AG is a German-based machinery manufacturer. Founded by the innovator Hermann Kronseder in 1951 near Regensburg in the brewing region of Bavaria, its first machine was a fully automatic labeller for small Bavarian breweries. In 2005 the company absorbed its autonomous subsidiary, Steinecker, under the Krones label and management. Following continuous and healthy growth, the company is today the market leader for all machinery needed in a brewery, from the labeller, bottle filler, and inspector, to all of the brewhouse equipment, as well as the IT systems, logistics, and services.

Krones is a single-source supplier with central engineering and production operations in Germany. Single pieces of machinery, as well as entire brewery projects with numerous interfaces and complex processes, are handled by project management and engineering at company headquarters. While the manufacturing operation is centralized, the service set-up is international.

Besides its brewing know-how, Krones also ranks among the market leaders in aseptic (sterile) filling systems. The qualifications and skill of the brewery staff are significant drivers of product quality. Krones’ equipment is considered expensive, but it is also respected as well-built and often innovative.

Krones’ success is based on a few crucial strategies: specialized knowledge of mechanical engineering and its customers’ sectoral needs; a technical lead in its chosen field thanks to continuously high expenditure on research and development; and a manufacturing operation using state-of-the-art equipment to stringent standards of qualitative excellence. Krones lays claim to more than 1,300 patents, and brewers worldwide are made aware of the company’s continuous innovations by focused marketing based around fanciful names for new technologies.