Portrait
Future-proof filling and packaging systems
As an international manufacturer of filling and packaging equipment for the beverage and liquid food industries, the KHS Group is one of the market leaders in this industry. The German company was established in 1993 through a merger of Holstein & Kappert AG, founded in Dortmund in 1868, and Seitz-Werke GmbH, founded in Bad Kreuznach in 1887 (later SEN AG). With a history dating back over 150 years, the KHS Group is therefore one of the most experienced suppliers on the market. Based in Dortmund, the company and its 5,400 employees achieved a turnover of €1.517 billion in 2023. The KHS Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Salzgitter Klöckner-Werke GmbH, itself part of the Salzgitter Group.
At five plants within Germany KHS develops and manufactures the full range of filling and packaging machines for processing plastic (PET) and glass containers, beverage cans and kegs. Its portfolio includes high-performance systems and equipment for lower capacities plus a wide spectrum of supplementary consultancy and service products.
Dortmund is where the company headquarters and its cleaning, pasteurizing, labeling, and conveying technology center are located. Production at KHS’ central factory also includes the manufacture of parts. The Bad Kreuznach plant pools KHS’ expertise in process, filling and kegging technology. Kleve is home to the competence center for all secondary packaging systems and solutions; high-performance palletizers and packing and unpacking systems are built in Worms. At its plant in Hamburg KHS, formerly KHS Corpoplast GmbH, runs an extensive plastic container consultancy program chiefly for beverage and food products but also for the non-food sector and engineers machines for the manufacture and coating of plastic bottles.
KHS also operates production facilities in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, India and China. The Dortmund systems provider attaches great importance to ensuring on-site service worldwide. KHS maintains a local presence for its customers at over 70 different locations and where necessary can provide direct support at short notice. Its 24/7 HelpDesk and selection of digital services underline the company’s proximity to its customers.
Under the motto of “your reliable partner”, KHS is at its customers’ side throughout the entire productive life cycle of their lines and machines, constantly offering new solutions and upgrades that generate added value. The company underlines this by successfully developing resource-saving machinery and modernization systems for efficient energy management. In the field of sustainable packaging KHS supports its customers with systems and solutions that promote a closed recycling loop [such as plastic containers made of up to 100% [r]PET or the world’s only recyclable PET barrier system]. With each filling and packaging system KHS aims to supply people with safely packaged beverages and thus also provide them with access to clean drinking water in a groundbreaking contribution.
This company vision is openly practiced in its full social diversity by over 5,000 employees from more than 80 nations worldwide. Their commitment forms the basis for a trusting and long-term cooperation with all of KHS’ business partners. To this end, KHS also accepts clear corporate responsibility in its mission statement and has had practically every production site successfully audited by the EcoVadis CSR rating system each year since 2015.*
* At present all sites except China because of the construction of a new production site.