iT’s Tissue 2022 promised the convergence of tissue excellence, and the fourth edition of this much-anticipated global event delivered.
More than 1,000 registered participants representing 250 tissue industry companies from all continents met in Lucca, Italy, for iT’s Tissue 2022 — the first in-person iT’s Tissue gathering since the event’s COVID-related four-year hiatus.
“Coming out of the pandemic, iT’s Tissue 2022 was the perfect opportunity for people to see how the tissue industry has been progressing,” said Pete Augustine, President of Kӧrber Tissue North America. Open houses sponsored by the 11 network founding members — including Kӧrber — showcased innovations that capture the future of tissue technology for use today.
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Oswaldo Cruz, Jr., CEO of Kӧrber Tissue, found the event to be an important touchstone for Kӧrber in three key ways: customer relationship building, reinforcing the Kӧrber brand, and demonstrating that Kӧrber Tissue has the resources to deliver comprehensive solutions for tissue customers.
Strengthening Customer Relationships
Reconnecting with customers in person and renewing professional relationships at iT’s Tissue 2022 underscored the importance of what our CEO called “face-to-face collaboration” in demonstrating the latest Kӧrber innovations.
It also provided Gianfranco Agnusdei, Chief Customer Service Officer of Kӧrber Business Area Tissue, with insights about how Kӧrber developed technology to provide customers with a personalized experience in the absence of in-person meetings.
“In recent years, we completely changed our style of work because of the pandemic,” Agnusdei explained. “Even with the challenges of the ‘new normal,’ Kӧrber continued to focus on customer communication. Our top priority was developing technology that reduced the real and perceived distance between Kӧrber and our customers, while also strengthening the relationships in a personal way.”
The new Kӧrber Customer Service Portal addresses all these needs. The multi-channel, multi-device connectivity platform is fully customer-centric. The digital solution encompasses the entire Kӧrber portfolio — converting, packaging, fold, embossing, and digital. It gives customers easy and seamless access to everything related to their tissue operation and Kӧrber equipment, from technical support and information, to reporting and real-time team communication.
Strategic Rebranding Focuses Kӧrber Vision
The customer-centric logic in solutions like the Kӧrber customer service portal flows from the top. It is a product of strategic corporate rebranding that took place largely in the throes of COVID.
Augustine commented, “The corporate rebranding that we undertook in 2020 led Kӧrber Tissue to bring all of its brands under the Kӧrber name. The alignment initially gave some North American customers pause about the future of established legacy brands, but now they’re seeing and sharing in our vision.”
“iT’s Tissue 2022 gave us the stage to present the proof of our vision,” Augustine continued. “Our open house demonstrations showed how Kӧrber Tissue partnerships with other Kӧrber business areas manifest in tools and equipment to help customers make their operations more efficient. Watching our innovations in action, customers were able to see how it all ties together digitally. The Kӧrber ecosystem makes it easier to face all of the challenges the industry is currently experiencing.”
Welcome to the Kӧrber Ecosystem
The Kӧrber ecosystem consolidates technologies developed by the Kӧrber Group and highly qualified external partners into a single solution.
All technologies involved in tissue converting environments — from raw paper to finished products and distribution logistics — are accounted for and connected within the Kӧrber ecosystem, making it a powerful “one-stop shop” for tissue manufacturers.
The Kӧrber ecosystem is strategically cohesive. The digital interconnectedness of the Kӧrber business areas underpins the single source ecosystem, and helps target major industry pain points, including:
- Sustainability: Plastics reduction is among the top sustainability initiatives. Bioplastics and paper-based substrates are popular replacements for traditional plastic, but can cause equipment jams. Kӧrber Casmatic Zephyrus allows for the use of 100% recyclable cardboard boxes instead of conventional plastic packaging — a sustainable alternative that also offers additional advantages in terms of product protection, conservation, storage, and palletization
- Ecommerce: Tissue manufacturers are becoming more market diverse, led largely by the explosion of ecommerce. Adjusting production lines for multiple ecommerce packaging formats is simplified with the Kӧrber ecosystem. The flexible and modular Casmatic Zephyrus constructs boxes, packs tissue products, and readies packaging for the shelf using Delta robots and advanced Kӧrber technologies
- Labor shortfalls: The labor crisis is ongoing, and qualified skilled workers are at a premium. As such, tissue manufacturers need flexibility to accommodate a range of operator experience and skillsets. The automation and digitalization of production introduced by the Kӧrber ecosystem alleviates many of the overarching concerns
- Supply chain management: The single source Kӧrber ecosystem makes both production and project management easier for customers. It seamlessly replaces the cumbersome chain of multiple suppliers, which streamlines communication and logistics. In addition, the Kӧrber ecosystem’s single contact point offers customers the best technology for specific market requirements, full support in optimizing line layout and minimizing industrial footprint, and improved management of production time and costs
- Overall equipment efficiency (OEE): An overarching goal of the Kӧrber ecosystem is simplification. All the machines making up the production line, from parent reel unwinding to palletization, including those developed by companies external to the Kӧrber Group, are connected to each other and controlled through Ecosystem Sam Flow or FactoryPal Boost — dedicated software that continually monitors the process and auto-regulates the main production parameters to deliver maximum efficiency for the desired finished product characteristics.
“At iT’s Tissue 2022, we demonstrated that ‘ecosystem’ isn’t just talk at Kӧrber,” said Francesco De Luca, General Manager of Kӧrber Business Area Tissue Packaging Division. “It’s reality for us, and now it’s real for our customers. They saw and appreciated real-life solutions from the trusted leader in tissue innovation. With the Kӧrber ecosystem, we use technology to increase the potentiality of our communications, technologies, and machines to help our customers realize the future of tissue now.”
iT’s Tissue 2022 was exciting for many reasons. Tissue industry professionals were reconnected in person, and the open house demonstrations by the network founding leaders glimpsed connectivity of the future that will help converters and customers thrive.
Contact the Kӧrber team to learn more about the Kӧrber ecosystem and our entire portfolio of Kӧrber tissue innovations.
Written by Körber Tissue Team
