This year, Krones AG is celebrating a special anniversary: 75 years ago, in 1951, Dr Hermann Kronseder founded a small electrical engineering workshop in Neutraubling – laying the foundation for a company that has since grown into one of the world’s leading technology partners for the beverage and food industry.
Starting with the development of its first labelling machines, the following decades saw the rise of an impressive corporate success story – shaped by technological progress, continuous growth, and the company’s ambition to set new industry standards time and again.
From Neutraubling to the world
The 1960s marked the beginning of international expansion: in 1966, the establishment of Krones Inc. in the USA became the company’s first overseas subsidiary and the starting point for its global growth. Today, Krones operates in more than 160 countries and employs over 20,000 people worldwide.
The company’s portfolio includes machinery and complete systems for beverage filling and packaging, process technology, intralogistics and digital solutions, as well as plastics recycling – covering all stages of the plastics cycle, from processing to reuse, as part of a holistic, systemic approach. Many of these fields originate from pioneering developments that have set benchmarks across decades.
Numerous awards for products, machines and concepts, along with around 7,000 patents – the first of which was filed by Dr Hermann Kronseder back in 1956 – underscore the company’s technological leadership. This is further demonstrated by landmark industrial projects such as the 1975 block solution, which connects several machines in a highly compact layout, the energy self-sufficient and CO₂‑neutral brewery (2017), and most recently, the filling line of the future known as Ingeniq.
“Krones stands for entrepreneurial continuity across generations. The values with which my father founded the company still shape Krones today – combined with an openness to continuously adapt to technological and societal changes,” says Volker Kronseder, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and son of the company founder, Dr Hermann Kronseder.
“75 years of Krones means 75 years of commitment, curiosity and innovative spirit,” adds Christoph Klenk, Chief Executive Officer of Krones AG. “We are proud of what we have achieved together and would like to thank all employees whose expertise and passion have shaped our journey. From a semi-automatic system labelling 1,200 glass bottles per hour in 1951 to today’s performance of more than 100,000 PET bottles per hour, the progress we’ve made is truly impressive. With advancing digitalisation and increasingly intelligent systems, we are once again at an exciting turning point – and we look forward to discovering the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Focus on the future
Looking ahead, Krones remains committed to developing and industrialising new technological concepts – especially in the fields of digitalisation, process integration and resource-efficient production systems. The goal is to continue identifying, shaping and meeting future requirements of the beverage and food industry at an early stage, together with customers and partners. In doing so, Krones continues to uphold its philosophy of providing “solutions beyond tomorrow.”
One example is the sustainable packaging solution LitePac Top: a plastic-free secondary packaging system that bundles PET bottles or cans using a fully recyclable cardboard clip and, where required, a paper-based banderole – eliminating the need for traditional shrink-wrapping film.
Link to the Krones company history: The company history of Krones AG - Krones
Starting with the development of its first labelling machines, the following decades saw the rise of an impressive corporate success story – shaped by technological progress, continuous growth, and the company’s ambition to set new industry standards time and again.
From Neutraubling to the world
The 1960s marked the beginning of international expansion: in 1966, the establishment of Krones Inc. in the USA became the company’s first overseas subsidiary and the starting point for its global growth. Today, Krones operates in more than 160 countries and employs over 20,000 people worldwide.
The company’s portfolio includes machinery and complete systems for beverage filling and packaging, process technology, intralogistics and digital solutions, as well as plastics recycling – covering all stages of the plastics cycle, from processing to reuse, as part of a holistic, systemic approach. Many of these fields originate from pioneering developments that have set benchmarks across decades.
Numerous awards for products, machines and concepts, along with around 7,000 patents – the first of which was filed by Dr Hermann Kronseder back in 1956 – underscore the company’s technological leadership. This is further demonstrated by landmark industrial projects such as the 1975 block solution, which connects several machines in a highly compact layout, the energy self-sufficient and CO₂‑neutral brewery (2017), and most recently, the filling line of the future known as Ingeniq.
“Krones stands for entrepreneurial continuity across generations. The values with which my father founded the company still shape Krones today – combined with an openness to continuously adapt to technological and societal changes,” says Volker Kronseder, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and son of the company founder, Dr Hermann Kronseder.
“75 years of Krones means 75 years of commitment, curiosity and innovative spirit,” adds Christoph Klenk, Chief Executive Officer of Krones AG. “We are proud of what we have achieved together and would like to thank all employees whose expertise and passion have shaped our journey. From a semi-automatic system labelling 1,200 glass bottles per hour in 1951 to today’s performance of more than 100,000 PET bottles per hour, the progress we’ve made is truly impressive. With advancing digitalisation and increasingly intelligent systems, we are once again at an exciting turning point – and we look forward to discovering the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Focus on the future
Looking ahead, Krones remains committed to developing and industrialising new technological concepts – especially in the fields of digitalisation, process integration and resource-efficient production systems. The goal is to continue identifying, shaping and meeting future requirements of the beverage and food industry at an early stage, together with customers and partners. In doing so, Krones continues to uphold its philosophy of providing “solutions beyond tomorrow.”
One example is the sustainable packaging solution LitePac Top: a plastic-free secondary packaging system that bundles PET bottles or cans using a fully recyclable cardboard clip and, where required, a paper-based banderole – eliminating the need for traditional shrink-wrapping film.
Link to the Krones company history: The company history of Krones AG - Krones
