Peak of packaging perfection: Print 21 magazine article

In the seemingly unstoppable market for packaging, one company reigns supreme as the source of the most advanced production equipment on the planet. Simon Enticknap visited the home of Bobst in the picturesque town of Lausanne in Switzerland to find out what makes the company so successful.

It's appropriate that one of the most best-known things to come out Switzerland should be an item of packaging. The triangular-shaped Toblerone box is a staple item of duty-free shops around the world, a iconic packaging design that is instantly recognisable and representative of what it contains - triangular blocks of Swiss chocolate shaped to mimic the Matterhorn, one of the most famous Alpine peaks of the region.

The Toblerone box does a lot more, however, that simply provide a container for the product; it is also a great example of how packaging can help to define and promote an item's branding, making it stand out on the shelf not just because of its unique shape but also as a result of the various processes - printing, foiling and embossing - that characterise today's packaging production. It really is a masterpiece of modern fabrication and assembly. (And to see how packaging can also help to make life more difficult for imitators, take a closer look next time at the Matterhorn logo on the box and see what lies hidden with in it.)

It's fitting then that such a distinctive package should come from Switzerland because that country is also home to one of the giants of packaging production, a company that has perhaps done more than any other to help define and develop the modern package. To find out more, I visited Lausanne in Switzerland, home to the worldwide Bobst group.

Second to none
The Bobst name has an unrivalled pedigree in the packaging world. The company began making its own equipment in 1915 and introduced the first Autoplaten die-cutter in 1940, establishing a brand and a technology that is to die-cutting what Hoover is to vacuuming. Over the years, the acquisition of well-known brands such as Schiavi, Asitrade and Martin saw the company extend its involvement into all sectors of packaging, not just board. Today, the company's interests cover three main areas: the folding carton market including die-cutters and folder-gluers, the corrugated board market that encompasses both converting equipment and flexo presses, and the flexible packaging sector which comprises flexo and gravure printing.

In Australia and New Zealand, Bobst is perhaps best known for its folding carton equipment, in particular its die-cutting and folder-gluer systems that can be found working in practically all the leading packaging companies in the region. Whilst the brand has always been popular in the region, over the past two to three years, since the local supplier, MAN Ferrostaal, took on the agency, Bobst has also enjoyed an unprecedented run of success locally with numerous new installations around the country.

Everywhere you go, the Bobst name is regard as being synonymous with quality and its customers are known for their loyalty to the brand. Having once tried the equipment, they tend to find it hard to give it up even when, for financial reasons, they may be forced to look elsewhere. Nigel Tracey, sales and marketing manager, folder-gluers, at the Bobst headquarters in Lausanne acknowledges that this is often the case when new packaging players - usually former Bobst users - enter the market and start out by buying non-Bobst equipment because it is perceived to be cheaper, even if they would prefer have Bobst.

"They often become some of our best customers because they've actually gone out and bought something else - and then they come back and buy Bobst," he says. "It's disappointing at first but nearly always, because these were users who were used to the production and reliability they've had from Bobst machinery, within two or three years most of them come back to buying Bobst."

Even in China, a market which is notorious for its reliance on home-made, cut-price copies of overseas equipment, there is a growing market for Bobst equipment and the machinery is regarded as something to which all packaging manufacturers aspire to own, not least for the kudos of being able to tell their customers that their packaging is produced on a Bobst.

Something for everyone
Being such a dominant player in the market can bring its own problems, however, and not just in the form of the ever-present threat of cheaper imitations from China. Several years ago, Bobst recognised that although it was dominant in the high end packaging market among the serious users, it needed to expand and diversify its product offering to suit different segments of the market and to spread its manufacturing base. Packaging is no longer a sector in which 'one size fits all' and, as a result, suppliers such as Bobst must respond by meeting the needs of an increasingly fragmented but globalised market.

