1970s: The cookie packer

In the 1970s, Körber began to think systematically beyond its core business. 

Tobacco technology remained important. 
But it was not enough as the only path for the future. 

Within the company, a department with an unusual name was established: 
Department Z. 
Z as in Zukunft – the German word for future. 

Its mandate was deliberately open: 
to explore new technologies, 
to understand new markets, 
without knowing whether they would become a business. 

One of those markets was the food and confectionery industry. 

Körber developed a cookie packaging machine. 
Technologically, the solution set new standards. 
Engineer Johannes Mielke later described it as the 
“Mercedes among cookie packaging machines.”

Three machines were delivered to a customer in the United States. 
Nevertheless, the project was discontinued. 

Not because the machine did not perform,
but because market reality and technological ambition did not align. 

At the same time, other options were explored: 
a potential partnership in the United States, 
a modular packaging concept. 

This path, too, was brought to an end — 
deliberately and decisively. 

The cookie packer disappeared from the product portfolio. 
But the mindset remained. 

For years afterwards, spare parts were still shipped to the United States. 
The machines kept running. 
Reliable. Precise. 

The cookie packer was not a commercial milestone. 
But it proved something else: 
the courage to transfer technology, 
the willingness to test new markets, 
and the clarity to make decisions — even when they mean bringing a path to an end.