Swiss print, packaging and allied equipment manufacturer, Bobst Group takes a closer look to assess the market to ensure that its customers and future clients will have as the solutions they need in a changing environment.
highest quality and faster speed / time to market”
The printing and converting industry for packaging production across labels, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated boards are undergoing a massive transformation. It is important for all converters to understand the main challenges ahead and to be prepared. Here Bobst explains their take on seven challenges that need utmost attention to help packaging printers sail smoothly in their production and operations.
- Protect, deliver, appeal
The role of packaging has been evolving over the years. While protecting the goods is still the number one priority, it needs to be done sustainably often using thinner materials and more sophisticated design. With the rapid development of new retail formats (particularly e-commerce), the delivery mechanism of boxes is becoming more complex, and the packaging production needs to be done differently and faster with more produc-tive and flexible machines while delivering the highest quality.
Brand owners use packaging to stand out on the shelf and to appeal to customers. The recent trend requires shorter production runs, repeat orders and flexibility, which is putting more pressure on converters to adjust their packaging production line capabilities.
- Conventional and digital
For decades, the printing and converting of packaging have used conventional methods. But new digital solutions are now enabling significant progress, meaning brand owners and converters can do things that were not previously possible.
- Workflow digitisation
One of the biggest challenges is the management of various interfaces between different equipment and between the brand owner, the agency, the printers and converters. Automation will help to fully optimise the machines’ uptime and enable effective communication between the one ordering the boxes, the one producing them and all the others in the middle. While printers and converters spend a lot of energy to select the most productive machines, they sometimes underestimate the complexity of the entire workflow.
- Cost pressure
We live in a world where we all want more for the same – or even better, for less. Brand owners, who are the ultimate decision- makers on the packaging, want better, faster, more customised, better secured, but they do not want to spend more. The truth for packaging production is that the cost of a given box should not be higher than it is today. The overall packaging production costs are impacted by three major elements: quality, productivity and costs.
- Sustainability
Packaging production will need to process more advanced substrates, thinner materials and more demanding designs all with the same productivity, more flexibility and definitely at the same cost. Ideal waste management means zero-fault packaging. The ability to manage repeat orders and legal regulation changes will also be high on the requirements list.
- Manpower, education, staffing Hiring in this industry can be challenging talented individuals who fully understand the industry requirements are rare, and the industry is sometimes perceived as less attractive than others.
The move to new digital solutions across the production chain will make packaging production more attractive. Training of existing staff members needs to be integrated into work- force planning.
- Services
This is not about the break and fix of a given machine but rather the daily relation- ship needed with suppliers – indeed, they should be ‘partners’, rather than ‘suppliers’. With the advent of the Internet of things, more and more equipment is connected directly with the manufacturers, and preventive maintenance is no longer science fiction.
In conclusion, “Our objective is to constantly assess the challenges ahead to enable packaging production in the most appropriate manner.”
Bobst Mex SA, Switzerland