drupa 2012: BOBST's Best Show Ever

drupa 2012 was BOBST's most successful trade fair ever. This success reflects the commitment demonstrated over the last two years by the worldwide producer of machinery and services for packaging manufacturers in the corrugated board, folding box and flexible packaging industries in its far-reaching transformation program. The three BOBST business units—Sheet-fed, Web-fed and Services—each generated record sales with their innovative products and services. The new uniform branding for the whole company also triggered positive energy among both customers and employees. In light of the thousands of leads received—including more than a hundred for firm projects due to take place over the next three months—the company is expecting very strong trading in the wake of the exhibition. In short: BOBST plans to use the momentum generated in Düsseldorf to continue to successfully implement its company-wide transformation process over the coming years.

"Over the last few years, our entire team has worked very hard to pave the way for our company's future. The results of this year's drupa confirm in no uncertain terms the benefits of these efforts and commitment. I'm very proud of our employees' great achievement," commented BOBST CEO Jean-Pascal Bobst at the close of the exhibition in Düsseldorf. "We intend to use this success and renewed motivation to further consolidate our company's position in the global marketplace."

BOBST unveiled a wide range of innovations at drupa 2012, with the company making a conscious decision to focus on four machines, each incorporating a range of innovations: the new 20SIX flexo printing machine platform for the production of flexible packaging, the new EXPERTCUT 106 PER flat-bed die-cutter, the MASTERFOLD 110-A3 folding box gluing machine and the SL 1000 solvent-free, high-speed laminating line. Many customers from all over the world also took advantage of drupa to see machines such as a 10-color F&K 20SIX flexo printing press in live operation at BOBST Bielefeld, as well as a MASTERFOIL 106 PR high-end foil stamping press at Druckveredelung Köch & Glasder GmbH in the town of Neuss, not far from the exhibition. BOBST also presented details of its new EXPERTFOIL 142 large-format foil stamping machine at drupa. In addition, in the autumn of 2011 BOBST had launched ACCUCHECK, the world's first integrated quality control system for folding-box gluing machines and GYROBOX, the first turning module for the corrugated board industry. In Düsseldorf, BOBST announced the launch of an industrial digital sheet-fed printing press for packaging production planned for the summer of 2013. Operating at high production speeds, this unit prints materials with water-based inks in photo-realistic quality, typically used in the packaging business.

In total, more than 100 transactions were concluded on the BOBST stand at drupa. For the Web-fed business unit, the machines from the new F&K 20SIX platforms attracted particular interest. This business unit also sold several vacuum metalization machines, laminating machines and gravure printing lines. For the Sheet-fed business unit, sales were distributed relatively equally between flat-bed die cutters, folding-box gluing machines, foil stamping machines and inline machines for the production of corrugated board packaging. The main attractions for the Services business unit included new remote services such as the MOBILE PORTAL app for machine monitoring using mobile terminals such as smart phones and Tablet PCs, and the Boost my BOBST program including upgrades for older machines.

One major highlight to emerge from BOBST's successful performance at drupa 2012 was the fact that more than 40 percent of the machines sold during the exhibition went to new customers. "This unusually high figure confirms the effectiveness of the group strategy we introduced two years ago. We have managed to increase our company's attractiveness for the existing customer base, while at the same time convincing potential new customers that BOBST is the right partner for their packaging production operations," said Jean-Pascal Bobst, explaining the conclusions drawn from these figures.

After Germany, India purchased the highest number of BOBST machines at drupa 2012. Brazil and China also ranked among the top six purchasing countries for the company at this year's drupa. This geographic distribution helps to explain the high proportion of new customers. In emerging markets, manufacturers of all kinds of goods are also following the trend towards high quality packaging apparent in developed industrial countries. Boosted by this continuously increasing demand for top quality packaging, many packaging manufacturers are experiencing rapid development.

BOBST's dynamic new branding also contributed to its success at drupa 2012. The company unveiled its new logo, replacing the group's previous brand names, under the slogan 'BOBST One Group, One Brand.'