At a press conference on June 9, 2021, Bobst detailed its strategy for connecting the dots between Packaging 4.0 and Industry 4.0. Changing consumer behaviors and new technologies are currently disrupting the label and package printing industry, and brand owners of every size are under increasing pressure to deliver the ideal packaging blend of design, substrates and quality.

Bobst's strategy for the future is built on four cornerstones: connectivity, digitalization, automation and sustainability. 

“We are living through a period of profound transformation in our industry, and our approach is to embrace that transformation and provide new opportunities for our customers,” states Jean-Pascal Bobst, CEO, Bobst Group. “The solutions we provide mean converters and brand owners can cope with the shifting pressures and rapidly-changing environment that they face. We are on the journey with them and we can shape the future of the packaging world together.”

With Bobst Connect, the company is providing digital solutions to prepare, produce, react to, maintain, and optimize production workflow. Bobst believes that the entire packaging value chain can be connected, which has led to Bobst Connect. By linking up every single step of the process, Bobst Connect heightens efficiency, control, and data knowledge. Bobst Connect is a link between Bobst production equipment and the digital eco-system (including third-party software), designed to enhance efficiency, accuracy, performance and ultimately – profitability. 

Bobst Connect allows customers to monitor machine and production health to reduce waste and increase profitability. Machine-specific dashboards help visualize and monitor the health of the machine, and a shop-floor view indicates production status. Operators can also track OEE by job, shift, and time period while understanding the root cause behind common losses in availability, performance and quality. The Bobst Connect platform will also include predictive and maintenance management solutions.

Bobst also highlighted the myBOBST service, which uses digital technologies to help brands stay connected when unexpected events or special challenges arise. Plus, Bobst, the company's extended color gamut technology, is deployed across analog and digital printing presses for label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated board. ECG refers to a set of process inks – typically seven – to achieve a specific combination a color gamut larger than the traditional CMYK, ensuring color repeatability irrespective of the color operator’s skill.

According to Bobst, oneECG not only brings efficiency and productivity but it allows customers to produce in a more sustainable way. With oneECG in gravure for example, customers can reduce ink consumption, leftovers and material waste by up to 50%.

Bobst is currently working on additional developments, including further enhancements to the HMI dedicated to oneECG and additional automatic inline processes and new certifications and patents dedicated to this project.

Meanwhile, Bobst's new label portfolio is being powered by digitalization. To ensure the vision is implemented effectively, in early 2021 Bobst acquired the remaining 49.9% of Mouvent AG. This acquisition is a commitment toward an acceleration of the digitalization of printing based on a proprietary cluster technology, delivering high quality, high speed and a low TCO. Bobst will now integrate Mouvent fully under the Bobst brand and go-to-market activities.

Bobst believes the future of label production will be primarily driven by inkjet developments and the growth of the "All-in-One" category the company announced in 2019.

In 2020, the Bobst DM5 received the EDP Industry Award for the best combined label and flexible packaging printer of the year. In 2021, the Bobst DM5 is now fully commercially available with various installations at customer sites.

We believe that digitalized, closed-loop end-to-end connected systems are the future for labels, enabling converters to deliver faster, with better quality and less waste and more profitably answering the growing demand for on-demand labels production. Making All-in-One, All-in-Line a reality is one of the best proof points of the new Packaging 4.0 industry vision with the amin to optimize the entire production floor.

Finally, Bobst's Digital Inspection Table (DIT) solutions have been enhanced for quality control, streamlining the process, improving precision and automating reporting. This also represents a strategic piece within the Packaging 4.0 roll-out.

This fully digitalized tables use data to avoid human errors, decrease waste, and reduce expensive and damaging recalls. It enhances customer relationships based on data driven business insights.