste, while the SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN AWARD celebrated solutions with positive environmental impacts, such as reducing CO² footprints. UNIDO, The World Packaging Organization (WPO), and FAO served as jury members for evaluating the applicant companies. The SAVE FOOD Design Awards went to UNITED CAPS, Kaida Group, and Multivac Group and winners of SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN AWARD were Bizerba, Dookoo Intelligent and Herrmann Ultrasonics. Astrid Hoffmann-Leist, Chief Innovation & Communication Officer and Business Director APAC at UNITED CAPS, explained how the Bump Cap packaging, which won the gold SAVE FOOD Design Award, is able to save food and reduce waste and losses.

swop will be held annually from now on and the next edition is scheduled at SNIEC (Shanghai New International Expo Centre) from November 18 to 20, 2024.For further information on visiting or exhibiting at swop 2024, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America; Telephone: (312) 781-5180; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit www.swop-online.com  and www.mdna.com; Follow us on https://www.linkedin.com/company/mdnachicago/