Vietnam Print Pack 2025 took place in Ho Chi Minh City from 10 to 13 September 2025. It is the country’s principal exhibition for printing, packaging and labelling, and for a blade manufacturer it is a useful test of whether an export product line actually fits the local converting industry rather than just the catalogue.
Dekeer attended as a manufacturer of industrial knives for printing and packaging. This page summarises what we brought, what Vietnamese converters asked for, and what the results were.
1. Why Vietnam Was the Right Show for Us
Vietnam’s packaging sector has been expanding faster than its domestic tooling supply, which creates a specific buying pattern: converters need blades that fit machines sourced from China, Taiwan, Japan and Europe, often on the same factory floor, and they need them without a six-week import lead time on every order.
That combination — mixed machine base, high growth, import-dependent consumables — is exactly where a manufacturer with in-house grinding and a wide geometry library has an advantage over a trading company.
| Market characteristic | What it means for blade supply |
|---|---|
| Mixed machine base from multiple origins | Blades must be made to drawing or sample rather than to a single OEM standard |
| Fast capacity growth | Consumption rises quickly, and reorder intervals shorten |
| Cost pressure from local competition | Blade life becomes the deciding metric, because downtime and scrap cost more than the knife |
| Eco-friendly packaging policy direction | Thinner, recycled and coated substrates that wear blades differently from virgin material |
2. What We Showcased
| Product line | Local need it addressed |
|---|---|
| Packaging machine blades | Sealing and cutting knives for VFFS, flow-wrap and pouch lines running in food packaging |
| Corrugated carton slotting and grooving knives | Carton plants supplying e-commerce and export packaging |
| Serrated and zig-zag knives | Film cross-cutting where the web has to be held during the stroke |
| Tungsten carbide and wear-resistant grades | Lines moving to recycled or abrasive substrates and needing longer edge life |
The packaging machine blades guide covers the technical selection behind these lines, and the corrugated blade guide covers the carton side.
3. Results From the Show
Three outcomes are worth recording, because they describe the shape of demand rather than just activity at a stand.
| Outcome | Detail |
|---|---|
| Orders under discussion | 12 intentional orders taken on site, including discussions with 3 packaging enterprises ranked among Vietnam’s top 10 |
| Customer conversations | More than 200 visitors spoke with the team, most of them converters rather than traders |
| Channel development | Preliminary cooperation agreements reached with 3 leading equipment agents in Vietnam |
The pattern behind those numbers is consistent with what we see in other Southeast Asian markets: the first purchase is usually a trial quantity on a single line, and the decision to switch the rest of the plant follows only after the edge life has been measured against the incumbent blade. That is a slower sales cycle than a trading company experiences, and a more durable one.
4. What Vietnamese Buyers Asked About Most
- Compatibility with existing machines. Most enquiries started with a machine model and a photograph of the worn blade rather than with a part number.
- Delivery time on repeat orders. A blade that arrives after the line has stopped is worth nothing, so lead time was discussed as often as price.
- Blade life on recycled substrate. Several converters had moved part of their output to recycled or thinner film and found their existing knives rounding off faster.
- Whether a custom geometry is economic at their volume. The answer depends on how far the geometry is from a standard pattern, not on the order size alone.
5. Building Local Support
Export supply only works if the after-sales loop is short. Following the show, we began developing local warehousing and technical support in Vietnam with the aim of delivering commonly used knives within 72 hours, together with product selection training for agent staff.
The reasoning is straightforward. A blade is a consumable, and a converter switching supplier is taking a risk on edge life. Short delivery and local technical support reduce that risk to a level where a trial becomes reasonable. The 72-hour target applies to commonly used geometries held locally; custom items still follow the normal manufacturing lead time.
6. What Comes Next
Our exhibition schedule and technical notes are published on the news page. Converters in Vietnam and the wider Southeast Asian region who want to evaluate a blade against their current supply can send a sample or drawing for a specification check before ordering.
Next Step: Send a Sample or Drawing
DEKEER has manufactured precision industrial blades for more than 20 years, exporting to Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. We forge and CNC grind in-house, in D2 / SKD11, HSS and tungsten carbide, with edge geometry matched to the material being cut.
Send your machine model, the material you run and a photograph of the blade you are replacing with a rule across it through dkeblade.com contact. Our engineers will confirm grade, dimensions and edge angle before anything is ground.
Related reading: packaging machine blades guide, serrated blades for packaging, choosing blade material and the CHINAPLAS 2026 review.