Upcoming Afera Annual Conference to take place in Malta

Early-bird registration is open till 15 June for the European Adhesive Tape Network’s 66th yearly Industry meeting themed “Taping our future”

Afera, the European Adhesive Tape Association, has opened registration for our 66th Annual Conference themed “Taping our future: redefining value – reinventing industry collaboration”. Those who register before 15 June get to take advantage of early-bird discounted rates.

“Taping our future” theme

All Afera Members use the word “tape” on a daily basis to describe the product or the process of fixing, bonding, joining, protecting, securing, etc. For our 2023 Conference theme, we use the word in all these contexts with time—bonding, protecting and securing our future—and in another context of “taping”, recording. During the event, we will both listen to expert speakers and work together in an interactive format to discuss and develop our future and to produce a recording of our shared future scenarios for the European adhesive tape industry.

Day 1: How to collaborate to reach next-level sustainability and circularity

Afera has been working on the hot topic of sustainability for a number of years. Firstly, by force of regulation, primarily responding in defence of our business positions. Today, we are increasingly embracing the innovation opportunities brought about by the trend toward sustainability, trying to determine how we can contribute to and benefit from the changes simultaneously.

One important key move forward is collaboration, but the legacy-framework for business is much more “mind your own business”. The key question of Day 1 of the 2023 Conference: How can we learn to collaborate to reach next-level sustainability and circularity, at the same time dealing with the (perceived) barriers?

Participants will enjoy a series of presentations to set the stage for this challenge, followed by a facilitated interactive session where we will work in teams to outline what next-level circularity looks like per technology, product-market combination or waste stream.

Day 2: Value propositions – create, identify and sell value

Like many tech-based industries, we are often insufficiently aware of the value which we offer through our solutions. We often sell features, sometimes benefits, and too often we forget to sell the value we deliver. At the individual company level, this means we do not obtain the best financial rewards.

At the Industry level, if we do not know and understand (and then explain and promote) the value we offer, we have two serious issues at hand: 1) We do not optimise the maximum business impact we could have as an industry (in fields of applications, in product design usage, as enablers of sustainability, etc.), and 2) we may well lose the battle for sustainable solutions to alternatives that position (the value of) their contributions to and solutions for sustainability better.

Day 2 of the Conference is completely focussed on “The art of thinking in value propositions.” We will focus on developing potential value propositions for the Industry and work on outlines of communication frameworks to explain and promote the value we offer.

The premier European adhesive tape industry event: who attends

Organised in a different European city each year, Afera’s Annual Conference is the premier European adhesive tape industry event. Open to Members and, on a limited basis, non-Members, Afera’s Conference is attended by more than 150 company delegates representing businesses along the adhesive tape industry value chain: manufacturers, raw materials, packaging and machine suppliers, converters, distributers, end users, research institutions, national tape organisations, and other international counterparts.

Every year Afera Committee Members, with the support of the Secretary General, formulate a completely new Working Programme which, according to valuable Member feedback, delivers useful, cutting-edge Industry information and many opportunities to spend time with your adhesive tape contemporaries. In addition to Afera’s Committee and Working Group Meetings, the Conference lineup features presentations on economic trends, market data and segments, product development, sustainability and regulatory issues, content marketing and strategy/company management. By popular demand, panel discussions and hackathons on topics formulated by Afera Members have been organised during the last few events.

Field expert organisers

Afera’s event is formulated by a dedicated working group including Anne-Marie Klink (technical manager of R&D of industrial tapes and adhesives at 3M Europe), Jean-Loup Masson (director of innovation, R&D and products, as well as a senior vice president, at Novacel), Evert Smit (director of technology and innovation scouting at Lohmann), Rupert Kichler (director of marketing at Avery Dennison Performance Tapes), Gert-Jan van Ruler (manager of technical support and business development at DRT), Cesare Muraro (manager of sales at NAR), Bert van Loon (strategist at Afera) and Astrid Lejeune (secretary general of Afera). Mr. Van Loon and Mr. Kichler serve as Afera’s 2 energetic moderators.

Inquire or register

For more details, or to register for the 66th Annual Conference in Malta, taking advantage of early-bird discounts until 15 June, please visit www.aferatapeconference.com.

 

Afera’s recent Annual Conferences

2022 – Valencia, Spain - " The shape of tape in 2030
2021 – Valencia, Spain - "Full circle: how the tape industry stays relevant in a circular economy"
2020 – Online – “Sustainability and circularity”
2019 – Lisbon, Portugal – “Making the tape business future-proof”
2018 – Athens, Greece – "Innovation and digitisation in adhesive tape technology"
2017 – Turin, Italy – "The next Generation of Tape Makers and Users"
2016 – Hamburg, Germany – "Managing at the speed of change"
2015 – Marseille, France – “What is our next frontier?”
2014 – Dubrovnik, Croatia – “The future of the European adhesive tape industry: technology, trends, and markets”
2013 – Taormina, Sicily, Italy – “Moving from survival to growth in the post-crisis tape market”
2012 – Madrid, Spain – “Sustainability: hype or your chance now?”
2011 – Berlin, Germany
2010 – Stockholm, Sweden
2009 – Cracow, Poland
2008 – Florence, Italy – Afera’s 50^th anniversary celebratory conference press release 
2007 – Barcelona, Spain
2006 – Nice, France