Koenig & Bauer has tabled a new set of corporate goals where long term sustainability of the 200-year-old business is at its core.
The strategy has been unveiled under the title of Exceeding Print, and as well as expected pronouncements on becoming a strategic partner and trusted adviser to customers, doubling down on packaging, post press, industrial commercial printing and security print as its key sectors of focus, the company is embracing environmental stewardship and embracing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. It says that seven of the UN’s 17 goals apply to the print equipment provider and its activities.
The business is a member of 4Evergreen, supporting sustainability in packaging, is Cradle to Cradle certified, works with Climate Partner to offset emissions, is the first equipment manufacturer in the ‘Healthy Printing’ initiative, is a partner in the BlueCompetence’ sustainability projects run by engineering confederation the VDMA, and is also a member of Holy Grail 2.0, a group backing development of machine sortation of packaging waste. “By 2025, we are aiming to reduce CO2 emissions in our production plants by 75% and intend to be completely carbon neutral from 2030 on,” says CEO Andreas Pleßke. “Solutions based on technology that we developed reduce energy consumption, cut waste and decrease ink and coasting consumption, helping to cut CO2 emissions.”
On the HR side, there is a commitment to enable women to join the company and to fulfil their potential with “wide reaching measures to reconcile family and career”, alongside policies to combat discrimination and racism. Women will also benefit from mentoring career development programmes.
The new strategy emphasises the use of digital tools to improve support and service to customers across the world, using a cloud based CRM to link different functions in the business and linking to machines in the field.
Thomas Göcke, head of digital business transformation, says that this includes using big data analysis and artificial intelligence to “really understand what is happening on the customer side. When we receive a call regarding a linked machine, all the correct information is immediately in the system so we can react very very fast and help reduce a printer’s down time”.
Every press, he says, delivers 100,000 data points meaning that AI is needed spot ‘non normal’ patterns that indicate a problem is looming. One alert spotted a problem with lubrication, but the customer insisted he had carried out the procedure correctly. When pressed to check again, he discovered the wrong fluid had been used. A catastrophic disaster was averted.
Koenig & Bauer has some 8,000 presses in operation at customer sites globally, though because of age and otherwise, 2,000 of these cannot be linked, leaving a potential network of 6,000. And printers are changing their attitude towards remote access, Göcke says. “We see an increasing trend of customers willing to share data where in the past there was a reluctance and limited access. Now customers are approaching us.”
