Three years after first announcing Bobst Connect, its strategy to link all elements of the packaging supply chain in a digital network, Bobst announced the latest steps towards the digitisation of the packaging industry.
This has not included further digital presses to join its hybrid and inkjet narrow web label presses, but has included a new solventless laminator designed for narrow and mid web and digitally printed packaging applications. The Nova MW copes with a web width to 830mm with speed of 350m/min and is optimised for short run production of flexible packaging including pouches.
The foundation of the Bobst strategy is the Connect cloud, linking the different machines in the company’s portfolio to automate set ups and minimise waste and down time. To date more than 4,500 machines across 98 countries are linked in this way.
Bobst CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst says: “The packaging industry is in the midst of a digital revolution, which is forcing every company to innovate, challenge their approach, think end to end and digital, and leverage networks and platforms to deliver new business models for their clients.”
He leads a company that has been taken private since the company’s annual press conference in 2022, The shares are no longer listed on Swiss stock markets as more than 85% are in the hands of JBF, the foundation owned by the Bobst family. The reason is given as a need to take a long term view for development of the business.
In 2022 sales increased almost 18% to CHF1.8 billion (£1.6 billion) from CHF1.6 billion (£1.4 billion). It has used some of the excess generated to buy a majority stake in robotic handling company Dücker which will result in robots for loading and unloading of corrugated sheets.
At the company’s AGM in March, Monserrat Peidra-Insa, at one time head of Heidelberg’s digital press division, was elected to the Bobst board in a non executive role. Her experience from Heidelberg and HP before that will feed into Bobst’s focus on digital technologies.
Thus the CEO was able to put this in context with the comment last week that “the new solutions announced today are the latest in a line of continuous innovation to help our customers thrive in this new reality all together”.
He named Tool Management as a key component of this. It advances operation of TooLink equipped dies which have already brought time savings for companies using Boost die cutters, by identifying and presetting the machine. Tool Management takes this on a further stage by scanning and analysing dies from the die makers through use, storage and reuse, understanding what is needed on the devices used.
The Quick Change technology used in semi-rotary die cutting is now available to rotary die cutting, halving the time to switch dies and extending the format of semi-rotary die cutting to 370mm wide machines.
There is development underway to link the Accucheck device (measuring an original for colour) to the Digital Master concept for both analogue and digital label presses.
In flexible packaging the Vision CI will be introduced later this year suitable for printing on paper rather than films. In carton, there is the promise of upgrades to the folder-gluer portfolio to increase their productivity and to fit with the fully digital and connected packaging industry strategy that Bobst Connect represents.
