Page 28 - FINAT Yearbook 2019

European Label Forum 2019
BUSINESS AS USUAL?
NOT IN THE EUROPEAN LABEL INDUSTRY!
The 2019 FINAT European Label Forum brought together a large proportion of the extended label industry value chain in Copenhagen in June. The agenda was very much focussed on business strategies for a successful future – the core target for FINAT, the international association linking the label community.
The conference was introduced by association President Chris Ellison, of OPM Labels & Packaging (UK), who highlighted the key challenges today: economic uncertainty in Europe, and, in the face of an ageing population and changing skillsets, the need for initiatives to reach out to, and engage, the next generation of talented business leaders, engineers and
designers for the label industry. He outlined the highly- relevant pathways FINAT is working on to help members on a positive journey to solving these issues.
Frederik Krause of TickoTryk A/S (DK) welcomed delegates to the beautiful city of Copenhagen. As President of the Danish Label Association – in which, he said, ‘all our members are very, very active’ – he underlined the association’s efforts to attract young participants to the industry.
‘IF YOU WANT A BREAKTHROUGH...’
‘If you want a breakthrough, look
outside your current environment’,
challenged Hamish Taylor (UK) in his
opening keynote address to the
delegates. Today an innovation
enthusiast and a speaker and
broadcaster of international repute, his
business career path has spanned
such leading brands as Procter &
Gamble, Price Waterhouse, British
Airways, Eurostar, and Sainsbury’s Bank. He stood back from his varied experience base to create, for ELF participants, a masterly and thought-provoking presentation on how to change the way we think, learn, and understand about the needs and wants of our customers.
Everyone is a customer Nothing could be more appropriate for the label and packaging industry today; and everyone in this complex supply chain, said Hamish Taylor, is a customer – including colleagues in the company in which you work.
The key to success, he underlined, is to act like a master thief -- to ‘steal ideas’ from one situation and apply them in a totally
28 | FINAT YEARBOOK 2019