Polar has thrown its wholehearted support behind the statements of drupa organisers that "drupa 2004 surpassed all expectations". Polar says that it too recently noticed an improved atmosphere for investments at the drupa 2004. Polar sold 550 units directly from its drupa stand, including PACE systems, cutting systems (one single client from China bought ten complete systems), jogging systems (including several Autojog machines) and LabelSystems (to clients in Switzerland, Brazil, Russia, and elsewhere). The volume of orders finalised at the fair was just about the same as at drupa 2000.
Polar says it sold the equivalent of two entire months worth of machinery manufacture across the range of its products. A very pleasing aspect was the excellent sales results that it had in Germany, where investments, until recently, were very restrained. The same applied to China and other Asian countries. The South American market has also begun to revive.
Polar was surprised by an unexpected number (394,000) and higher qualifications of the visitors. When compared to the 2000 drupa, the number of visitors from abroad and overseas has also increased.
The company says there is now a substantial shift in demand, away from stand-alone machines, toward automated systems, proving in its eyes that smaller businesses have more economic problems than the larger ones. Polar believes large companies are now looking to stave off rising labour costs by purchasing automated cutting systems, pile turners and highly efficient label systems.
Andrew Tribute
