Chief Executive Officer, Bobst Group SA
Exclusive interview with CEO of Bobst: Jean Pascal Bobst
PackagingMEA #Bobst #Packaging.
About Jean-pascal Bobst
Jean-Pascal Bobst, CEO of Bobst SA, discussed the company’s digital transformation and regional growth in a 2022 interview. He stated that digitization for Bobst involves using data from client PDFs to improve machine performance across label, folding carton, film, and corrugated sectors, calling it a “major revolution” for the industry. He noted that the Middle East and Africa region has shown intense growth, leading Bobst to invest in stronger technical support and field service teams there. Bobst described the company’s 132-year history as a foundation of values and innovation, adding that clients choose Bobst for its technical and human values. In a 2021 interview, Bobst emphasized the gradual adoption of digital printing in packaging, predicting that over the next five to ten years, more materials would be digitally printed or laser-cut. He described Bobst’s differentiators as its people, technology innovation, and values, and stated his personal motto as “people knowledge and passion.” He also outlined a goal for Bobst to become a “fully digitized company by 2025” through its Bobst Connect strategy, developed in partnership with clients.
Transcript (16 segments)
I
Interviewer0:06
Good evening, Mr. Jean-Pascal Bobst. It's a pleasure to see you here in Dubai. It's a wonderful presentation that we saw of yours this evening about Bobst's future plans and how you've been performing in this region. I'd like to understand your visit—it's at a very auspicious time of Ramadan, and you've chosen this time to be in this region. So tell us a bit more about this plan: why now, and how important is this region for Bobst and for you particularly?
J
Jean-pascal Bobst0:39
Thank you very much for taking the time and joining Bobst during this Ramadan time. Yes, it's a very important time because it's also time for all of us to reflect and to think about the purpose in life. Ramadan is in fact a good time to reflect about who we are, the purpose of our life, and the business in this region.
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Interviewer1:04
Let's dwell on a couple of important things which I've chosen to speak to you about today. One is obviously connectivity—let's say we're talking about digitization. And especially packaging towards automation, or Automation 4.0, has been in the market for quite some time now—almost a decade. But the last two or three years we've been seeing it really happening. Post-pandemic, a lot of companies have really taken this up, and I think even Bobst has specialized and gone way ahead in this area. I'd like to understand from you: what does digitization mean for Bobst?
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Jean-pascal Bobst1:46
Digitization for Bobst is really to bring a higher performance based on data—from the PDF of the job, of the work of the clients—towards each of our machines for label, folding carton, film, and corrugated. So it's a major journey, it's a major revolution for Bobst, and I guess also for the industry. Some industries are more advanced, such as label—they are quite advanced already—and some, like folding carton and corrugated, still need a long way to go. To digitize means to automate—from the job, from the PDF to the machine—really to make this link a much leaner process, to use the data for the Industry 4.0 definition.
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Interviewer2:33
Let's talk about another important aspect: sustainability. I know Bobst has worked a lot in this area over the past few years. Let's dwell on the flexible packaging space, which is the main area of focus when it comes to sustainability for all of us. Multi-layered films are the biggest challenge to recycle, and a lot of companies with whom you're working—raw material suppliers, long-term suppliers, printing companies, lamination—all of them are working together to achieve this. But there are two important challenges: one is the commercial viability, and two is the barrier properties when it comes to using on food grade. In both these areas, I know Bobst has worked on it, so I'd like to hear from you on this.
J
Jean-pascal Bobst3:20
First of all, sustainability is a concern for everybody—from how we run the business, how we invest on new equipment, but also obviously how we treat the equipment: the waste, the ink consumption, water consumption, energy consumption. So this is a very complex topic, we all know that. In film, the main challenge is certainly recyclability. Since already 2016 and 2017, we worked a lot with major suppliers of film to develop a mono—multiple mono-layer in film—so we can treat them thanks to vacuum metallizer or silicon oxide metallization. We can really put special barriers on mono-film which can be recyclable. The big challenge is of course the TCO—the cost of that, the implementation—and of course the robustness of the approach of the pack itself, because you need mechanical properties, you need light properties and so on. This is in good process. Are we there? Certainly not, but very strong effort and investment are made from a lot of suppliers, and I'm quite confident that in the next two or three years some solutions will come to make flexible material a sustainable business.
