The cloud-based data and remote service platform Bobst Connect plays a central role in the realisation of the company's vision for the future. This aims to fundamentally reshape the packaging world and thus lead it into a better future. The keys to this are networking, digitalisation and automation of workflows as well as the switch to more sustainable packaging materials and production processes.
Since mid-2022, Bobst has been equipping all new machines delivered to the market with Bobst Connect Essential. The company thus enables its customers to digital transformation of their processes. This follows a strategic roadmap, within the framework of which the functionality of the new cloud-based platform is being successively expanded in close cooperation with customers will. With Recipe Management for AccuCheck and Tool Management, Bobst presented further pioneering innovations in June 2023.
In Bobst's vision, the packaging industry's value chain will be fully digitalised.
„The digital revolution in the packaging industry is forcing all companies to break new ground, to question their previous ways of working, to think in terms of holistic and digital processes and to utilise networks and platforms in order to develop new business models for their customers. Bobst's industrial vision, which is based on the four pillars of networking, digitalisation, automation and sustainability, supports this transformation to the highest degree.“
Jean-Pascal Bobst, CEO Bobst
The new machine solutions equipped with Bobst Connect Essential allow customers to monitor the machine's performance at any time and with any end device. Call up production data and further information on these machines. Bobst is thus paving the way for powerful digital services for the data-supported optimisation of their production processes.
In the first step, Bobat Connect primarily Functions for monitoring the most important machine data available. The latest expansion stage of the cloud-based data and remote service platform now also offers a wide range of additional services. Possibilities for efficient control and optimisation of production in real time.
„The new functions make the benefits of Bobst Connect much more tangible for many of our customers, making their machine processes more transparent than ever before and thus creating the conditions for effective production management.“
Manfred Bauer, IoT expert at Bobst
The basis for this are dashboards (shop floor and production performance dashboards), which Bobst has developed in close cooperation with pilot customers and tested in their production facilities. In their entirety these dashboards visualise the performance of production like digital twins. For example, plant and operations managers can use these dashboards to access the „virtual machines“ either from their desks or on the move and see their current operating status and the most important performance data in real time. Which order for which customer is currently running on the machine? When did production start? How many packs of this order have already been produced? The answers to these and many other questions are visible at a glance.
The same applies to the key performance indicators (KPIs) and overall equipment efficiency (OEE). Availability, set-up times and machine speeds as well as downtimes and the quality produced (good parts/rejects) are displayed on the intuitive dashboard interfaces in Transparently visualised in the form of trend displays, percentages and diagrams. All illustrations are characterised by clarity and colourful graphics.
The shop floor dashboards provide production managers with an overview of the quick overview of the operating status of all Bobst machines, that are connected to Bobst Connect in their plant(s). Among other things, in the form of trend displays for the most important OEE and KPI data.
The production performance dashboards provide even deeper insights into the performance data of the machines. Like a digital recording of production, they show all the OEE data supplied by the machines over the displayed time period at a glance. For example, the Availability of the machines displayed in the form of a diagram showing the progression of the machine status. Green sections visualise the productive times, yellow sections the set-up times and red sections the downtimes. In these dashboards, users can choose whether they want to view individual orders, shifts or entire production days for target/actual comparisons, for example. The interactive interface with the option of dynamically zooming into the graphics and enlarging sections, This allows you to visualise more detailed information for any point in time during production.
„In the production performance dashboards, our customers can easily compare jobs, shifts or days, for example, and summarise OEE key figures such as set-up times or downtimes. With the help of these comparisons Identify efficiency and quality losses and make targeted changes. These options are particularly popular with our customers,“ says Bauer. The production performance dashboards also provide comprehensive statistics for analyses.
In general, these dashboards open up a wide range of options for production managers to influence processes remotely. This allows them to Monitor production orders and quickly recognise deviations. Bobst Connect thus enables rapid communication between production management and machine operators and process optimisation during ongoing production.
In addition, the production performance dashboards enable a Simple shift planning or the transfer of data from a higher-level planning system. Bauer: „Our customers can flexibly customise the planning for each machine with just a few clicks. The feedback we get from them is that shift management has never been so easy for them.“
All these options are available in the dashboards at the click of a mouse; users do not have to call up any functions. Bobst Connect therefore provides plant and production managers with more comfort and efficiency in monitoring, analysing and fine-tuning production, significantly reducing the workload. This is something that was previously not common in packaging production. They can also standardise their processes with the platform's tools.
„Since mid-2022, the Bobst Connect community has been growing with every machine that our company delivers. At the same time, the attractiveness of our data and remote service platform is continuously increasing with the gradual development of new functions for digitalisation and the automation of our customers“ processes that it makes possible."
Manfred Bauer
An important building block here is the integration of Bobst Connect with customers' ERP, MES and MIS systems as well as with their artwork management and prepress solutions. The company makes this integration possible for its customers via an easy-to-use API interface (Application Programming Interface). The Automatically feed order data into the machines and their quality control systems.
Bobst recently took the next step with the introduction of pioneering innovations for job recipe management, i.e. the automatic transfer of job data to its new machines. With the Recipe Management for the AccuCheck inspection system on Prepared recipes remotely based on the print template files and set up the system can be used. This means that data no longer has to be entered manually. For example, the folding carton production in this way reduces set-up times and avoids input errors.
The recipes for AccuCheck can be saved and their parameters called up from anywhere at any time. This solution therefore lays the foundation for closed control loops. In these, the quality assurance systems automatically feed the error messages back into Bobst Connect. The machine settings are adjusted on the basis of this information during ongoing production.
The Italian packaging manufacturer Cartotecnica Prealpi srl is already using this function successfully. It has reduced its set-up times and improved its quality control at the same time.
Another unique innovation from Bobst for job recipe management is the tool management solution with TooLink. It integrates the punching process with tool production and enables tool management in Bobst Connect, demonstrating how digitised value chains are created across companies as part of Bobst's vision.
Customers can now have their die-cutting tools fitted with TooLink data chips by their tool manufacturers, on which the job recipes, including all machine parameters, are stored. This information is later read out in the punching presses so that the Automatically adjust machines. At the same time, Bobst Connect stores the production data over the entire service life of the punching tools. Thus TooLink allows the Tracking and evaluation of tool performance, maintenance work and orders.
TooLink is currently being tested in practice by beta customers in close cooperation with Bobst-certified punching tool manufacturers (High Performance Tooling) and is showing excellent results: Beta customers are reporting significant Shorter set-up times and maximum quality of the packaging they produce.
The Bobst Connect roadmap also focuses on developing innovative solutions for monitoring sustainability and managing maintenance activities and quality control.
