At Cober Solutions, innovation is a mindset, and few people embody that better than Erwin Driever, vice president of technology.
With more than 30 years of experience in print media communications, Erwin has helped transform Cober from a legacy print operation into a smart manufacturing powerhouse that's** driven by integration, automation and continuous improvement**.
“It’s been a journey, that’s for sure,” Erwin said. Cober is 109 years old this year, a fourth-generation family-owned business. It started in 1916 with two workers, and today the company has over 300 employees in three locations. That journey has included major investments in digital print, data systems, robotics and workflow tools — all designed to drive efficiency and free up the team’s creative and technical strengths.
Erwin credits the Cober ownership team for consistently asking: What’s next? What can we do better? That curiosity has helped the company make bold technology moves, from implementing fully integrated MIS and prepress systems to deploying autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that transport pallets between departments.
“It didn’t happen overnight,” Erwin said. “We had to build the discipline, the structure and the confidence to take those steps.”
One of the most significant recent steps: embracing robotic automation to combat labor shortages and reduce repetitive manual tasks. “We don’t want highly trained HP Indigo press operators to spend time retrieving substrates or transporting printed media to finishing,” Erwin said. Instead, Cober’s AMRs now handle those tasks using vision systems and data-triggered workflows. “The press operator places a finished pallet at a pickup location. MoviĜo’s vision system recognizes it, automatically creates a movement task, and assigns a drop-off location to avoid congestion.”
That kind of seamless, automated handoff not only improves production flow, but also allows Cober’s experts to focus where their skills are most valuable. It’s a key example of how Erwin and his team are implementing technology to solve real challenges and prepare for long-term growth.
“We’re building a culture of learning,” Erwin said. “Our younger staff want to know the ‘why,’ not just the ‘how.’ We want to empower them with the tools, the freedom and the understanding of how everything connects.”
That mindset — open, structured, and future-focused — is part of what makes Cober a standout member of the Dscoop community. And Erwin's leadership helps ensure the company keeps looking forward.
