Leading an industry is not easy, especially when battling climate change. But this is what Jean Pascal Bobst is taking on when the packaging industry’s solutions are neither simple nor solvable by a single company. From our understanding of what the Bobst Group has been saying and doing for the past several years, the company wants to help define the framework of packaging’s future — edited excerpts of our interview with the CEO of the Bobst Group at drupa24.
PSA’s Shardul Sharma and Naresh Khanna – In the company’s press conference at drupa, you spoke about the addition of consultancy and software to the company’s products. Please expand a bit on these.
Jean Pascal Bobst – Yes, we are becoming more and more a software company, and as I said at our press conference, one of our recent strategic moves is the strategic partnership with French company Packitoo, whose web-based sales tool HIPE automates the generation of quotations, manages packaging projects, and supports web-to-pack eShops for printers and converters. The partnership aligns with the strategy to digitalize and be part of the connection within the packaging value chain, from brand owners to converters and equipment suppliers. For instance, other clouds in the supply chain are linked to Bobst Connect, everything centered around the ‘job recipe’ which is designed, produced, consumed, and recycled.
Our investment in developing a consulting organization will encompass all technologies and entire installations, including technologies from other manufacturers. My people are experts in the equipment, but they are not professionals in consulting. There are customers who trust us and are willing to invest in our innovations because they see our company and our support systems. They say ok, let’s go for it.
We may have sold a machine, but the client is interested in the implementation of the solution. I think every converter understands change and they are looking for how to promote evolution and transformation within the organization. We all know we have to employ new technologies, but the question is how to use them and transform the business. Consulting with quality time can help us convince the client why they should use Bobst Connect or use this technology by click, or by performance. This is all about the human interface, trust, and, in the end, increasing performance.
The tools for this have also changed. For instance, right from this room, I can stream a live demo of a vacuum metallizer in Manchester in the UK, or indeed anywhere. We can do a showcase where the customer in this conference room can operate the machine by controlling and driving it from a screen and see it running over the Internet.
PSA – Do you see the need for the industry to align or standardize its communication and objectives for automation, data integration, connectedness and sustainability, to the cloud? Is this a concern for your company?
Jean Pascal Bobst – I know it sounds ambitious, but someone has to start. To have a common protocol is a big question. When you ask key people in many industry-leading businesses to define future structures, they push their solutions to be the standards. For instance, in labels, there is a standard and it is our job to meet it. However, when you talk about folding cartons and flexpack, we have tried to talk to some of the leaders, but we don’t have a standard or a smart solution today.
There are always challenges, but with the current level of digital technology, unlike in the past, with the clouds we have the advantages of APIs (application program interfaces) from each of the players in the industry. As such, we can create intuitive connections, such as we are doing with Esko. Its protocol can be integrated with Bobst Connect with a “three-click strategy.” This is an opportunity for the industry, and we should have a common digital backbone, but that’s not yet done.
Additionally, there are many areas where we need to have a common approach or language, such as in color management or the discussion about the migration of inks or recyclability. As a company, it is a concern for us and we also have the willingness to reach some kind of common understanding of these strategic and important hot topics for the industry and consumers.
PSA – What are some of the implications of the geopolitical situation for the packaging industry?
Jean Pascal Bobst – The packaging industry has to adjust and adapt, whatever geopolitical event is popping up, and there will be more challenging times ahead for sure.
As far as macroeconomics and macrogeopolitics, we have to anticipate and remain agile and mitigate the risks. This is one reason we have invested more in India, where Bobst will have 800 to 1,000 people. We migrated to our second production space in February of this year and now we have another space, nearby, just ten minutes away.
Mitigating the risks is why we have invested more in our beautiful location in Pune. We have made folder gluers and modules for corrugators for many years. We will expand this first manufacturing plant to overcome some of the supply chain challenges by producing more in-house and increasing our knowledge training center and apprentice capacity.
In February, we migrated to our second factory where we are producing the entry-level K5 metallizer and the first machines are already in production. In Q4 this year, we will produce the first Nova FFG line, while in 2025, we will establish our third plant in Pune for flexpack machines such as our gravure presses, and we will manufacture label presses as well.
Our 800 to 1,000 people in Pune will include the 100 people we already have for R&D in mechanics, IT software and other development functions.
PSA – What is the Bobst plan, structure, or ‘human resource ecosystem’ for leadership roles within the company as it moves into the new era of industry alignment, integration and cooperation to meet the sustainability challenges?
We have a very strong HR community. For all our future group management needs, we have about 200 people worldwide and a structured onboarding process that includes a Leadership Manifesto. For the next generation, our experience will be a true gift. Our plan includes various mentoring programs and reverse mentoring, to meet the high potential of the group. We want to continuously develop our apprentice center, offering new job opportunities for Bobst and the community.
We know the future may be more volatile, and our approach is essential to help them meet the challenges of resilience through the cycles, which we have to help them learn. We have different programs in India, China or Europe, but every region has the same group backbone.
