On September 29, the company KRONEN GmbH hosted its in-house exhibition with an expert forum. The event showcased a multitude of both new and proven solutions in an exhibition area covering an impressive 3,200 square meters, with highlights including its KUJ-HC 220 cube, strip & slice cutting machine and a processing line for up to 1,500 kg of cut lettuce and baby leaf lettuce mixes per hour. On the evening before the event, customers and partners were invited to attend the Evening with KRONEN, which also featured the presentation of the KRONEN Award, while an eventful Friday was brought to a close with an evening at the “Oktoberfest” celebrations at the Europa-Park in Rust. More than 180 participants from 44 different countries attended this year’s event held by the family company.

After the event was forced to be held as a solely online event in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Customer Day 2023 returned to its venue in Kehl am Rhein as an in-person exhibition. It was preceded by a gathering over several days attended by KRONEN representatives from locations worldwide. At this Sales Meeting, KRONEN provided its international representatives with an insight into its new solutions and topics, as well as running comprehensive training sessions. KRONEN GmbH has been hosting such events for customers and representatives since as early as 2008.

This year, around 180 participants from 44 different countries came to Kehl am Rhein to make the most of a jam-packed program of events – and were yet again delighted with the highlights on offer (→Participant feedback: see pages 3).

“It was wonderful to see that this year – for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic – so many companies accepted our invitation to come together again. We are delighted that the event was such a success and received such positive feedback from visitors from all over the globe,” stated Stephan Zillgith, Managing Director of KRONEN, reflecting on the event. “The Customer Day gives us the unique opportunity to provide live demonstrations of our solutions, to present new and unique topics in the KRONEN Forum and to connect with the industry in person, especially at the evening events. It also allows us to show our customers and partners how we work at KRONEN and to thank them for our excellent partnership right here on our home soil.”

New and proven solutions for salad, fruit and vegetable processing

The guests invited to the event included customers and interested visitors from the fresh-cut industry; convenience and ready-made meal manufacturers; large-scale kitchens and catering facilities; the frozen, dried and tinned food industry; producers of vegan products; and processing farms.

The factory tours provided visitors with an exclusive insight into the production facilities of KRONEN GmbH. At its in-house exhibition on September 29, KRONEN teamed up with its partners Synergy Systems, iWEIGH, GKS Packaging, sterilAir and Citrosol to present its latest solutions and a variety of well-established machines live and full product-processing operation both in the exhibition area and in its production halls in Kehl am Rhein. The products demonstrated included:

• A processing line for up to 1,500 kg of cut lettuce and baby leaf lettuce mixes with two GEWA 4000B PLUS HELICAL washing machines and the K850 drying system
• The KUJ-HC 220 cube, strip & slice cutting machine for cutting even large products with a diameter of up to 220 mm and up to 8,000 kg per hour
• The HEWA 3800 HELICAL washing machine – optimized in terms of hygiene and cleaning for continuous pre-washing, washing and disinfection
• The K850 drying system, which sets new standards when it comes to hygiene and is a fully automatic, continuously operating drying unit for up to 5,000 kg per hour
• And many more …

At the KRONEN Forum, renowned experts from the industry and the world of research presented their results and findings on current, industry-relevant topics and were happy to answer audience questions in the subsequent Q&A session:

• “Hygienic Design: a sustainable solution”, Hein Timmermann, President of the EHEDG (European Hygienic Engineering & Design Group)
• “Extending produce shelf-life and improving food safety with BIO-solutions”, Martin Mottura, Citrosol
• “The possible potential of ultrasound when washing lettuce”, Alexander Bobe, German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL)
• “Innovative washing & disinfection of cut lettuce”, Uta Schnabel & Jörg Stachowiak, INP (Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology), Greifswald

KRONEN GmbH cooperates with its partners from the industry and the world of research to explore completely new and unique approaches to salad, fruit and vegetable processing  (https://www.kronen.eu/en/company/research).

