APLA Streamlines Shop Floor Connectivity and Data Analytics with Crosser

ALPLA, a global leader in plastic packaging and recycling with more than 200 production sites worldwide, is committed to innovation, sustainability, and digital transformation. As part of its journey, ALPLA faced increasing challenges in connecting diverse machines, handling heterogeneous infrastructures across more than 2000 production lines, and enabling new digital initiatives.

To address these challenges, the company sought a solution that could unify connectivity across plants, support both strategic and ad-hoc data use cases, and scale flexibly across global operations. This search led ALPLA to Crosser.

“We’re thrilled to support ALPLA’s digital journey, providing the connectivity and analytics foundation that makes their initiatives more scalable and easier to implement,” says Andrea Magnago, Director of International Sales at Crosser.

Project Background

For more than 20 years, ALPLA had built and operated its own IT applications and IoT connections. But a strategic shift three years ago moved the company from a build approach to a buy approach.

While ALPLA already had a strong MES and a powerful data lake setup, gaps were emerging.

• Analytics gap: “We were more and more facing the difficulty that ALPLA had grown quite heterogeneous… we needed to store, forward and analyze data beyond what MES could provide.”
• Citizen analytics demand: Corporate and plant engineers increasingly requested very specific datasets, often spanning multiple plants or production lines.<
• Mobile app rollout: A new application to consolidate shop floor alerts across all devices revealed how difficult it was to connect old and new equipment seamlessly. A flexible connectivity layer was needed to standardize data capture.

“The three main drivers to start the project were the analytics gaps, the growing citizen analytics request, and the mobile app rollout. We needed a flexible and scalable solution,” explains Stefan Mueller, Solution Architect at ALPLA.

Why Crosser?

When searching the market, ALPLA evaluated several well-known vendors. But most came with “overblown” full-suite offerings including MES, reporting, and machine learning modules, features ALPLA didn’t need to replace.

“Honestly, one of the main parts for me was that Crosser was not overblown like most of the tools. We specifically needed the connection part — connect, store, forward. With Crosser, we found a perfect fit: easy and straightforward”

Additional factors that convinced ALPLA:

• Low-code, no-code builder: empowering engineers and regional IT to build flows themselves.
• Flexibility & scalability: a solution that can adapt to heterogeneous infrastructures and scale across 200 sites.
• Personal support & expertise: strong onboarding via Crosser’s knowledge base and close collaboration with Crosser’s consultants.

"The low-code approach was crucial. We want to enable regions and engineers to connect devices themselves. Crosser gives us a standardized tool for self-service engineering.”, adds Stefan.

Implementation

The first use cases focused on citizen analytics, enabling plants and corporate teams to extract very specific datasets for ad-hoc analysis. Early traction came from sites that were already running several IoT use cases with Crosser. This provides a corporate solution that can be leveraged for future IoT initiatives, representing a step toward more standardized approaches across sites.

The rollout approach was deliberately light-touch:

• Onboarding: engineers trained with Crosser Academy and knowledge base, then worked hands-on with Crosser consultants.
• Ease of adoption: “To get the basics was super easy. The tricky part was machine connections, not the tool itself.”
• Corporate solution: the deployment in one region provides a standardized, repeatable approach for future IoT integrations across other plants.

“Working closely with the ALPLA team was very rewarding. They knew what they wanted to implement, and together we were able to set up the first use cases in just three weeks. I guided them through best practices, exchanged ideas, and showed how easily solutions can be built and scaled in the Crosser Platform,” says David Nienhaus, Sr. Solution Engineer at Crosser.

Value and Outcomes

Crosser has already brought measurable value to ALPLA:

• Faster responses to requests: “Before Crosser, when someone asked for specific sensor data, the answer was: we need to develop it, it will take six months. Now with Crosser we have an answer nearly immediately.”
• Flexibility in scaling: ability to support new use cases across heterogeneous plants without standardizing machines first.
• Standardized low-code tool: giving engineers a tool to build solutions themselves, while providing a consistent approach that can be reused across multiple sites without IT bottlenecks.
  “This was one big learning for me in the project, the young engineers are IT-enabled and want to do things by themselves, which is great because we could not provide 100 developers just to connect devices.”
• Stronger collaboration: “Working with Crosser feels close and personal. You get to know the consultants, and the support is always there when needed. Compared to other solution providers, Crosser is plug-and-play.”

By implementing a corporate solution in one region first, ALPLA has taken an important step toward standardizing IoT practices across plants, creating a foundation for future digital initiatives and broader adoption of the platform.

The Way Forward

Looking ahead, ALPLA is exploring plans to shape the next years of digitalization on the shop floor, with Crosser considered a key enabler:

• Connecting 200 plants and 2000+ lines, across diverse devices and infrastructures.
• Supporting digital twin initiatives, providing machine and infrastructure data for advanced analytics and machine learning.
• Templates for custom machines, enabling fast rollouts even with ALPLA’s own machine designs.

“For me, Crosser was the pinpoint solution we needed, and will need in the future. I haven't seen a solution that was that easy in terms of no code, low code, is flexible, and perfectly suited to support our evolving digitalization plans.”, remarks Stefan Mueller, Solution Architect at ALPLA.

About ALPLA Group

ALPLA is one of the world's leading companies for the production and recycling of plastic packaging. More than 24,000 employees produce customised packaging systems, bottles, closures and injection-molded parts at 200 locations in 46 countries worldwide. The areas of application of the quality packaging are diverse: food and beverages, cosmetics and care products, household cleaners, detergents and cleaning agents, pharmaceuticals, motor oil and lubricants.

ALPLA operates recycling plants for PET and HDPE in Austria, Germany, Poland, Mexico, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Romania, Thailand and Brazil and has been consolidating all recycling activities under the ALPLA recycling brand since 2023. Further projects are being implemented.

www.alpla.com

About Crosser

Crosser designs and develops a hybrid-first Streaming Analytics & Integration software for any Cloud, On-premise or Edge. The Crosser Platform enables real-time processing of streaming, event-driven or batch data for Intelligent Pipelines & Automations and for Industrial IoT data flows. All managed from a single Control Center and powered by a low-code and low-effort experience.

The solution is built to fight complexity with simplicity through the Crosser Flow Studio, the visual design tool that enables teams to innovate faster than ever without developers. The software is ideally suited for Enterprise customers of various industries and applications, including Edge Analytics, Industrial Connectivity,  Industry 4.0, Streaming Analytics, Hybrid Integration and Intelligent Workflows.

www.crosser.io