Joint effort for progressing digital transformation

Krones and digitalization are a perfect match. Krones has long been more than a machinery and plant manufacturer in the traditional sense. Since it was founded back in 1951, the family business has continually evolved and frequently realigned its focus. That’s because any company wishing to stay on course for long-term success in our complex, fast-paced world must promptly readjust its structures, strategies and goals to ever-changing requirements and opportunities. The digital era has brought forth a number of highly promising technologies that help make better sense of complex production processes, optimise them appropriately and raise them to a new level of efficiency.

Digital innovation is the name of the game

Krones realised the potential inherent in digitalization for the beverage and liquid-food industries early on. Quite some time ago, various specialist departments and subsidiaries started developing digital solutions that rendered systems and lines fit for a networked world. A goodly portion of independence and flexibility backed up by agile methodology helped the group make its way towards digital transformation and expand and consolidate its position as a pioneer in cutting-edge technology.

Digital innovation has been assuming an increasingly pivotal role in the Krones Group, a fact also reflected in the company’s product portfolio. Since 2021, Krones customers have benefited from overarching service level agreements and the central Krones.world platform, which pools all of the digital services offered for beverage producers. Thus, the focus has shifted from stainless steel hardware pure and simple to additional services and features that offer benefits like factory process optimisation. Here Krones relies on holistically conceived digital concepts that cover the entire production process, from product development and project management right through to supporting clients in their day-to-day operations. The group sees its role as an all-inclusive partner for its customers.

Krones.digital: bold change is what we’re all about

Since a revolution like this is won’t happen by itself, Krones took yet another purposeful step forward on its digital journey early this year. The complete-system vendor brought together all of its groupwide resources in the fields of digitalization and automation in its new unit, Krones.digital. The big advantage is the merging of specialised knowledge in the field of mechanical engineering with digitalization expertise. This marriage of two different worlds creates fresh opportunities for generating more added value for customers and makes it easier to deliver more goal-driven support even faster.

The new unit – a diverse and flexible crew – is not a department in the usual sense of the word but a community, consisting at present of roughly 450 specialists, like automation experts, AI engineers, software developers and data scientists, who work together in pursuit of a single great mission: Krones.digital aims to profoundly change the food and beverage industries.

Digital enthusiasts on the advance

What is special about this cooperation is that Krones.digital transcends all boundaries – It brings together different departments of Krones AG, the entire Syskron GmbH subsidiary, plus teams from the USA, China, India and Czechia. So all of the numerous technology specialists making up the Krones.digital crew work for the Krones Group but come from a wide range of disciplines, from different companies and different countries. They constitute an open network comprising many disparate talents, all imbued with a passion for digital technologies.

However, enthusiasm for digitalization and automation alone is not enough to develop customer-responsive solutions from creative and innovative ideas and put together something really big. Krones’ solution: a matrix organisation that has clearly defined fields of responsibilities and work but is not bound by rigid structures and traditional working methods. It offers plenty of space for exhaustive collaboration and vibrant exchange, irrespective of department, company or location. Krones is always on the lookout for can-do people to add to its digitalization team since the community is intended to grow further.

A motley crew

Since the masterminds behind Krones.digital are – as the name suggests – at home in the digital world, the sometimes huge geographical distances separating them are no problem. The new unit has consciously opted for direct online communication channels and streamlined decision-making. Flexibility and agility are the crew’s watchwords not only as far as collaboration is concerned but also when it comes to organising daily routines. All team members can and should decide for themselves whether to work from home or in the office. And it’s not only the working modalities that are different but also the individual crew members, each with a distinctive character of their own, who in their diversity fill the community with life and create a highly variegated network.

We set great store by a pleasant working environment and team spirit – prioritising open, straightforward cooperation, direct communication channels and streamlined decision-making. We have actively fostered this team culture over recent weeks and months and are now looking forward to seeing Krones.digital grow with many new faces. Severin DiepoldHead of the Corporate Digitalization and Automation subsection within Krones.digital