At Krones, mental health is a top priority. This commitment has now also been recognized by FOCUS-Business: At the Mental Health Award 2026, Krones received the award in the Large Companies category.

The award honors companies that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to the mental well-being of their employees. As part of the selection process, the submitted concepts were analyzed by the research institute FactField, with Krones being one of twelve companies invited to present its approach to an expert jury.

Krones impressed the jury by viewing mental health not as a collection of individual initiatives, but as a measurable and holistic system. Starting with the analysis conducted as part of the psychosocial risk assessment, needs are identified at an early stage, appropriate measures are developed jointly with employees and managers, embedded into everyday work routines, and their effectiveness is continuously evaluated. This creates a learning system that reaches both office and production employees while sustainably strengthening organizational resilience.

“Winning the jury award is a significant achievement for Krones, as it not only recognizes our many years of commitment to mental health, but also reinforces that we are already on a very strong path with our best-practice approach,” says Florian Hirsch, Head of Health Management. However, he also sees the award as motivation for the future: “Mental health is a topic of growing importance. We therefore aim to further expand our mental health initiatives in the years ahead so that we can continue to serve as a best-practice example in the workplace.”

Photos: © Philipp Ledényi

The jury recognised significant savings in energy, water and CO~2~ as well as the contribution to the circular use of reusable packaging.

Congratulations to the entire team behind Lavasonic HI! Thanks to your efforts, Krones has once again received an award at the German Sustainability Award (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis, DNP), more specifically the DNP 2027 for Products in the “Climate” transformation field.

Energy and resource efficiency impress the jury

Bottle cleaning machines are among the most energy-intensive systems in an industrial filling line. Lavasonic HI therefore addresses several key factors at the same time. It combines ultrasonic technology with an innovative process design. Individually controllable cleaning parameters and optimised flow management enable shorter cleaning times as well as reduced consumption of energy, water and chemicals.
According to the operational data submitted as part of the competition, the following savings can be achieved: up to

• 30 percent in heat demand,
• 20 percent in fresh water consumption and
• 35 percent in CO~2~ emissions.

In addition to the low consumption figures, the jury was also impressed by the gentle cleaning process: Thanks to reduced mechanical and chemical stress within the machine, reusable glass and PET bottles can remain in circulation for longer. “This means the technology combines savings potential in the cleaning process with improved circularity,” the jury stated in its written justification.

Hat-trick completed!

Incidentally, this is already the third honour for Krones as part of the German Sustainability Award: At the DNP 2025, Steinecker received the Product Award for its Phoenix BMC biomass conversion solution. The following year, Krones AG was recognised with the Corporate Award in the “Mechanical Engineering” category.