Offset & Digital Corrugated print giant Koenig & Bauer continued its evolution to digital data pioneer with a demo of the first working prototype of Koenig & Bauer Analytics at the Hannover Messe trade show last week.
Google Germany CEO Bernd Wagner and Sandra Wagner, VP Digitalisation at Koenig & Bauer
Hanover Messe is a leading trade fair for industry, with some 4,000 companies from the mechanical engineering, electrical and digital industries as well as the energy sector showcasing technologies and solutions for a connected and climate-neutral industry. From the digitalization and automation of complex production processes and the use of hydrogen to power factories and the use of software to register and reduce carbon footprints. 
The Koening & Bauer/Durst Delta inkjet corrugated board printing line
Apart from Offset, Koenig & Bauer is in partnership with Durst on the Delta and CorruJet inkjet super-wide format corrugated board printers. “As a leading manufacturer of the printing industry, Koenig & Bauer deals with vast amounts of valuable data every day,” the company said. “It doesn’t come as a surprise that when choosing an innovative partner for the management and processing of this data, the group opted for Google Cloud. With their strong manufacturing focus and dedicated industry solutions, the cloud provider will be a key ingredient to getting the print and packaging world ready for the future.”
A demonstration of the first working prototype (MVP) of the new product Koenig & Bauer Analytics was showcased at the Google Cloud booth at Hannover Messe.
“This new product is developed as a powerful analytics tool which seamlessly combines data from different sources, such as machine log files and data from existing MES and MIS systems. It lets users create complex evaluations in the simplest way, which enables them to gain a holistic understanding of their production processes.
"The MVP will grow to enable Koenig & Bauer’s clients to identify patterns, trends and anomalies in production processes, and take action before issues escalate into major problems. The official product release is planned for fall 2023.
“At just one year old, the Koenig & Bauer digital unit has taken up the challenge of transforming the print and packaging world into a digitally savvy tech-based space. At the centre of this journey lies an IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) strategy. This data-driven and customer-centric approach is utilising advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning in ways that have never been applied to the printing industry.”
Combining print with automation and digitalisation: the 4PL Cobot completes the printed wall image of a Google Supercloud © Markus Mielek / mielek.com
Also featured in the booth was Koenig & Bauer’s 4PL Cobot, a print and apply system demonstrating Koenig & Bauer’s automation capabilities throughout the entire print production process. The collaborative robot is able to print and apply labels at any position on a product or pallet and visually verify them.
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