Krones is Overall Winner of the Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award 2026

Krones AG has been honoured as the Overall Winner of the Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award (MIMA) 2026, receiving one of the most prestigious accolades for digital industrial innovation. The award is presented annually by Microsoft and the strategy consultancy Roland Berger and recognises companies that set pioneering impulses for industrial value creation through digital solutions and new technologies.
Krones was recognised for developing a new generation of Agentic Digital Twins – digital twins that not only map production processes but are also able to optimise them autonomously using artificial intelligence.

Learning and optimising in real time

The technology combines highly accurate real time physical simulations with AI supported analytics and decision-making. This enables production scenarios to be evaluated within minutes, whereas such simulations previously took several hours. The AI automatically tests different settings, continuously learns from them, and transfers the optimal results directly to real production systems. This makes production more efficient, stable, and resource saving – a significant advancement, particularly for the beverage industry.

“Being named Overall Winner is a fantastic acknowledgement of the work of our teams,” says Markus Tischer, Member of the Executive Board of Krones AG responsible for digitalisation. “The award highlights the enormous potential in combining digitalisation with artificial intelligence – and shows that innovations developed here in Neutraubling are setting international benchmarks.”

The award winning project was developed in close collaboration with Ansys (part of Synopsys), CADFEM, Microsoft, NVIDIA and SoftServe. Together, they created a fully integrated solution that combines simulation, AI and cloud technology into a powerful tool for the production of the future.

About the Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award:

The Microsoft Intelligent Manufacturing Award (MIMA) is jointly presented by Microsoft and the strategy consultancy Roland Berger and is considered one of the leading awards for industrial digitalisation in the EMEA region. It honours companies that set new standards in production, engineering and operations with innovative digital solutions. The award comprises six categories and one overall win; submissions from Europe, the Middle East and Africa are evaluated in a multi stage process by an expert jury.

About Krones

The technology company Krones, headquartered in Neutraubling, Germany, is a leading international developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art machines and complete lines for the areas of process, filling, and packaging technology. Additional products and services from Krones' subsidiaries, such as those relating to digitalization, intralogistics and recycling, complement the product portfolio. Krones employs more than 21,000 people worldwide. Sales in 2025 amounted to EUR 5.66 billion. In addition to the listed Krones AG, the Krones Group includes more than 100 subsidiaries and locations worldwide.