The days when a box was just a box are long gone. You only have to look at your local supermarket shelves to see the dazzling variety of shapes, forms, designs and substrates involved in today's packaging production to see how far the market has progressed over the past couple of decades. In the high-end luxury goods market and the pharmaceutical sector, the changes have been even more profound with increasing demands for brand protection and security in packaging, all of which creates pressures on equipment suppliers to come up with new ways of working smarter and faster.

The process of diversification for Bobst began in the late 90s with products such as the popular Evoline die-cutter made in Brazil (manufactured today in Shanghai specifically for the Chinese market) and the Media folder-gluer. Then at drupa in 2004, the company unveiled an array of new products including 12 world premieres in the most comprehensive overhaul of its equipment range for both folder-gluing and die-cutting.

Today, the range of die-cutters includes entry-level machines such as the SPeria models manufactured in Brazil as well as the more advanced SPanthera and SPrintera models which continue to be made at Lausanne. With a choice of sheet sizes from 76cm up to a massive 162 cm, these systems come with a range of cutting, stripping and blanking options to suit specific production requirements.

At Ipex in 2006, the company went even further and launched the Commercial 106 die-cutter which is targeted specifically at the commercial print market as a value-add proposition, allowing printers to either bring in-house or increase their productivity in areas such as die-cutting, embossing, scoring and perforating. This was a deliberate strategy by Bobst to step outside the traditional packaging market and address printers who may not have the heavy volume required to justify a top-of-the-line machine but who are looking to diversify into a range of niche markets. It's an approach which has proven to be very popular in Australia with printers looking to move beyond the traditional Heidelberg Cylinder and deliver a higher quality, more productive service to their customers.

In carton folder-gluers, the product range is equally diverse with models such as the entry-level Amazon manufactured in Brazil, the highly popular mid-range Fuego and Mistral models made in China for the world market, as well as the top-of-the-range Alpina II. Last year, two larger folder-gluers, the Visionfold and Starfold, were launched specifically to address the burgeoning microflute market that sits in between and overlaps the traditional carton board and heavy duty corrugated sectors.

"The product range had to evolve, we had to be smarter on the folder-gluer side and with the die cutters," explains Tracey. "It's taken us some time to get the right product mix overall because we want to be able to have an entry-level solution for the guy who's starting out in business today, and we want to have a machine that the likes of Amcor or Carter Holt Harvey can put in and run non-stop for a year. So we're now catering for both sides of the market."

Time well spent
Of course, none of this happens overnight and the danger is that while new products are being developed, the market continues to move in new directions. As Tracey points out, the secret is not in trying to determine what packaging producers want now but rather what they will be demanding in four years time. The ability of Bobst to do that successfully over the years, he says, is a result of its commitment to R&D, and not just in terms of coming up with new inventions for the sake of it.

"The R&D teams are very customer-focused and we get them into the market as often as possible, which then allows us to come up with the right product," he says.

For instance, for last year's introduction of the Starfold and Visionfold folders, R&D teams interviewed more than 50 customers in a dozen countries to ensure that the machines' specifications would ultimately suit what they wanted.

"I think we do that very well," says Tracey. "Since the beginning of Bobst, that's been one of our key strengths and it continues to be so today."

At drupa 2008, Tracey promises more new releases, including new machines, as well as a focus on increasing productivity through higher speeds and shorter make-readies, improved quality with better registration systems, and improvements in operator ergonomics. It will, he says, be a new Bobst, and not just in terms of new models.

Spreading the word
Of course, getting the product into the marketplace is one thing but making sure it does what it is supposed to do is quite another. This is where the human factor comes in to play and, in particular, the transfer of knowledge that must occur between the supplier and the customer. Nigel Tracey says that while Bobst is quite happy to demonstrate that its machines can run at a certain rate, for hour after hour, and back up that commitment in writing, the real satisfaction comes when a customer returns to Bobst and shows they can run the equipment even faster or more efficiently than the Bobst experts. In effect, they become their own experts at what they do.

