Kobus de Koker, head of the GPO consulting team, with his in-depth knowledge of the tobacco market and the challenges it faces.
With its global process optimization (GPO) consulting service, Hauni seeks out the hidden potential for savings and optimization in cigarette production processes. GPO offers a unique knowledge base covering the entire process from GLT to Primary and Secondary, coupled with over 65 years of technological know-how in machinery, equipment and instruments for tobacco processing.
Tough competition teaches tough lessons. In the tobacco industry, one insight is gaining ever wider acceptance – any process can be improved, and this makes sound commercial sense. Rising tobacco prices are forcing manufacturers to keep a close eye on their costs. Optimization of processes and tobacco utilization must be top priorities if they wish to repeat the commercial successes of the past. It sounds simple but, of course, in practice it requires a level of knowhow that goes far deeper than the operation of individual machines or production processes. In 2013, Hauni launched GPO as a targeted optimization service for its international customers in the tobacco industry.
This service builds on Hauni’s expertise which has been developed over many decades as a world leading supplier of technologies and technical services.
“The secret to optimizing individual processes is finding the right components to tweak and achieve sustainable, measurable successes. To do this, you have to know the processes in the tobacco industry from green leaf threshing to the secondary and understand how they interact,” explains Kobus de Koker, head of GPO consulting. “The many audits and projects we have conducted over the past two years have shown our customers the value of a trusted partnership and proven that they can depend on the integrity and independence of our advice.”
In every GPO project, customers focus on one specific objective. The aim can be to improve product quality or to cut production costs at customers’ factories. In addition, they profit from the experience of GPO consultants who increase the efficiency and performance of their plants, offer their extensive knowledge about leaf, primary, and secondary processing to the workforce and thus help them to achieve a higher level of operating.
For de Koker, “constantly growing demand” is a clear sign that Hauni’s new concept is perfectly in tune with the times. He is not surprised by its success. “Interdisciplinary knowledge and experience developed over decades are very precious resources. GPO enables us to offer these as a service to our customers.”
GPO Business Model