Internationality was the key word that distinguished the second edition of Tissue World Asia, held in November 2006 at the Intex Exhibition Center in Shanghai, China.
Maura Leonardi
The show dedicated to the tissue converting and connected industries concentrated for three days (15-17 November) the attention of the over 3880 visitors. This figure represents an increase of over 50% with respect to the previous edition (2349 visitors registered in 2004), of which about 90% came from Asia and the remaining 10% from the other continents with over 68 countries represented. An impressive affluence that greatly exceeded the expectations of the over 87 exhibitors coming from the entire world, interested in better learning the dynamics of the “Asian giant” – a giant that has grown in these last years at an annual average rate of about 9%, generating curiosity and interest for China, a country that accounts for about 1/3 of the worldwide demand for paper and its derivatives.
THIS RATE SURPASSES THE GROWTH RATES OF MARKETS SUCH AS NORTH AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE, and represents a target for the development of new business opportunities by European and American companies. Companies from these regions have been hit in this recent period by an internal economic situation whose effects have not always been positive, and have had to face a new economic scenario, looking for new platforms for the establishment and development of modern business entities.
THE INTEREST SHOWN BY THE 250 DELEGATES that took part in the Conference sessions held simultaneously during the show days, highlighted the need to consider the converting industry today as a field in which China is ready to support the growth of tissue converting, both in terms of production and consumption. And growth here is meant not only in terms of quantity but also of quality. If, up until a few years ago, tissue products in China were not very diffused or were synonymous with low quality, today parameters have changed and the attention is focussed on quality standards that are closer to European and American ones. Hence, the role of companies working in the field of converting becomes a primary one: long-standing companies capable of favoring growth in the direction of product quality, obviously embracing the risk/opportunity binomial. If, on the one hand, this binomial can favor new business opportunities, on the other, it can determine a risk of competition by native companies, aiming at entering the business at substantially reduced prices. What makes the difference, also in this scenario, is the added value in terms of know-how that allows the price factor to slide to a less important position, privileging experience and technological expertise.
THESE TWO FACTORS ARE KEY CONCEPTS ALSO FOR FABIO PERINI S.P.A. which, together with KPL Packaging S.p.A. and Körber Engineering Shanghai, participated at Tissue World Asia at a common booth. For the first time, also Winkler+Dünnebier AG (the company that is part of the KPL group since January 2004) was co-exhibitor together with the other KPL companies. Offering a technologically valid product, fruit of these companies’ technological expertise in the field represents a winning value, as was demonstrated by the over 300 guests coming not only from China but also from Argentina, Chile, Angola, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, India, Poland, Senegal, Russia, Colombia and Ecuador, to the CONCEPT X Evolution Event organized by Körber Engineering Shanghai on 15 and 16 November at the new KES facilities in Gao Hang, to show the latest innovations marked “CONCEPT X” in the field of converting and packaging. The demonstration allowed the numerous guests coming from every part of the world to get to know the evolutions in the CONCEPT X brand, created for the Asian market and launched in 2004. On demonstration: the new converting line model X8 designed to offer a toilet roll/kitchen towel product at a speed of up to 450 mpm or up to 22 logs/min, where flexibility and efficiency are the key words.
As in the new line model X3 for the production of toilet rolls, completely renewed with the new embosser model XDE1 with DESL technology, capable of guaranteeing a production of up to 200 mpm or up to 10 logs/min. To complete the converting lines, the new wrapper model XP5, compact, fast and efficient, and the model XP2, ergonomic and operator-friendly, with simplified installation and maintenance procedures, both for the entry level.
The technological session highlighted the farsightedness of the KPL companies, present on the Chinese market since 2004 with a product that has accompanied the development of the converting industry, creating all the proper bases for growth along the entire sector.
So, until the 2008 edition of Tissue World Asia, for another… “Olympic” challenge in this case, of the world of tissue!