Klingele produces 3100 its employees, producing paper and corrugated packaging solutions at three paper mills, thirteen corrugated plants, and eight converting facilities in Europe, Africa, and Central and South America. In 2025, the group generated revenue of one billion euros.
At one of its largest facilities in Delmenhorst, near Bremen, the Klingele Group processes paper webs into single- or multi-layer corrugated board, which is then further processed on various machines into packaging and custom-printed. The packaging solutions range from standard shipping cartons to high-quality packaging solutions and trays for retail sales, such as for food and consumer goods.
The massive facilities operate on a three-shift schedule. “We simply cannot afford any interruptions in the production process due to machine breakdowns,” explains Christian Borchers of Klingele Process Management – Technology: “Reliable maintenance and servicing are therefore the backbone of our manufacturing operations.”
At the Delmenhorst plant, the maintenance team brought together 600 maintenance items that had been managed manually prior to the introduction of Smartenance. “We did have Word documents with photos describing the maintenance tasks – but everything was inconsistent and only available in paper form,” the maintenance expert says, reflecting on past experiences.
That changed when Klingele discovered Smartenance from Festo: “That’s when we saw just how simple, smart, and intuitive maintenance and servicing can be,” adds Daniel Malolepszy, International Continuous Process Improvement Manager at Klingele.
Malolepszy has already overseen several implementations of Festo’s Smartenance maintenance and servicing software within the Klingele Group. This makes the company one of the world’s most intensive users of industrial maintenance software – with installations, for example, at corrugated cardboard plants on the Canary Island of Tenerife and on the French Antilles island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
“The intuitive interface on tablets, which are now available at every one of our facilities, makes Smartenance a breeze for any machine or plant operator,” says maintenance expert Borchers. All maintenance items are accompanied by pictures and videos. The status of maintenance items is visible to everyone responsible for the maintenance and repair of the machines and equipment. “With Smartenance, we can easily assign maintenance tasks to specific individuals, thereby increasing their sense of responsibility for the tasks at hand,” he adds.
“Before we implemented Smartenance, we had to laboriously enter all maintenance events into a computer using a complicated user interface, which sometimes led to entries being overlooked,” explains Borchers. That can no longer happen, because maintenance staff can now easily confirm completed tasks on their tablets.
“In addition to traditional maintenance and repair tasks, we also use Smartenance for safety inspections – whether in the factory itself, in the administrative offices, or in the outdoor areas of the plant.” “What we used to do with paper, pen, and entries in countless Excel spreadsheets can now be done with ease using the Smartenance app on a tablet,” explains Sabine Sonnabend, assistant to the technical director.
“It was precisely Smartenance’s ease of use that convinced us to roll out the maintenance app at all Klingele locations worldwide, as it supports stable processes, consistent quality, and enables preventive maintenance,” summarizes Daniel Malolepszy, who continues to provide guidance and support to maintenance specialists at all Klingele plants during the software rollout.
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Another helpful feature is the system’s simple setup, which allows existing maintenance schedules and plant structures to be imported easily. The wide range of system languages makes it possible to reach employees internationally in their native languages. “Overall, Smartenance demonstrates just how simple and successful the digitization of business processes can be,” Malolepszy concludes.