drupa 2024 opened on 28 May and ran through 7 June 2024 at Messe Düsseldorf, welcoming visiting professionals daily from 10:00 with extended weekend hours. The fair remained the global reference for print and converting technology, and the 2024 edition reflected post-pandemic recovery in international travel alongside intensifying focus on sustainability regulation.
Flexible packaging halls featured live CI flexo demonstrations emphasising register stability on thin film laminate—a topic visitors ranked alongside seal consistency on downstream bag lines. OEMs highlighted shorter changeover routines, servo drives, and inline inspection modules aligned with short-run SKU portfolios common in snack and food applications.
A dedicated sustainability and regulations track connected booth conversations to PPWR trilogue outcomes finalised in March 2024. Converters asked application engineers how design-for-recycling criteria would influence laminate layer count, ink selection, and adhesive systems—questions that quotation teams documented for follow-up after the fair.
Attendance patterns showed strong representation from Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe—regions where export converters supply EU brand owners subject to upcoming PPWR obligations. Buyers who shared substrate samples and hall layout drawings in advance reported more productive booth meetings than walk-in visits without preparation.
drupa 2024 also confirmed the next edition for May 2028 in Düsseldorf, preserving the four-year cycle. Converters treating 2024 as an investment-cycle reference used the fair to benchmark speed classes, colour configurations, and energy profiles before issuing scoped RFQs to flexo and converting line suppliers in the second half of the year.