State-of-the-art | A new state-of-the-art activated carbon water treatment plant for Vrumona, one of largest soft drinks companies in the Netherlands and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heineken, has been completed by Envirogen Group.

Major step | On 20th of April 2023, Krones has signed an agreement to acquire 90 % of Ampco Pumps Company LLC (Ampco Pumps), thereby expanding its capabilities in process technology. Based in Wisconsin, USA, Ampco Pumps is supplying sanitary pumps and applied products like mixing and blending equipment to the food, beverage, dairy processing, personal care and pharmaceuticals markets. The company has more than 70 year history in the pump market and is a key player for sanitary pumps in the US food and beverage market.

India | When Krones.digital was created in 2022, Krones blazed a new trail in terms of collaboration: within a matrix organisational structure, team members around the world work together in community to develop solutions for digitally innovative, automated production. The new India facility in Bengaluru was inaugurated at the beginning of April 2023.

Krones published its 2022 Annual Report and confirmed its preliminary figures. Its title is “Solutions beyond tomorrow”, the company’s new target picture. At the Annual General Meeting for 2022, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of €1.75 per share (previous year: €1.40 per share).

Comprehensive documentation | The international hop specialist BarthHaas has just published its Hop Harvest Guide 2022, a comprehensive documentation of the quality of the most recent hop crop. It helps brewers to adapt their processes and recipes to the changes identified in the respective crop year.

Majority share | At the end of February 2023, Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP) announced it has acquired a majority share in innovative digital can printers Nomoq. This further extends AMP’s industry-leading support of newcomers to the beverage market. The Switzerland-based start-up Nomoq, founded in 2021, promises printed cans with short lead times and “No Minimum Order Quantity” – hence the name.

Strong growth | Krones improved all financial key performance indicators in 2022 and forecasts further revenue and earnings growth for 2023. Revenue went up by 15.8 % year on year to EUR 4,209.3 million from EUR 3634.5 million. Krones has thus exceeded its growth target of 10–12 per cent (originally 5–8 per cent).

Reviving historic barley variety | The Heidelberg-based family business Palatia Malz GmbH, in a joint effort with Saatzucht Josef Breun GmbH & Co. KG, has revived the traditional German malting barley variety Alexis. The malt produced exclusively by Palatia from this time-honored barley variety will now be marketed under the brand name “Best A-XL”, the A standing for “Alexis” and the XL (“extra large”) for the exceptional foam stability of a beer brewed with it.

Two component cap | The can is the only liquid container on earth which cannot be re-sealed once it is opened. Why have none of the previous solutions made it permanently onto supermarket shelves? Christian Paul Sooth, Co-founder of Re-cap solutions from Hamburg thinks, “they all compromise design and function and sound of may be the most iconic packaging on earth. Marketing people don't like it. The technical people in the canning infrastructure neither. This is why we decided to develop an application which will not touch the can as it is.”