“Now, each of us is aware that we have arrived in the digital world,” says CITO Group CEO, Jürgen Mariën. “The way in which we communicate with each other has changed. The travel restrictions have led to the distances between us becoming shorter. Every crisis brings change and new insights. The requirements expected of our industry have changed and the term partnership is being redefined. Today, a good partner is someone who assists with complex tasks and not only offers products as part of the solution.”
He continues, “We are all connected to each other, from the brand owner through to the individual consumer in the shop. We must work together to ensure optimum workflow for getting the goods to the end customer. This works best with integrated solutions. We must also consider what contribution we can make, how can we help to achieve a process that is as near as possible perfect. This requires the open exchange of information, the identification of potential weakpoints in the process. The digital world gives us all the possibilities we need to integrate ourselves in the process chain.”
It is all about digital connectivity. “We did not need a virus crisis to recognise this, but it has helped to accelerate the use of digital communication,” adds Mariën. “Strong alliances were already forged in advance and they are continuously being expanded and developed to form a joint knowledge pool. The collected knowledge should be made accessible to all process participants. Nothing is more suitable for this than digital connectivity.”
So what role will mass events such as trade fairs play in this communication in the future? In CITO’s opinion, it will tend to be small, because individual and process-related communication is not possible at such events. It therefore seems far more sensible to invest the earmarked funds and resources in developing individual communication. A Competence Center and Smart Factory will meet these future challenges. Such institutions will of course also be available to examine solutions in person, but many things can be clarified in advance via digital and video-enhanced communication.
CITO is convinced by this vision, influenced by its partner Bobst Group and would like to make its contribution ‘to shape the future of the packaging world’. Will they participate in drupa 2021? Mariën concludes, “For CITO, it does not make sense to participate in April 2021. Our whole strategy was focused on 2020 — to postpone it by a year is not an option. We will invest the funds that have become available through this decision in the development of digital platforms, so that the company can become an even better partner for all participants.”
