Krones AG

What they do

Krones builds the machines and complete lines that fill and package beverages and liquid food. Its systems blow-mould plastic bottles, fill and cap containers, label them, pack them and stack them on pallets. The group also supplies brewhouses and process technology, intralogistics systems, plastics recycling plants and digital services.

The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Neutraubling near Regensburg in Bavaria. Krones AG is listed on the stock exchange and is a member of the MDAX, while the company also describes itself as family-owned.

Why it matters

Much of what people drink, from water and beer to juice and milk, passes through bottling lines like those Krones designs. Throughput, hygiene and reliability decide whether a beverage plant makes money.

Packaging is also at the centre of environmental debate. Lighter bottles, returnable glass and recycled PET all require new machinery. Krones' work on recycling plants and on energy-efficient stretch blow moulders positions it directly in the effort to close the loop on plastic packaging.

Products to know

• Contiform: stretch blow moulders that form PET bottles from preforms.
• Modulfill: filling systems for a wide range of beverages.
• Variopac: packers for shrink-wrapped and other secondary packaging.
• Steinecker: brewhouse and process technology within the group.

The German angle

Krones grew up in eastern Bavaria, a region with a deep brewing tradition that gave a local machine builder demanding customers on its doorstep. Neutraubling, just outside Regensburg, has grown alongside the company and remains its main base.

The firm combines a stock market listing with a strong family influence, a pattern seen in several German industrial groups. Like most German machine builders, it relies on the dual apprenticeship system to train the mechatronics technicians and engineers who build and service its lines.