Sandra Wagner is Vice President Sales & Marketing and a member of the management team at Koenig & Bauer Coding GmbH, Veitshöchheim. She is also responsible for designing and implementing the company's digital strategy. She has many years of experience in the industry and has been with the company for over eight years.
pj: Mrs Wagner, what is the current focus with Koenig & Bauer Coding?
Sandra Wagner: The entire situation surrounding the coronavirus has confronted us as a company, but also me personally. Major challenges was placed. In the short term, of course, the Delivery capability but even such mundane things as working from home had to be organised overnight. We are certainly no exception. But there are also very positive things to report: we will soon be launching our new alphaJET 5 inkjet printer, we have added more features to our Print & Apply system and our web shop will soon be online.
pj: What particular challenges did you face last year?
Sandra Wagner: It was the biggest challenge, our existing product portfolio with our digital strategy to connect. A wide variety of teams, including across the Group, have been working on various digital solutions. The centrepiece of our digital strategy is, of course, our Artificial intelligence Kyana, for example, which connects our inkjet printers with each other, measures their performance, enables live remote access and warns of malfunctions in good time via real-time data. We are currently preparing the next stage here. Contact can be made on our homepage from June.
pj: How do you assess the economic situation?
Sandra Wagner: Of course, this is extremely difficult to judge at the moment. But after a period of „shock paralysis“ in April First „lights on the horizon“ to see. I think every company is slowly trying to get back to normal and many of our customers are also reporting back to us that the situation is slowly but steadily returning to normal. Personally, I also believe that it helps if we can still look ahead positively and make the necessary adjustments. Pushing ahead with projects right now.
pj: What effects do you expect for Koenig & Bauer Coding?
Sandra Wagner: Of course, like most companies, we are currently experiencing losses. However, due to our production in Germany, we were not affected by supply chain or similar problems, for example. This Location advantage will help us in the future and has been particularly important for our customers in recent weeks. The rReal-time focus on the implementation of a digital strategy has proven to be absolutely right. So I'm looking ahead rather positively and see many opportunities for us in particular, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
pj: What do you see as the most important tasks and trends in the industry?
Sandra Wagner: For me, these are clearly digital solutions and the new business models that are developing from them, such as. E-learning in the technical field for our customers, or in the classic way Sales via web conference and just Customised digital offers, combined with the right labelling systems. This will certainly drive the entire industry forward and bring about major changes. However, it is just as important to address the issue of Sustainability The laser is the only technology that offers absolute advantages in this area.
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