KRONEN and Urschel announce cooperation
Partnership of technology market leaders
KRONEN GmbH, a leading international food technology manufacturer for salad, vegetable and fruit processing, and Urschel Laboratories Inc., the world market leader for industrial slicing machines and shredding technology in food processing, will work closely together in the future. The aim of both partners is to strengthen their market positions, pool their expertise, increase sales and achieve sustainable growth. The two companies and brands will remain completely independent, the production sites of KRONEN in Kehl and Achern in Germany and of Urschel in Chesterton, USA, will remain as before.
KRONEN
From an operational point of view, the cooperation is primarily a sales partnership in clearly defined countries and regions. In future, Urschel will also distribute KRONEN machines and processing lines in Mexico, the USA and Asia. The exception to this is Vietnam, where the existing KRONEN representative will continue to take on this task. The sales cooperation in the USA and Mexico will begin in July 2025, while Urschel will not take over sales in Asia until 2026. In addition, the two partners have a number of strategic goals to combine their expertise and develop together.
Two strong food technology manufacturers join forces to position themselves on the market
Both companies are strong brands in their segments, and together they want to make the most of their potential and achieve sustainable growth. Urschel has very good sales networks in the USA, Mexico and Asia, and KRONEN GmbH will also benefit from these locations and partners in the future. Urschel also has a modern showroom in its home market USA, which will also be equipped with KRONEN solutions in the future. In Vietnam and in all other countries, KRONEN will continue to work with its existing sales partners. KRONEN GmbH has a successful network of representatives in about 80 countries.
In addition, the two partners can further develop their competencies and expand their expertise through the mutual synergy effects. Urschel exclusively manufactures shredding systems for high processing capacities as well as knives. KRONEN's machines and lines complement Urschel's product range.Urschel can now offer its customers in the USA, Mexico and Asia complete solutions - from disinfecting, preparing, peeling, cutting, mixing, washing, drying, transporting, weighing to packaging.KRONEN slicing machines, which cover other customer requirements, also complement Urschel's portfolio and are also sold.
"By working with Urschel and other partners such as iWEIGH, we will be in an even better position to offer our customers large lines and complete solutions from a single source. Together with Urschel, we want to become the market leader in Mexico, the USA and Asia for solutions in the fresh-cut industry," says Stephan Zillgith, Managing Partner of KRONEN GmbH.
Investments in the KRONEN site in Germany planned
Urschel will receive a minority stake in KRONEN GmbH via a financial contribution. The company, which has been 100 percent employee-owned since 2016, intends to use its capital to further expand its market position by investing in the two KRONEN sites in Kehl and Achern in Germany in a targeted manner
"The partnership is a milestone in KRONEN's company history. Such a cooperation is not announced every day. It strengthens our position and awareness in the market. The increase in orders and turnover as well as Urschel's investments in our two production sites in Kehl and Achern will enable us to develop faster. Not only will we be able to further expand our production capacities and strengthen the development of new solutions, but we will also remain a future-proof employer," says Stephan Zillgith.
KRONEN does not hold any shares in Urschel, both companies will remain independent in the future. The management of KRONEN GmbH will remain in the hands of Stephan Zillgith, Eric Lefebvre and Johannes Günther.
"We are happy to announce the cooperation with KRONEN today," says Alan Major, member of the board of Urschel. "Urschel is proud to be a 100 percent employee-owned stock corporation. In terms of corporate culture, this fits very well with the family-owned company KRONEN. In addition, numerous synergies can be exploited. The fact that we offer different, complementary solutions means that our range of products and expertise complement each other perfectly. This enables us to serve our customers even better. For us, the cooperation is a sustainable investment in the future."
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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