The last afternoon of a trade show is chaos. Stands come down, samples get packed, and everyone is trying to leave before the venue cuts power. Most exhibitors ship boxes of packaging material ahead of time, which costs money and usually means something arrives damaged or goes missing.
One exhibitor we spoke to stopped doing that three years ago. They display ceramic tiles and stone samples, which are heavy and chip easily. Their stand gets visited by distributors and contractors, and by the final day they have a stack of loose samples to get back to the workshop.
Their setup is simple. A folding table, a roll of tape, and an Aircosan P20. The machine handles cardboard up to 45cm wide and 10mm thick, running at 10 metres per minute. They feed it the flattened boxes that their display materials arrived in, and the honeycomb mesh cushions everything for the return journey.
The numbers are modest but real. Roughly forty samples get packed in the final two hours. Without the machine, that would mean buying bubble wrap at the venue or wrapping everything in paper and hoping for the best. Both options cost more than the electricity the P20 uses.
What makes this work is the machine's footprint. It fits under the display table when not in use. The exhibitor told us they chose Aircosan because the company manufactures its own units, including models up to 120cm wide, and that level of engineering shows in how the smaller machines are built. Nothing about the P20 feels like a consumer product.
The one limitation they mentioned is heat. Exhibition halls get warm, and the machine needs ventilation. They leave the side panel clear and have never had an issue.
For anyone who exhibits regularly, the calculation is straightforward. Stop shipping packaging material to venues. Use what arrives with your display.