In her presentation at the FFI Conference 2025, Natascha Döme explores the real-world journey from manual packaging to smart, scalable automation on the folder-gluer line. Drawing on IMPACK’s 25 years of hands-on experience with packaging producers worldwide, she offers a grounded perspective on the challenges and opportunities of automating the finishing department—one of the most complex areas to modernize. While automation is often imagined as a leap to futuristic robotics, Döme emphasizes its incremental nature and the importance of aligning automation strategies with each company’s unique products, workforce, and workflows. She explains that automation should begin with process standardization and be viewed not just as a technical upgrade, but as a strategic investment in productivity, ergonomics, and employee retention. 

The presentation also breaks down the different levels of automation—manual, semi-automated, attended, and autonomous—and outlines the practical factors that determine whether each level is a good fit. Döme challenges the myth that full automation is always the ultimate goal, emphasizing instead the value of "smart automation": solutions that are modular, scalable, and designed to solve real production problems. She breaks down current automation options and illustrates how thoughtful, well-integrated automation can improve performance while preserving flexibility. Her message is clear: success lies in building practical, human-centered automation strategies that evolve with your business.