Kongsberg PCS Debuts Ultimate Platform in North America

By Linda Casey

How does Kongsberg develop its Voice of Customer?

In a post-event conversation with Packaging Impressions, Kongsberg’s VP of product strategy and business processes, Frank Adegeest, explained the direct observations of Kongsberg employees like himself enable Kongsberg to understand converters’ workflows as they truly exist.

Adegeest elaborated by sharing an anecdote from a recent plant visit. During this visit, one of the converter’s employees described his workflow while performing the steps. Adegeest noticed the worker was taking additional steps but did not describe them. When asked about these extra steps, the employee explained the extra steps had become automatic. This employee simply didn’t consciously think about the additional steps anymore. However, the employee also added that he took these extra steps because they resulted in a better-quality product. These types of steps, Adegeest explained, are the types of data that are often lost when collecting information via phone interviews or written surveys.

On a cold February day in Miamisburg, Ohio, the executive team at Kongsberg Precision Cutting Systems (Kongsberg PCS) debuted its Ultimate precision cutting system platform to the North American market. The launch was warmly received by an audience of approximately 50 VIP attendees from corrugated package and display converting companies in addition to a strong contingent of Kongsberg’s staff based out of cities both in the U.S. and Canada and Kongsberg’s business partners, and the event was held in the company’s new Customer Experience Center, which had its own debut event less than a year ago in August 2023. The Ultimate joins a bevy of equipment in Miamisburg, including a Kongsberg C64 with an automated feeder and stacker; a Kongsberg C55 with complete roll-to-roll production; a Kongsberg C20, X44, and the X24 tables; and a variety of CNC equipment including the MultiCam Apex1R and 1000 Series Waterjet machines. (Read Kongsberg PCS Launches New State-of-the-art Customer Experience Center for more information about the Customer Experience Center.)

Kongsberg CEO Stuart Fox debuts Ultimate to the North American market. | Credit: NAPCO | PRINTING United Alliance

Stuart Fox, Kongsberg’s president and CEO, kicked off the February 20, 2024, event by highlighting the company’s customer-centric approach. This approach is so deeply ingrained in Kongsberg’s culture, he explained, that Kongsberg has created a term for it — voice of the customer — and even co-opted the initialism VOC for this more positive denotation.

Fox then introduced Frank Adegeest, VP of product strategy and business processes, to elaborate on how Kongsberg built its customer journey documentation — complete with personas. Adegeest explained that the development of its customer journey started with a deep understanding of corrugated packaging companies — sometimes even better than their owners.

Adegeest then turned the mic over to Simon Kvanvik, a project manager and systems engineer from the research and development department in Kongsberg, Norway. Kvanvik emphasized a point that might have gotten lost at the global launch event of the Kongsberg Ultimate: The Ultimate is not just the launch of a new machine but a new platform. “It makes no sense to a tractor and a Ferrari on the same platform,” Kvanvik said. This, of course, foreshadows new products to come on the Ultimate platform.

And what exactly is this first machine on the Kongsberg Ultimate Platform? The Kongsberg Ultimate is a digital cutting table designed for the corrugated market. Although the Kongsberg Ultimate’s North American launch event focused on the corrugated package manufacturing market, the cutting system was developed with both corrugated and display production in mind.

The Ultimate combines a linear, high-torque motor with a rack-and-pinion setup that delivers cutting speeds of 168 meters/min with up to 2.7G acceleration. Exhaustive materials research and testing inform the design of the cutter’s beam, which the company says consistently applies a 50kg downforce. The toolhead camera further elevates the system’s precision.

New self-diagnostics, remote operator alerts, and a multi-computer network that Kvanivik described as the “brains” of the systems are also utilized to maximize uptime in real-world versus optimal conditions.

Furthering elevating the user experience is the Kongsberg SmartZone safety solution. The innovative proximity-driven dual-zone system with intuitive red-yellow-green LED lighting was demonstrated several times during the North American launch event, which shows Kongsberg’s commitment to ensuring a safe and productive environment.

On the subject of the environment, the Ultimate represents a leap in the company’s use of recycled and easily recyclable materials. Fox noted that after the Kongsberg engineering team delivered a working prototype with superior functionality, he tasked them to replace many of the virgin plastic parts with equivalents made of recycled materials such as recycled aluminum.

For North American package converters who were not able to attend the North American launch of the Ultimate, Fox assures they can see this groundbreaking platform at the 2024 PRINTING United Expo when Kongsberg brings the Ultimate to Las Vegas.

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