Anuga FoodTec 2022: KHS rebounds from pandemic blip but Ukraine war adds more complexity

27 Apr 2022 --- KHS Group experienced the “most successful year” in its history after a COVID-19 blip and is currently showcasing some of its environmentally sustainable filling and packaging machinery at Anuga FoodTec 2022 in Cologne, Germany.

PackagingInsights speaks with Stefan Knappmann, sales manager for Northern Germany at KHS, who says delayed order times at the start of the pandemic caused customer panic, but this changed once it became clear that business would continue and consumer demand for beverages would not stop. 

“At the beginning of the pandemic, nobody in the industry knew what the future would bring. So a lot of customers stopped investing in their projects and new machinery, and they delayed a lot of machine building. But after a year or nine months, they realized it was not the end of the world. People are still consuming beverages all over the world, and business goes on,” he explains.

“This realization meant that they started their projects again, and in the last year, we had the most successful year ever in the KHS industry by doing over €1.4 billion (US$1.5 billion).” 

Ukraine war hits supply chain
Despite the huge success KHS has experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the German engineering company is now faced with fresh challenges threatening the industry worldwide. 

Beverages glued together with KHS Nature MultiPack technology.Inflating energy prices, along with disrupted supply chains and material shortages caused by the Ukraine war, are causing more uncertainty for machine builders as they attempt to provide new and more environmentally friendly solutions to packagers worldwide. 

“We cannot quite say how the war will really impact us. We still have delivery problems coming from Asia [due to COVID-19]. From Shanghai, for example, they are still in total lockdown at the harbor, and no work is done. The ships are not loaded anymore, and this impacts us because we rely on electronic parts made in China.”

“On the other side, the Ukraine war is affecting the prices for raw materials like metal – particularly iron, and 80% of our machinery is metal business. We will have a large price increase.”

“Realistically, we have some problems with getting parts to the market, but our purchasing department is doing a very good job chasing everything and, as far as I know, all the facilities and sites we have at the moment get the supplies they need. However, everyone here [at Anuga FoodTec] is facing these problems.” KHS paper-based packs for beverage cans.

“At the moment, we can deal with it. But looking into the future is like looking into the looking glass.”

New technology, new problems 
Despite these myriad issues and an uncertain future, KHS is hopeful its solutions can continue delivering environmental benefits to F&B producers around the world. 

The company’s Nature MultiPack solution on display at the trade show glues beverage bottles together, eliminating the need for plastic or paper packaging to hold products together. 

Cans and PET bottles are glued together with specially developed adhesive dots to form four-, six- and eight-container packs with a practical handle attached. This packaging system has proven effective during transport for retailers and consumers, explains the company. 

Also on show is the KHS paper pack solution, which uses recyclable fiber connectors to hold beverage cans together, again ridding the need for tertiary plastic. 

, reporting from Anuga FoodTec 2022 in Cologne, Germany

By Louis Gore-Langton