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By Editor Morten B. Reitoft 

In a suburb near Porto in Portugal, MBO has its main manufacturing facility for its high-quality folding machines. INKISH was invited to see the factory and celebrate MBOs 50th anniversary. About 100 people from 20 countries participate in the celebration, and as always, fun to meet people from different cultures.

As you know, MBO was acquired by Komori in 2020, so the Komori management, from Mr. Mochida to the European head of Komori, Mr. Kajita, and several colleagues, is part of the celebration. I mention this as MBO and Komori grow closer and closer, which is only natural, but still, two years is not a long time, especially when a pandemic has to be accounted for.

Yesterday we were all invited to a restaurant on the beach. Unfortunately, the weather was foggy, and we couldn't enjoy the Atlantic Ocean as we met late. Still, the breeze was welcoming and refreshing after, with lots of conversations and festive fun.

Today, we start early. The bus leaves at 8 am, so there is no excuse - get a shower, have breakfast, and get ready for a tour. The MBO factory is located only 10 minutes from the hotel, and today the weather Gods are on our side. Sunny, pleasant, and warm, and the MBO factory's surroundings are great. Trees, bushes, and flowers invite its guest better than they could expect - it is, after all, a factory!

The tour starts in the engineering department, where we see how 3D models simulate machines, tools, and finished machines. From here, our host in my group, the CEO of MBO Portugal, Mr. Ferreira, takes us through all the departments and processes of MBO. When we see equipment running in our printing companies, we often take things for granted. Still, the machines' speed, precision, and durability are only possible because of the engineering, production, and quality processes you see when you visit a factory.

We have, during the years, visited quite a few factories, and what always surprises me is how many of the components the OEMs develop and produce on-site. They all use CNC machines, laser-cutters, bending machines, painting - everything going into the machines you see and use in your printing- or binding company every day!

MBO and the employees have clearly prepared themselves for a visit and allow photos and filming of everything, giving you and everybody a rare insight into the processes. I love these tours and get equally surprised every time, as entering a 95,000 m2 facility is vast, and the 45-60 minute tour was detailed yet fast.

The people attending come from 20 different countries and represent printing companies, partners to MBO, MBO, and Komori staff, and representatives, and the mood is super. MBO has gathered a nice mix of people and grouped people with every opportunity, so they get "mixed," which also forces interaction with the people you don't know. I like that!

Yesterday evening I got to sit next to a gentleman from Universal Robots, and hadn't it been for this event, I would have known less about robots today than yesterday. On a personal note, I am pleased that so many know about INKISH - and for those who don't, this is an opportunity to present ourselves.

I got to meet people I had only been writing with. I met Mr. Kajita for the first time, who runs Komori Europe, and it's always interesting to exchange ideas with people, and as I am a BIG fan of Japan, to know somebody from Japan is just an extra spice to an event like this!

After a great tour and a short coffee break, we got a demo of MBOs new CoBo-Stack solution. The CoBo-Stack is a folding and robot solution that enables fast setup time and almost operator-free operation. We see a feeder, feeding a folding machine, that outputs a signature, then stacked, and finally, a robot from Universal Robots take the stack and palletize it.

The solutions seem very easy to use, and when demonstrated, the first application that comes to mind is stacking several same boxes on a pallet. Still, the solution is also presented to show how several variable-sized boxes are automatically stacked. Mr. Heininger from MBO explains that it's a great real-life example as PSPs typically can use this function to pack for further distribution.

The solution is called CoBo-Stack - a collaboration between MBO and Universal Robots and seems to have become its own brand. You can see the demonstration video about the CoBo-Stack here. We also previously interviewed Mr. Heininger and Mr. Christiansen about MBO and robots - you can see the INKISH film here.

Robots are for sure entering the printing industry. As we have visited many printing companies over the past year, we see more and more robots - in various roles - but they are for sure entering the workspace, but more about that in a separate article. This article celebrates the MBOs anniversary, and the robot is just a short appendix to it :-)

I am writing an article about robots and value, which will be published in the following days.

Great day. Great People. Great technology!

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Author: Morten B. Reitoft
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