A BOBST employee has been recognised for the development of a pioneering innovation that has positively impacted the company and its customers.

Matthieu Richard, leading engineer of optoelectronics systems development and optical expert at Bobst, in Mex, Switzerland, received the prestigious BOBST Inventor Award for his embossing detection technology, which is integrated into the BOBST ACCUCHECK inline inspection system.

Sigrid Wagner, Group IP Director and Chairman of the BOBST Inventor Award Committee, said: “The Inventor Award program has been established to encourage employees to be a key part of BOBST technological innovation and strengthen our Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio. The development of intellectual property is important in positioning BOBST at the forefront of quality innovation for our customers and supporting the implementation of our vision for the future of the print and packaging industry.

“Matthieu is much deserving of this year’s award. The embossing detection solution was an industry first and demonstrates true innovation which offers a level of measurement accuracy that is unparalleled supporting our customers achieve zero-fault packaging every time.”

The annual award scheme was launched in 2020, making Matthieu the second person to have received the BOBST Inventor Award. Judges, from the Group senior management team, assess patented inventions based on their commercial value for BOBST and its customers, technological advances in creating market differentiation and ability to be marketed as an outstanding innovation.

The embossing detection technology is an image capturing solution that controls an embossed structure and determines its precise position. Interestingly, this precise measurement can be done on a wide variety of different substrates such as matt, varnished, bright or dark, lacquered, or metalized surfaces. This technology opens the way to push the measurement accuracy on different BOBST machines types further than ever before. Incorporating stronger quality control during production contributes to ensuring best quality of production, allowing our customers to deliver Zero-fault packaging.

Quality is one of the biggest differentiators in the packaging industry. Other factors matter too, of course – cost efficiency, sustainability and lead times to name just a few – but ultimately if packaging fails the quality test, it can jeopardize a whole run, and the customer relationship with it. In some sectors – pharmaceuticals for example – packaging faults can have even more significant commercial consequences.  

Matthieu said: “I am thrilled to receive this award and for my work to be recognized in this way. It is testament to the creative team of people that I work alongside, who have been involved in the development of the embossing detection technology and have helped to make it a success for our customers and for BOBST. 

“BOBST is a company that places high value on innovation and creativity. It has a clear focus on developing new technologies that empower our customers to be best-in-class and which offer distinct benefits to meet the needs of packaging manufacturers around the world, today and into the future. The Innovator Award program allows employees to become engaged with the BOBST vision for a more connected, digitalized, automated and sustainable industry, while valuating their contribution to support innovation.”