Back in March, Swanline Group became the first company to connect non-BOBST machinery directly to the BOBST Connect Platform. Now, it has taken that achievement a step further.
As the UK’s leading trade-only specialist supplier of paper-based products, materials, and services to the POS and packaging sectors, Swanline Group well understands the importance of having a connected data-led ecosystem for its equipment in order to provide the consistent, accurate quality its customers expect. By expanding the number of machines brought into the fold – doubling the initial four-machine setup – Swanline Group has cemented its position as a leader in cross-manufacturer digitalization.
Agnostic integration
Swanline Group’s initial BOBST Connect integration was a move to address the longstanding issue of fragmented data between machine brands that has put up barriers to getting the most out of them. The company connected two BOBST die-cutters, a BOBST PCR, and a single non-BOBST die-cutter into the platform, and since then it has moved quickly to close the gap.
Swanline Group’s veteran BOBST Grenchen FOLIOSTAR laminator was the first machine that started its relationship with BOBST, and now it too has been linked into BOBST Connect. It has since been joined by two additional non-BOBST screen printers, with a non-BOBST laminator rounding the integration out later in the year.
Widening the picture
With these machines all linked to BOBST Connect, Swanline Group can now boast a fully digitalized and connected manufacturing environment. However, what it has also done is widen the range of processes that are now visible in one place.
Bringing die-cutting, laminating, and screen printing all together into a single dashboard provides Swanline Group with unparalleled insight into its operations: for the first time, its teams can truly compare performance across machines and identify bottlenecks in different production stages. This knowledge is not confined to one type of machine, and means production managers, operators, and commercial teams are all working from the same real-world data, whether they are looking at a BOBST die-cutter or non-BOBST screen printer.
Building on early results
Swanline Group’s original BOBST Connect rollout has already delivered a 7% productivity uplift and a 5-10% drop in unplanned downtime. Now, extending the platform to screen printing and laminating opens the door to similar gains in other parts of the business that, until now, operated with far less visibility.
Energy monitoring, already underway through the BOBST Connect Data Kit, will also be available from the wider machine base. As a result, Swanline Group will benefit from a fuller picture of where energy is used – and where it can be saved – across a far broader slice of the shop floor.
Standardised on connectivity
Swanline Group’s achievements with BOBST Connect demonstrate that connected manufacturing no longer needs a single-brand production floor. By expanding its integration, it has proved that converters no longer need to choose between brand loyalty and total visibility over production. It has offered a fascinating glimpse into what is possible for converters with mixed equipment fleets; instead of standardizing on one manufacturer, they can standardize on connectivity itself.