"We want those people to be surprised at what the solutions can do and not be disappointed," he says. "We should always strive to deliver more than we promise."

Closely related is the issue of service, an area in which Tracey admits Bobst has faced "a very big challenge" in recent years, not least because of the number of new machines and technologies hitting the market.

Raphaël Indermuehle, marketing and sales manager, SP die-cutters, says service has been a key point of focus for Bobst in Australia, and that the company has been working with MAN Ferrostaal to assemble a home-based team capable of looking after the growing number of Bobst installations. Last year, this involved drafting a specialist SPrintera operator from Dublin to move to Australia to help customers with specific issues and to assist with training and start-ups.

"He knows the machines inside out and he was ready to join us and go to Australia," says Indermuehle. "He's one of the best instructors we have around the country and very much appreciated by customers."

Indermuehle knows as well as anybody the pressures on Bobst in markets such as Australia that are much closer geographically to Chinese manufacturers who are able to produce clones of Bobst machinery at a much lower cost. Nevertheless, he believes there is much more than just price involved when it comes to buying a 'photocopied' machine.

"You can always make a photocopied machine but where is the know-how? If you don't know what you are doing when you assemble the machine, how do you adjust it for different needs, how do you adjust the synchronisation of all those parts together? And when it comes to installing the machine, how do you explain to the customer how to run it?," he comments. "If photocopying worked, we would never sell another machine but in fact we sell more machines today than ever before."

A tradition of expertise
A tour of the Bobst facilities at Lausanne reveals something of the real depth of knowledge and expertise that has been acquired by the packaging giant over many decades of working in this field. It's a huge manufacturing enterprise, spread over two main sites encompassing a mind-boggling array of processes and inter-related activities, and yet not surprisingly, it all looks so orderly and composed.

The older site at Prilly is an impressive demonstration of the engineering skill of the Bobst manufacturing process, featuring row after row of milling, polishing and metal turning equipment that underlines the precision engineering that lies at the heart of the Bobst machinery. One of the most impressive aspects of this site is the training facility that provides instruction to around 270 apprentices who are employed by Bobst and trained to become the workforce of the future. Approximately 70 new apprentices start each year (selected from over 1,000 applicants) to be trained in the Bobst method, and their classrooms and work areas are a testament to the tradition of high engineering standards that Bobst seeks to maintain.

The main facility at Mex on the outskirts of Lausanne is where the machines are assembled. Currently there are plans to close the Prilly site and move all employees to a new facility at Mex so that the entire manufacturing process can take place on one site. Preparation for the move is already underway with the setting up of a new demonstration area at the Mex facility to showcase the range of Bobst folder-gluers and die-cutters. It is here that visitors can experience the real extent of Bobst's on-going product development for the packaging market.

Showing me around the facility, Bernard Vionnet, product support manager for folder-gluers, says that every year Bobst receives dozens of requests from customers for help with new packaging designs and configurations, and that in 99% of cases, the Bobst technicians are able to come up with a method for producing the package efficiently and effectively. It is also here in the demo area that it's possible to see some of the Bobst peripherals designed to address specific production issues, such as the Gyrobox, a clever device which turns the box on a folder-gluer enabling folds which would normally require two passes to be done in a single pass.

There's also the Accubraille inline brailling system that addresses the mandatory requirement in the EU for information to be added to certain types of pharmaceutical packaging in Braille. Vionnet explains that using Accubraille inline on the folder-gluer as opposed to embossing on the die-cutter is a much more efficient process and ensures a higher quality embossed result as well as lower tooling costs - a very clever device indeed.

And if you do ever make a visit to Bobst at Lausanne - and I would recommend it for printers as well as packagers - make sure you get to see the stores department at the Mex plant. It's an amazing example of a robotic system capable of managing millions of spare parts stretching as far as the eye can see. It's a spectacle in its own right and like the typical chocolate-box images of Swiss Alpine peaks disappearing into the distance, there's not a human being in sight.