These days, companies in the Körber Group’s various Business Areas around the globe are developing innovative cutting-edge solutions. We are shaping the future for and with our customers — and in our markets. And every day we look ahead with a fresh perspective. Still, as we want to successfully shape the world of tomorrow, it’s important for us to understand where we come from. So why not join us on a little journey into the past…
Every successful business starts with a sparkling thought. The foundation for our Group and its success was laid by Kurt A. Körber in 1946. In that year, he founded the cigarette machine repair company Hauni Maschinenfabrik in the district of Bergedorf in Hamburg. Körber had a lightning idea: the filter cigarette. Although the cigarette industry was very skeptical, Hauni began to develop a filter attachment machine. 1950 marks the birth of this machine, the MAX, which made the worldwide success of filter cigarettes possible. Around ten years later, Körber and his team of employees were manufacturing filter attachment machines and had become the top supplier of the tobacco industry. MAX enabled Hauni to achieve the international breakthrough, and production was scaled up rapidly. In 1956, Kurt A. Körber established Hauni Richmond as first subsidiary in the USA.
In 1970, Hauni acquired E.C.H. Will in Hamburg, a well-known manufacturer of paper processing machines. This acquisition laid the foundation for the company’s diversification into the paper and tissue sector. Eight years later, a grinding machine manufacturer was acquired. In the decades that followed, the company increasingly expanded into other sectors, including pharmaceutical and logistics systems. All of these companies were eventually consolidated under the roof of Körber AG as the holding company for the Group.
The strategy of using mechanical engineering expertise as a basis for the Group’s expansion into other industries proved to be a pioneering and successful approach. Today we operate more than 140 production, service, and sales companies that stand out through their technological innovations and their leading market position in many industries. Through our youngest Business Area, Körber Digital, which was founded in 2017, we plan to exploit the tremendous potential that digital advancement offers for high-performance technology. The Körber success story continues…
