Last call to reserve your spot: Annual Conference will deliver on more than networking
Afera Secretary General Astrid Lejeune tells us what we can expect from this year’s Valencia congress from 28 to 30 September: 2 days of deep diving into hot tape business issues
The Afera Team and organising committee are gearing up for our Annual Conference, now in its 65th year, that has become the most important knowledge and networking event for today’s European tape businesses and professionals. From 28 to 30 September, we will be exclusively face-to-face at Hotel Las Arenas Balneario Resort in Valencia, Spain, focussing on “The Shape of Tape in 2030”.
Our energetic moderators, Rupert Kichler, marketing director at Avery Dennison Performance Tapes, and Bert van Loon, marketing innovation expert and independent strategist, will host 6 industry-related presentations for this year’s Working Programme, as well as a co-creation session with the audience on Thursday (Day 1) and experts panel discussions on both days. The entire event will include
- Technical, Marketing and Steering Committee Meetings
- Afera Flagship Sustainability Project Workstream Meeting and update
- Afera’s role in helping the shape of tape in the next decade
- Supply chain trends and challenges for the European tape industry, including a co-creation session on scenarios and shared priorities for the future
- Foresight and futures intelligence activity in a business setting
- What is wrong with the patent system
- Building future confidence in adhesive bonding technology.
Day 1 will be solely focussed on supply challenges and solutions. We are proud to announce that we have been able to secure one of the leading experts in supply chain strategies for our Working Programme. Prof. Dr. Bram Desmet is a professor of operations and supply chain at the renowned Vlerick Business School in Ghent, Belgium, and is also a guest lecturer at Peking University. In his last book, Prof. Dr. Desmet introduces the Supply Chain Triangle concept of Service, Cost and Cash as a foundation for strategic supply chain management. In addition to his academic role, Prof. Dr. Desmet is also CEO of Solventure, a supply chain transformation partner to help companies create sustainable value.
Our future business success is all about transparency and working together
After introductions on Day 1 of our Programme, Afera President Evert Smit, who is also director scouting at Lohmann, will discuss Afera’s role in helping shape tapes in the next decade. Then we will proceed with an address by Prof. Dr. Desmet on the key challenges and trends in the supply chain landscape. Following the networking break, we will conduct a group co-creation session during which participants can contribute and jointly draft supply chain scenarios from which both individual companies and the Industry as a whole can benefit. Then we will dive deeper into industry challenges during a panel discussion with both Prof. Dr. Desmet and industry leaders, exploring the lines of action and solution scenarios which are typically the responsibility of individual companies and those which are more suited to be developed within small or large industry collaborations.
On Day 2, we will touch on issues such as the evolution and future of patents in a changing world, and market intelligence gathering and the setting of business strategy. Explore with us Afera’s current Flagship Sustainability Project and how we can leverage “controlled longevity” to expand application areas for adhesive bonding in the 21st century. Finally, another panel discussion will focus on how Afera can inspire and support the European tape industry going forward.
Do not miss this unprecedented event! You will return home after the Conference with fresh insights and ideas about your own supply chain and other business strategies, and with an integrated view of collaboration opportunities to create a sustainable supply chain and better, protected innovation of products and technologies with value chain partners.
In addition to all this valuable content, the Annual Conference will also be filled with networking opportunities to reconnect with colleagues in the tape industry across Europe. These include scheduled cocktails, meals and coffee breaks, as well as the joint Social Programme, which features a guided tour of the centre of Valencia along with a street art workshop.
Don’t miss this opportunity to prepare your business for 2023 and beyond!
Lastly, I would like to thank the members of our dedicated Conference Programme organising committee for all their time and effort: Anne-Marie Klink (3M), Jean-Loup Masson (Novacel), Evert Smit, Rupert Kichler and Bert van Loon!
I look forward to seeing you in Valencia at the end of the month!
Astrid Lejeune
Afera Secretary General