The masters of packing and palletising: the facility in Rosenheim

 

Not so long ago, we ran a report on how it’s not always the case that all roads lead to Rome. Quite a lot of roads, especially the ones that Krones staff are taking, lead to Neutraubling. But not all of the Kronese are making their way to the Böhmerwaldstrasse. A sizeable proportion, just under 1,000 of them, end up in the foothills of the Alps every day, or – to be more precise – in our facility in Rosenheim.

For that, you see, is Krones second-biggest production facility, located a whole 150 kilometres away from group headquarters. Pretty far away from the centre of the Krones universe, you might think?! Admittedly, it is indeed quite a distance to travel. But in no way does that hamper cooperation and communication. And it’s hard to imagine Krones AG without the facility in Rosenheim, because it’s an important part of the group matrix, and as such plays quite a crucial role not only as a production facility, but also for the development of this Upper Bavarian town as a whole. We’ll tell you more about that aspect later …

Let’s start by having a look at Rosenheim’s chronicles. I have to admit that the history of Krones Upper Bavarian facility didn’t start out quite as idyllically as you might expect after having read about the origins of the facility in Neutraubling. In this case, the first machine was not planned in the future entrepreneur’s front garden or directly on his kitchen table – sorry, I know that’s a bitter disappointment for all the nostalgics among you. Reality in Rosenheim wasn’t quite that harmonious. It’s meanwhile 19 years ago that the Max Kettner group of companies collapsed. In the wake of this sad event, Krones AG in Rosenheim was founded as a new enterprise. The 550 former Kettner employees must have been immensely grateful for that – after all, the take-over meant their jobs were secure. They could continue doing what they had been doing for Kettner without having to worry about their future.

But it was not just the Kettner workforce, it was also Krones AG itself that after the purchase benefited from the routine procedures and the expertise contributed by the “new old” employees in the fields of packing and palletising. And not much has changed to this very day in that respect: in Rosenheim, personal commitment, quality, specialised expertise, investments and advanced training are all written in capital letters – and the last two in this list perhaps even meriting capital letters in bold print, being the characteristic traits of the Rosenheim facility – Krones plant in Upper Bavaria is channelling substantial investment into packing and palletising technology on a continuous basis, and things are going to stay that way in the future, too.

 

 

At present, the facility in Rosenheim produces a huge array of different machines for packing and palletising applications, covering all output ranges. No matter whether it’s jam, flour or milk, regardless of whether the product concerned is packed in bottles, cans or boxes, in trays, cartons or plastic crates – in Rosenheim, machines and lines are produced and assembled to a responsively tailored design day in, day out – offering abundant options for customised individuality. 🙂

This is also reflected in the product portfolio of the Rosenheim plant, comprising as it does bulk-glass sweep-off depalletisers, pick-and-place depalletisers for bulk glass, lift-off bulk-glass depalletisers, palletisers for non-returnables, for returnables, empty-crate storage systems, packers, unpackers, tray packers, tray shrink-wrappers, wrap-around packers, carton erectors and sealers, strapping machines, plus further special-purpose machines.

And you can tell that things are going really well in this facility when you look at the staff. By that I don’t mean to say that everybody runs around the premises (or sits at their workplace) with a smile glued to their faces. What I’m referring to is the statistics … True, it was not from zero to one hundred that the payroll grew, but from 550 to what are meanwhile 998 people working for Krones AG in Rosenheim – and the uptrend continues! 51 of them are young high-flyers who are in the middle of their vocational training for industrial-technical subjects, or working for Krones in Rosenheim as bachelor students (Bachelor of Engineering) in the field of mechatronics. One thing is certain: all of them are on the brink of a promising future, holding many exciting tasks in store for them.

Needless to say that so many capable and committed people need the appropriate space to carry out their jobs in. This was why firstly the plant in Rosenheim was expanded, and secondly in 2001/2002 additional business premises were newly created just a few kilometres away, in Raubling, where there are also options for extension. It is there that the packing and palletising pipot plant, an essential part of research and development, is accommodated. At present, the Rosenheim facility has an area of 45,000 m², with Raubling coming a close second, with more than 40,000 m². Any time anyone talks about “the Rosenheim facility” or the “Rosenheim plant”, that also includes the production site in Raubling.

It’s a complete success and a genuinely enriching achievement, this facility in Upper Bavaria, above all for Krones AG, but for the town of Rosenheim itself, too. Krones second-biggest facility has established itself as one of the major employers in Rosenheim. And that’s quite a masterly performance, don’t you think?

 

So far, we’ve already presented two important Krones plants: Neutraubling and Rosenheim. But this is not all there is to Krones – not by a long way. And so we shall in the weeks and months ahead be reporting on Krones’ other facilities. You think that yours definitely deserves a mention? Don’t be shy, just tell us – we’re looking forward to reading your story! 🙂