Cristiano Wuerzius, CEO of PackIOT talks efficiency in manufacturing.
Introduce and sell us your company in no more than 280 characters.
PackIOT is a plug-and-play analytics system for the packaging industry. We help our customers to be more efficient in their factory through real-time data, production analytics, and automatic reports.
Most packaging converters have more than 40% of downtime in their production lines without really knowing why. Through our plug-and-play software, specially developed for the packaging industry, we help them to understand what is really going on in their factories.
Where are your company’s locations? Are there any specific challenges or advantages relating to your geographical location that you could tell us about?
We have offices in Brazil, Portugal and in the second quarter we’re opening an office in Switzerland. The reality in small and medium-size packaging manufacturers is astonishingly similar in most western countries: most of them still using paper and Excel to run their factories.
Tell us a surprising fact about the market you work in.
Only 10% of packaging manufactures can answer this simple question in less than one hour: how high is your scrap rate in the current shift? The great majority will have this only when the shift ends and there is nothing they can do to improve anymore.
At Packaging Europe we like to watch trends and areas of innovation as they evolve. Can you tell us something we might not be aware of that is driving technology in your sphere?
Two trends must be watched closely: a) user-centric design. Factory systems will have to be developed for the operators not for managers. b) The age of systems that do everything “badly” is over. Systems now tend to be more specialized, focused in the one or two jobs to be done they’ve been developed for.
What would you say is the biggest common misconception that you encounter in your business?
Only a few packaging manufacturers have understood the power of agile development. They still believe in writing a book of specs instead of moving fast and improving. In IoT and Industry 4.0 companies have to start small and expand.
If the wider packaging industry could be transformed in some way, what kind of change would you like to see?
Doing more with less: when you become more efficient you reduce your environmental impact. You use less energy, less raw material, less water. Technology can help to change that and it is more accessible than ever.
…and how do you envisage your company changing the industry in the coming years?
We aim to be the best analytics system for the packaging industry. We come from the packaging world, we understand the challenges and we want to make a difference making the packaging companies more efficient through technology.