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Interviewer4:44
Okay, brilliant. So let's come back to our region—the Middle East and Africa. We're talking about a region which was showing the biggest growth in your presentation, one of the biggest regions of growth. Where do we stand? Where does Bobst stand as a company here? You've grown, and what are your immediate future plans for this region in terms of strategy?
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Jean-pascal Bobst5:06
From the history, Bobst started already in the early '80s in Tunis for Africa and the Middle East. That's why from the origin we are very strongly based in Tunis, and we started an office here in Dubai for the Middle East area. We acknowledge, especially during COVID and now, that the growth in the Middle East is very intense—it's very big. And this is for label, for film, for folding carton, and for corrugated. So we have decided to invest more for this region, for the Middle East, to have a very strong base of technical support, field service technicians, and application specialists for the four industries. We see opportunities—we met tens of clients over the last days, and we really enjoy the loyalty from our clients recognizing that our vision and strategy fulfill their needs for their region.
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Interviewer5:59
Thank you. There's one important question I'd like to ask. Bobst is a global company—you have your presence around the globe, not just as customers but also in manufacturing. You have facilities in many Asian countries and also North America and elsewhere. Speaking about competition for Bobst, especially from Asian manufacturers—you have machines which are being produced from Asia. With this pandemic coming in, supply chain issues, and so many other challenges making costs go high, what's your future plan for production? Is the existing production going to stay? Do you have a plan B to make sure the future is more secure in terms of production, or let's say presenting Bobst as a global manufacturer?
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Jean-pascal Bobst6:55
It's a challenging question to answer very shortly, but I will try. First of all, the pandemic has shown that the Bobst supply chain worldwide is very strong—because our NPS, our customer satisfaction, has grown in 2020 and 2021. So that demonstrates that overall we can support, despite the lockdown and very bad pandemic situation, a very high level of service. Second, we will keep our production strategy. We enjoy today a very high level of bookings, which in fact will help us to increase our capacity in production for folding carton, for film, for corrugated, and for label in the supply chain and the production sites worldwide. Mainly Asia will be competence centers for Asia—this is what we do today—and Europe for the rest of the world, from segment to segment. Overall, the production strategy for Bobst will remain the same.
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Interviewer7:57
Let's come to the end of this interview. Just a couple of very quick questions: what really sets Bobst apart from its competition, if I may ask you? You have quite a bit of competition in the global space and also in the region. What really sets you apart? And if customers are investing in Bobst's technology, why should they invest in your technology? What is so special that most of our readers should know?
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Jean-pascal Bobst8:27
I believe what makes Bobst different compared to competition is our people, our innovation in technology, and our values. Our clients—even if we are not perfect and we make some mistakes—they know we will be here and we will support them regardless of the challenge. This is the Bobst commitment over decades: we are there and we will continue to support. 132 years—we are a young lady—and we continue to innovate. This is what we want to do. And why clients should choose Bobst? Because of our values—meaning technical values but human values—because we want to support our clients the best possible where they have issues or challenges, to make them successful.
I
Interviewer9:15
Brilliant. I'd like to end this interview with the last question. The number you mentioned—132 years—it's really a long time that you've been established, and that shows how strong you are. Dwelling on that, your founder Joseph Bobst—if he's around and seeing how you've grown and progressed—what do you think he'll be thinking? Is he going to be happy? Is he going to raise questions? Just a quick question to understand from you.
J
Jean-pascal Bobst9:49
Sure. We are able to service so many clients worldwide with a very strong foundation on people and values. We can improve, but we are very proud to be able to service our clients in all regions of the planet.
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Interviewer10:10
Brilliant. Thank you very much, thank you.
J
Jean-pascal Bobst10:12
Thank you. Thank you very much.