DS Smith, an International Paper company and a leading international provider of fiber-based and sustainable packaging solutions, has implemented the Bobst Connect digital platform to enhance operations by bringing data and digital services together into one fully connected platform. These services are currently being utilized across DS Smith facilities in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) region.

DS Smith has collaborated with Bobst for over five decades, beginning in 1971 with the installation of a Bobst flatbed die-cutter at its packaging facility in Toury, France. This long-standing strategic partnership in the procurement of specialized converting equipment means that two-thirds of DS Smith’s converting machinery is manufactured by Bobst. As part of this collaboration, DS Smith has also adopted Bobst Connect technology at its corrugated cardboard packaging facility in Belchatow, Poland.

Digitalizing processes

As a cloud-based digital platform, Bobst Connect is designed to bridge the gap between machines and the digital world, enhancing packaging productivity. At the core of key operations, the technology integrates data and digital services with built-in expertise, such as Bobst machine insights. This platform supports DS Smith’s packaging production by providing a comprehensive overview and a streamlined data flow, from PDF format to the final product.

Bobst Connect is designed to enable the ongoing digitalization of operations and provide solutions for process management, production data, and insights. These tools facilitate improved planning, better-informed decision making, more effective interventions, and continuous optimization. Bobst Connect also offers capabilities to leverage unique data insights both on-site in DS Smith facilities and remotely. By adopting this data-driven and interconnected operational strategy, DS Smith is supported in consistently delivering high-quality products, on schedule, in full, and tailored to every customer.

Sustainable functionalities

As a dynamic and modular solution, Bobst Connect is continually evolving with new functionalities. These include an Energy Monitoring feature designed to measure energy consumption, provide real-time cost analysis, identify areas for efficiency improvement, optimize energy costs, and reduce carbon emissions.

François Duboin, technical excellence director, DS Smith Packaging EMEA, says, “We have used the Bobst Connect platform since its inception, and the system has been onboarded on our most recently installed converting lines. Having already seen benefits in terms of performance, we are excited to experience and have access to the wealth of data and the advances in efficiency and productivity that the platform helps us to unlock. We are rapidly increasing our knowledge of the power of data and its potential for use across our footprint in Europe.”

“We continue to expand our digitalization tools in our manufacturing processes and Bobst Connect contributes towards the optimization of our assets and observation of our energy reductions, as we pave the way for an industry-wide transition to a circular economy,” he concludes.

Both DS Smith and Bobst share a strategy and a vision for the packaging industry rooted in a sustainable future and circular economy, and Bobst’s vision is built on the four key pillars of connectivity, digitalization, automation, and sustainability.

Szymon Ochociński, digital performance solutions manager at Bobst, comments, “Bobst and DS Smith have built a strong partnership over the decades and the goal has always been to develop equipment and technology to the highest specification possible. DS Smith is a key innovator in the packaging industry and an invaluable partner in connecting and digitalizing the value chain to drive efficiencies and sustainability for all stakeholders. We are delighted to be supporting an industry-wide transition to a circular economy with Bobst Connect.”

DS Smith plays a key role in the value chain across a variety of sectors including e-commerce, FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), food and beverage, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, agriculture, automotive, and industrials.

Through its purpose of Redefining Packaging for a Changing World and its Now & Next Sustainability Strategy, the company is committed to leading the transition to a circular economy, and delivering innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for its customers and society at large, alongside replacing problematic plastics, reducing the carbon footprint in supply chains, and providing recycling and reuse solutions.