At this year’s Labelexpo Europe, our goal was to do it differently.
Our focus was on four key topics around the printing press: Service, Applications, Connectivity and Productivity. Named ‘Beyond the Machine’, the concept was introduced during the show, physically forming four ‘islands’ around a fully-loaded printing press.
Also making a premiere at Labelexpo Europe was the first edition MPS Label Awards! In this blog, I share with you my experience behind these exciting, and well-deserved awards.
Focus on the results
Instead of focusing on our machinery, we at MPS decided to focus on our services that prove we’re much more than just a machine builder.
Showing what our presses are capable of, and how we’re helping customers find solutions for their specific application needs, is an important part of Beyond the Machine.
What better way to show applications, then by showing real labels printed by MPS customers?
That’s why we organized the first edition MPS Label Awards!
The entries poured in
Honestly, I must admit that I was positively surprised with the feedback received on our call to customers to send in their most beautiful, show-stopping labels. When I returned from summer holidays, a big stack of entries were waiting on my desk!
For me, as a non-technical employee with only 4,5 years’ experience in the label industry, it was great to see all these beautiful labels printed by our customers!
When I tour visitors to MPS headquarters around in our Technology & Expertise Centre and our Assembly Hall, I like sharing my amazement when I first discovered the existence of a ‘label industry’.
As a consumer, you see labels everywhere on a daily basis, but I never really wondered how labels are made! Never, ever had I thought there would be such thing as a complete industry with printing press manufacturers, substrates, inks and all types of supporting units…just for labels!
So, back to the MPS Label Awards; after the deadline for our customers passed, I sorted all the entries with an anonymous form, so our jury would be unbiased.
Judging the Label Awards entries
Our wonderful, independent jury existed of Dirk Goethals (Business Unit & Sales Manager of Athena Graphics), Gregory Bentley (Global Primary Packaging Director of AB InBev) and my experienced printing expert colleague Hans Poortinga.
Once all labels were sorted, the jury gathered on a Wednesday in early September, at a secret location in Belgium .
It was great fun watching the judges review all the labels, touching the special varnishes and being amazed by the beauty of all that was created by MPS presses! Although I was there only for photography, some mental support and to ensure everything went smoothly, it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about printing technology (something I’ve grown to find very interesting whilst working at MPS).
In advance of Labelexpo Europe, all nominated customers were informed and invited to the awards ceremony held on the MPS stand on day 2 of the show.
*DRUMROLL* And the winners are….
On Wednesday, September 25th it was finally time to hand out awards to the winners!
Presenters of the Label Awards ceremony were Hans Poortinga and our show moderator, Maarten Tuit (who did a wonderful job singing ‘There’s no business like label business’!)
Under a loud audience applause, Maarten announced the winners:
Winner in the Hybrid category: ASL from the USA, with their winning label ‘Unsorted Wine Label’ printed on the hybrid EF SYMJET press. About this label, the jury said:
“This label combines a great use of colour and embossing, for a true metal look & feel. There is a high complexity of material in inkjet, and good registration.”
ASL received their silver award on behalf of Michael Weyermann from MPS North America, as unfortunately they could not attend the awards ceremony.
Winner in the Flexo category: Takara Pac from Japan, with their winning label ‘Nori body scrub’. A delegation from Takara Pac was present at the ceremony to personally receive their silver award and champagne. About this label, the jury said:
“A smart use of double foil and tactile varnish makes this a beautiful, delicate label. The use of tactile spot varnish, in register with cold foil, delivers a high standard label.”
The all-over winner of the Gold award and a free year of the Summum Service Level Agreement: InForm Etiketten from Germany, with their winning label ‘Snow White Gin’. This amazing double-sided, see-through label is something special. It was my personal favorite, too! (and I swear I didn’t influence the jury! )
What the jury said about this Gold winner:
“This label speaks for itself. A true combination of smart design, beautifully considered and executed. The backside printing is both simple and impactful. A highly original label with great shelf-appeal.”
It was such a pleasure to hand over prizes to these wonderful customers! We had such a great atmosphere at our booth - a true Hollywood red-carpet party with prosecco and awards.
Congratulations and thanks again to all winners, nominees and all customers that took the effort in sending in their most beautiful labels printed on MPS presses. I’ve really enjoyed showing the world what our presses are capable of, and I’m personally impressed by these Amazing Applications.
Can’t wait for the 2020 edition!
Would you like to know more about the winning labels? Leave a comment!