Krones AG is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 packaging and bottling machine manufacturer. It is the world’s leading manufacturer of lines for filling beverages in plastic and glass bottles or beverage cans. The company manufactures stretch blow-moulding

Blow molding

Blow molding is a manufacturing process by which hollow plastic parts are formed. In general, there are three main types of blow molding: extrusion blow molding, injection blow molding, and stretch blow molding. The blow molding process begins with melting down the plastic and forming it into a...

 machines for producing Polyethylene terephthalate

Polyethylene terephthalate

Polyethylene terephthalate , commonly abbreviated PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P, is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in synthetic fibers; beverage, food and other liquid containers; thermoforming applications; and engineering resins often in combination...

 (PET) bottles, plus fillers, labellers, bottle washers, pasteurisers, inspectors, packers and palletisers

Palletizer

right|thumb|250px|Palletizer using roboticsA palletizer or palletiser is a machine which provides automatic means for stacking cases of goods or products on to a pallet. The first palletizer was designed, built, and installed in 1948 by a company formerly known as Lamson Corp. There are specific...

. This product portfolio is complemented by material flow systems and process technology for producing beverages, plus syrup kitchens, for clients like breweries, dairies and soft-drink companies.
The company is devoting particular attention to PET economies in the production process for PET bottles. With what is so far the lightest-ever PET bottle for still water, weighing 6.6 g, Krones won the German Packaging Prize for 2008 in the sales package category.

History

Krones’ corporate evolution is closely connected to the spirit of get-up-and-go optimism prevalent in Germany following the 2nd World War. Hermann Kronseder, the father of the present-day Executive Board Chairman, began in 1951 to manufacture semi-automatic labellers to his own designs. The continuous success of his machines meant that as from the 1960s, the firm’s range of machinery was extended to include packers and filling systems. In 1980, the company was converted into a stock corporation as KRONES AG.
Acquisitions of other companies were the building blocks for the present-day complete range of machines for the beverage industry:

• 1983: Anton Steinecker Maschinenfabrik (brewhouse manufacture), Freising
  Freising
  Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Freising. Total population 48,500.The city is located north of Munich at the Isar river, near the Munich International Airport...
  
  , Germany
  Germany
  Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
  
  
• 1988: Zierk Maschinenbau GmbH (bottle washers), Flensburg
  Flensburg
  Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
  
  , Germany
  Germany
  Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
  
  
• 1998: Max Kettner GmbH (packaging machines), Rosenheim
  Rosenheim
  Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...
  
  , Germany
  Germany
  Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
  
  
• 2000: Sander Hansen A/S (pasteurising systems), Brøndby, Denmark
  Denmark
  Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
  
  

Corporate Data

The headquarter of the group is situated in Neutraubling

Neutraubling

Neutraubling is a town in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany, in the district of Regensburg.The town has only existed since 1951. After the second world war, displaced Germans from the eastern parts of the Reich settled in the ruins of the bombed military airport. Today, it is a more or less...

 near Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

, Germany. In Germany in total 8,280 people are employed. New machines and systems are all manufactured at the German production facilities (Neutraubling

Neutraubling

Neutraubling is a town in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany, in the district of Regensburg.The town has only existed since 1951. After the second world war, displaced Germans from the eastern parts of the Reich settled in the ruins of the bombed military airport. Today, it is a more or less...

, Nittenau

Nittenau

Nittenau is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Regen, 18 km southeast of Schwandorf, and 24 km northeast of Regensburg....

, Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

, Freising

Freising

Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Freising. Total population 48,500.The city is located north of Munich at the Isar river, near the Munich International Airport...

 and Rosenheim

Rosenheim

Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall. It is seat of administration of the district of Rosenheim, but is not a part of it.-Geography:...

). The internationally focused company achieves more than 80 % of its total turnover abroad and is represented worldwide through 40 subsidiaries.

The subsidiaries

• KIC Krones GmbH (high-tech adhesives for labels and carton packages, plus processing and operating materials), Neutraubling, Germany
• KOSME S.R.L. (filling and packaging machines for mid-tied companies), Roverbella
  Roverbella
  Roverbella is a comune in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 130 km east of Milan and about 11 km north of Mantua....
  
  , Italy
  Italy
  Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
  
  

cover additional market segments in beverage filling.
The enterprise applied for approximately 400 new patents in 2010 and invested approximately 5% of the profits into research and development.

Corporate Structure

Plastics Engineering

Top priority is given to stretch blow-moulding machines for the production of PET bottles of up to a volume of 3 liters, with an output of 12,800 to 80,000 bottles/hour. The PET recycling system is based on a PET Flakes cleaning process equipped with progressive temperature controls and decontamination.

Filling and Packing Technology

Attention goes to rinse, filling and capping lines with a rotary concept. This is where the enterprise distinguishes itself from inline construction, since only rotary lines are suitable for high-speed tasks of up to 60.000 bottles/hour or approximately 100,000 cans/hour, including aseptic filling systems for beverages with a high pH

 value (> 4,5). For the disinfection of containers and closures, PES or H2O2 is used. Further steps in beverage production as bottle-washing machines, inspection and control systems for bottles and bundles, as well as labelling machines for cold and hot glue or self-adhesive labelling complete the product range. Packaging machines for bundles either one-way or returnable, sorting and grouping stations, as well as palletisation systems supplement the spectrum.

Process Engineering

Breweries can be completely equipped with brewhouses, including fermenting and storage cellar equipment, along with assigned supply installations. Further, the company supplies syrup areas, mixing and carbonising equipment for manufacturing plants of non-alcoholic beverages. Heating systems as UHT- and flash heating systems or pasteurizing systems are available for beverage preservation.

Material Flow Engineering

Logistics systems take care of the provisions for production and distribution, such as raw, operating and auxiliary materials, as well as finished products, where either block storage or automatic warehouse systems are installed. In addition, commissioning equipment permit the manufacturing of combined product pallets. Corporate planning is improved with forklift guidance and yard management systems during the unloading and loading procedure.

Notable Milestones Since 1995

• 1997 Kick-off of the manufacturing of stretch blow-moulding machines for the production of PET bottles
• 2000 Delivery of the first line for aseptic filling
  Aseptic processing
  Aseptic processing is the process by which a sterile product is packaged in a sterile container in a way that maintains sterility...
  
   of sensitive soft drinks
• 2002 Premiere of the first PET recycling line for recovering PET bottles and re-using them as food-grade raw material
• 2005 Expansion of the firm’s aseptic filling technology to include dry sterilisation using H2O2; Krones had already been offering sterilisation with peracetic acid, and is thus the only company to offer both of these technologies.
• 2010 The new ProShape - Process for the production of oval and asymmetrical plastic containers is brought to market
• 2011 LitePac is introduced, a completely new method of packaging beverages: PET bottle formations are provided with strapping tape and a carrying handle only, so that waste from packaging can be reduced by 75 % in relation to former shrink film packaging.

Business Figures

Consolidated sales:

• 1,695 million euros (2005)
• 1,911 million euros (2006)
• 2,156 million euros (2007)
• 2,381 million euros (2008)
• 1,865 million euros (2009)
• 2,173 million euros (2010)

Sales breakdown by sectors in 2010

• Alcoholic beverages 26.9 %
• Soft drinks 64.4 %
• Food, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics 8.5 %

Executive Board

• Volker Kronseder, Chairman
• Hans-Jürgen Thaus, Deputy Chairman
• Rainulf Diepold
• Werner Frischholz
• Christoph Klenk

Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Ernst Baumann