New in this year’s ELF programme are the converter-only, roundtable discussions to be held on Wednesday afternoon 5 June, from 15.30 – 17.00 CEST at the Scandic Hotel Copenhagen. Label company owners, business executives, and young professionals who have not yet signed up are encouraged to plan for early arrival in Copenhagen and take this unique opportunity to engage in discussions with peers from different countries about topics that keep them awake at night.

As input for these discussions, a few weeks ago converter members in FINAT were invited to indicate their TOP 4 from a longlist of 14 topics selected by the leadership of FINAT. The survey attracted 51 replies and has now been closed. Based on the survey, the following TOP 4 has been shortlisted.

1. SUSTAINABILITY AND RECYCLING (72.5%) ‘Packaging (including labels, ed.) is the sustainability ambassador par excellence’ (see also http://bit.ly/2UzPWD4). Following the recent public and EU focus on single-use plastics, do we see a changing attitude towards the sourcing of composite packaging materials by brand-owners and retailer private brands? What are the industry experiences in proactively offering recycling solutions to the market?
2. TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT (66.7%) According to the FINAT RADAR, the availability of digital label printing equipment is more and more becoming a vendor requirement from the side of the brand-owners. Whilst the increasing demand for ever shorter runs, variable information and personalised branding is evident, the inherent overcapacity is also a business risk. How are - in general terms - label companies handling this dilemma?
3. MARKETING (52.9%) In today’s digital age, the procurement of labels is no longer only a matter of personal relationships between buyer and seller. Not only has procurement become more impersonal with procurement departments being centralised and is this increasingly carried out via electronic tenders, in the internet space it is also a matter of branding your company via social media and content marketing. How are in general terms label companies adapting their marketing strategy?
4. NEXTGEN WORKFORCE (51%) Recruitment and retention of young talent are among the top 3 challenges for business leaders in the European label industry. What are the industry best practices in bringing in the next generation of talent, and what can the label industry do to ensure the alignment of education systems and the changing skillset?

The meeting will be held in accordance with FINAT’s Competition Law Guidelines, and under the so-called ‘Chatham House Rule’: anyone who comes to the meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any comment. It is designed to increase openness of discussion. The general findings from the discussions will be used as input for the plenary Industry Debate on Friday 7 June, and for the FINAT Board’s strategic decision making.

More information about the proceedings of the Converter Roundtables will be announced shortly to those participants that have signed up for this session (currently over 20). If you are a label company owner or executive interested in participating but not yet having signed in, please make sure to do so as soon as possible via www.europeanlabelforum.com/register