PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2021

TOP TALK PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 06/21 www.petpla.net 10 Interview with Kai Acker, CEO of KHS Group “We’ve undoubtedly grown even closer to our customers in the process” PETplanet: After just under two years as CEO of KHS, the Covid pan- demic struck. How has the pandemic affected your strategic business plans? How did KHS get through the last year? Acker: Despite the challenges, at the end of the day we’re satisfied with the last business year. One of the things that has helped us during the corona pandemic is our strategy of increased regionalisation that we’ve been con- sistently pursuing for several years now. The aim of this – apart from sales organisation – is to transfer our local service knowledge to the KHS Group’s entire product portfolio. This allows us to provide proximity to the customer and establish a level of expertise in the region which enables local teams to also install and commission our machinery besides just servicing it. Particularly in times of travel restrictions, our regional teams have thus proved to be a great boon. We, too, have of course felt the impact of the uncertainty in our industry. Some new investments have been post- poned for the time being, for example, and the focus has instead switched to maintaining existing lines for longer. In this respect, virtual services in par- ticular have increased in significance, especially in times of social distancing. Here, too, we’ve been able to support our customers as their reliable partner and safeguard their extremely important production processes. Digital commu- nication and processes can of course never fully replace personal contact or the human factor. However, in the future we’ll also continue to consistently expand our range of digital remote diag- nostic services. PETplanet: What were the most important changes you had to make in the company during the Covid pan- demic? What areas were particularly affected? Acker: The overall situation has changed. Alongside the various eco- nomic aspects, in particular people’s health is now a prime concern. In order to protect our personnel, we’ve thus sig- nificantly increased our hygiene meas- ures at the respective production sites. Internal company processes have also been adjusted in order to reduce the risk of infection. We’ve worked more shifts and, where possible, enabled people to work remotely or from home. At the start of the pandemic, we were also very busy bringing numerous employees back from installation sites located all over the world. What’s more, we had to introduce quarantine concepts so that work out in the field could be performed within the given time frame. Likewise, we’re in intensive and close dialog with the authorities both nationally and internationally, taking on board information that’s constantly changing. At first, this was a totally new scenario for us and a challenge for all those involved, one we’ve since mastered by working together. This has enhanced the sense of commu- nity within the KHS Group and we’ve undoubtedly grown even closer to our customers in the process, so that we’ll come out of the crisis all the stronger as a company. PETplanet: As a result of the pan- demic, technologies around the field of digitalisation became an anchor for survival. Even though KHS has previ- ously focused on digitising its machines, what specifically do you see as a clear advantage of digitalisation? Not just in terms of the machines, but perhaps also in terms of customer communication and the working environment? Acker: Primarily, digitalisation boosts efficiency in production and is thus sustainable and protects the envi- ronment as fewer resources are used and energy consumption is lowered, for instance. There are a number of clear benefits for customers in other areas, too. KHS’ ReDiS remote diagnostic system prevents long production down- times through predictive maintenance, for example. Our web-based Innoline MES Basic Line Monitoring module assesses line efficiency, detects possi- ble faults and thus identifies weak points in the operation of a system. Our audio- visual Augmented Reality Service helps with troubleshooting without an engineer having to be on site. Here, data goggles transfer images from the machine in real time. This can then also be much more easily operated as processes are digital- ised and automated. Format or product changeovers are now much faster and less complicated. Moreover, because of the pandemic new forms of customer contact and exchange between industry stakehold- ers have become established, among them online expert panel meetings staged as technical talks and webinars. We’ve also introduced a number of digital tools as new internal and exter- nal platforms for communication. If I may say so, the pandemic has helped to accelerate the launch of our digital processes; this is something we all profit from. As a result, in 2020 we also saw a drop in travel expenses of 40% com- pared to 2019. If we manage to save half of this in the long term once the pandemic has ended without neglecting our contact with the customer, we’ll also noticeably help to reduce the impact on the environment and promote a sustain- able style of corporate management. PETplanet: When it comes to the bottling of beverages in PET bottles, leg- islators such as the EU or the German government have recently been making new decisions that effect the entire PET value chain. One month ago, the German government introduced the extended bottle deposit for PET juice by Heike Fischer