Presentation of the KRONEN Award

In addition to the abundance of industry knowledge and professional expertise, guests were also invited to enjoy a friendly get-together at KRONEN’s evening events. The Evening with KRONEN, which was held at the Orangery in the Calamus-Areal on the evening before the Customer Day and welcomed more than 150 attendees, also featured the presentation of the KRONEN Award to this year’s winners:

• Largest Single Order in the Company’s History: Lingwood Food Services, Great Britain
• Most Constant Market Growth: Industrade, France
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Robert Henderson, Mosur Machine, Canada

The Customer Day was brought to a close on Friday evening with a group visit to the “Oktoberfest” celebrations at the Europa-Park in Rust.

You can find a video and images of the event here.

Participant feedback:

Clemens Morath, Gartenfrisch Jung, Germany: “The day was an extremely interesting experience for us, especially the new technology with a hygienic design and the presentations given. They all provided me with new ideas and inspiration. I yet again feel inspired to go one step further with the aim of making progress with technology rather than chemistry and then seeing what solutions we can come up with – that is our aim.”

Yannick Janin, Lezsaisons, France: “The company KRONEN has taken care of everything, and we’ve been treated like special guests. It is very impressive to see the entire range and all the products, especially the salad line.”

Magnus Agneborn, Grönsakshallen, Sweden: “This is my second time at this event. I was here before the pandemic, when it was a little bit smaller. This time is fantastic because they are showing us many more machines like those that we use in our production, so that’s really good for us.”

Alejandro Tamayo, The Green Batch, Panama: "We are here at the KRONEN event at its factory. It’s my first time here. I came here all the way from Panama. It’s been a pleasure being here. It’s been amazing. I’ve been meeting new people, learning new things and learning about new machinery, new ideas and new innovations for our business. We are really grateful that we can be here and keep working with KRONEN for longer.”

Syed Mohammed Fauzi Bin Syed Murshad, Pica Synergy, Malaysia: “We are from Malaysia and we are very happy to work with KRONEN because we think KRONEN can provide Malaysia with an advantage, especially in terms of technology and equipment. And we believe that KRONEN produces some of the best machinery in the world. We are very happy and confident that when we apply KRONEN to the agriculture in Malaysia, the outcome will be very good.”

Eduardo Gutierrez-Rodriguez, Colorado State University, USA: “One of the advantages and why we at Colorado State University decided to go with KRONEN is because it allows us to have this flexibility when we’re working with a different client – going from a potato to a leafy green or to a berry. And we can explain the science behind it.”

Olivier Vincent, Fresh & Food, France: "We have many KRONEN machines in our production and are very satisfied with their high quality and reliability. The visit of the customer day was very worthwhile for us, it was very interesting and well organized."

About KRONEN GmbH

KRONEN is a family-managed, globally operating producer and supplier of stand-alone machines, special-purpose machines, and fully automatic processing lines. The product program of KRONEN and its partners covers fruit, vegetable and salad processing: from preparing, peeling, cutting, washing, mixing, disinfection and drying to conveying, weighing and packaging. KRONEN also offers technical solutions for the processing of meat, sausage and fish, vegan products, baked goods, and pet food. 

The company, which is based in the German town of Kehl am Rhein and has a second production site in the nearby town of Achern, currently employs more than 130 members of staff, has representations in more than 80 countries worldwide, and supplies its products to over 120 nations all over the globe.

With more than 40 years of experience in food technology, KRONEN preserves traditional values such as quality awareness and relies on a sustainable, holistic approach for the hygienic, reliable, and efficient production of healthy food. KRONEN considers itself to be a think tank that provides innovative, customized solutions to benefit its customers and meet all their needs. It guarantees top-quality advice and planning expertise in close cooperation with the industry and research establishments.

Contact:

You will find a selection of image material below (to download, click on the right button on your mouse: "Save image as"). 
You need more or different material? We are happy to help. Your contact: presse@kronen.eu, T +49 (0)7854 9646-160 / -161.