Interview: BPS® X9 Success Story
Orell Füssli’s journey of innovation and excellence in security printing. Dr. Felix Abt shares his experiences with efficiency gains in collaboration with G+D.
Imagine Zurich 500 years ago. When the continents were still being discovered, a small company, Orell Füssli, in Zurich, leaped forward into the future and started its printing business. Five centuries later, the company has evolved as a significant one in security printing, expertly producing counterfeit-proof notes, which also makes Switzerland one of the countries with the lowest number of counterfeits.
What will truly amaze you is the story of the technological vision that ensured only high-quality banknotes circulated in the economy and continues to do so to this day.
We had a firsthand experience learning about the journey from Dr. Felix Abt, Director Innovation, Orell Füssli Security Printing, who shared his experiences with the BPS® X9.
Read full interview with Dr. Felix Abt on the BPS® X9
Let’s start with some industry challenges. What are they from your perspective?
Dr. Felix Abt: The main challenges we face in this market are improving efficiency and maintaining high quality due the high cost of printing in Switzerland. As a company known for producing high-quality banknotes, meeting customer expectations is crucial for us.
What are the key priorities for your company when it comes to banknote/process operations?
Dr. Felix Abt: For us, quality and reliability are keys. Automation in certain areas is always beneficial to gain more stability in a process. This was the main driver to automate the cutting process, the inspection of the banknotes, and also parts of the packing process.
Why did you decide on the BPS® X9 to support your vision of this journey?
Dr. Felix Abt: The need to support Orell Füssli’s visionary goals with the most modern and advanced technology was inevitable. In 2016, during a major overhaul of our finishing equipment, we realized that the old BPS® 2000 was at the end of its life. After evaluating various market options, we chose the G+D BPS® X9 due to our over 25-year successful partnership with G+D. Our collaboration with G+D has always been fruitful, and it made perfect sense to evolve with a partner who understands our needs.
How is your experience with the BPS® X9, and can you share some main benefits you have observed?
Dr. Felix Abt: Certainly! I've observed a notable improvement in productivity with the new BPS® X9, with a performance increase of over 20% during a full production shift. The machine's optical banknote inspection system now features LED illumination, enhancing its versatility. Additionally, the transition to a more modern graphical user interface has significantly simplified operations. These upgrades, along with the innovative SensorBrain® infrastructure, have opened many new possibilities for us.
Did the BPS® X9 address the challenges and bring efficiency overall?
Dr. Felix Abt: Understanding the importance of staying ahead in a competitive industry is crucial, especially where efficiency and quality are paramount to success. While efficiency gain has been the major transformative goal, it's not just about the production processes. The focus was always to build efficiency end-to-end, across the entire ecosystem in the production facility. And a lot of effort was invested in the implementation of the machine.
Understood. And how was your experience with G+D in the implementation phase?
Dr. Felix Abt: Implementing the BPS® X9 at our printworks was challenging due to the intricacies of the processes, leading to a steep learning curve. G+D provided excellent customer support and collaborated with us on co-developing solutions for specific issues. This successful partnership highlights the effectiveness of G+D's continuous improvement process with its customers.
Can you highlight some solutions that also bring benefits to your end customers?
Dr. Felix Abt: Sure. The BPS® X9 allows for checking the sequence of banknote serial numbers and can immediately identify any missing serial numbers during counting, enabling direct tracking of the missing note. Using a single note inspection machine to produce banknotes provides a record of all serial numbers, allowing you to offer customers a database of serial numbers included in their delivery. Additionally, it enables tracking of each banknote's condition and handling history via its serial number. We see two major trends emerging as well. Firstly, the use of serial number data to fulfill central banks' requirements for detailed delivery content necessitates printworks to provide a serial number database with each shipment. Secondly, the adoption of quality and production data from a BPS® X9 to optimize production management in printworks, as it offers the most comprehensive means to collect overall quality data. Data is important! Data is seen as a crucial future aspect for printworks, yet extracting it from a BPS® X9 presents challenges, not due to technology but because of stringent security regulations in high-security areas like the finishing department. Addressing these regulatory restrictions with technical and organizational solutions is essential for leveraging the valuable data generated by a BPS® X9.
Last words for the legacy BPS® X9?
The BPS® X9 is valued for its high productivity, future-proof design, and user-friendly interface.