Based on this considerable experience, more and more customers are trusting in KHS system concepts for can filling, with the employees at KHS proud of the over 1,000 can fillers now installed worldwide. Yet its success thus far doesn‘t mean that KHS is resting on its laurels. Rather, KHS sees it as its responsibility to meet its customers‘ demands and grow with them. Being faster, greater and better is not the measure of all things, however. Today and in the future it‘s much more important to build on existing systems and to continue to develop them further.

Sustainability is a prime concern here, considering that customers and consumers also increasingly want natural products and environmentally-friendly packaging. KHS supports filling operations with intelligent and future-proof systems. Low life-­cycle­ costs are a major focus, as everything that reduces the burden on the production process helps to conserve resources. KHS‘ modern canning lines are consistently designed with this in mind.

In short, today KHS stands for maximum technological expertise in the reliable and efficient filling of a diverse range of products. Can pressure filling systems permit hygi­enic filling of beer and still, carbonated, hot or cold beverages. Pasteurizing, packaging, conveying, palletizing and inspection machinery are all available from one-stop-shop KHS. Its systems process steel or aluminum cans at rates of 12,000 to 132,000 cans per hour as a standard; they are  either com­puter controlled or have a mechanical control unit and are available as single machines or blocked with a can seamer.

History: the can in the KHS Group

KHS entered the American canning market 44 years ago with 100 years of experience already under its belt. Since then the company has proved itself many times over with a good number of canning innovations, positioning itself on the market as one of the world‘s leading suppliers. The following mentions just a few of the milestones in KHS‘ canning history.

  • 1971: KHS presents the first ‘purebred‘ can filler at INTERBRAU (the VVF 50 D) with a capacity of 46,000 cans per hour. Before this, combined bottle and can fillers were common.
  • 1973: KHS develops the first high-performance canning machine for highly carbonated soda pop (output: 90,000 cans per hour)
  • 1982: KHS invents warm filling (0 to 20°C) which prevents condensation from forming after filling. This is the breakthrough for low-energy canning.
  • 1993: At drinktec-interbrau KHS presents the first filling system where the fill height can be set and changed on the filling valve without changeover parts.
  • 2001: KHS launches the first can filler (DVD) with volumetric flow metering to market.
  • 2013: KHS replaces the sliding seal in the sealing bell area with an expansion joint integrated into the cleaning process (see Benchmark: Pilsner Urquell on page 28).
  • 2014: With its volumetric can filler KHS sets a new filling record of up to 132,000 cans per hour (for 0.33-liter cans).

Thanks to its core area of expertise in beverage filling KHS was able to win the trust of a large number of breweries and soft drinks producers early on – and thus prove instrumental in the advance of the can. The systems provider is now setting a benchmark in the industry with its high-performance ­Innofill Can DVD which outputs up to 132,000 0.33-liter cans per hour.

But let‘s go back to the American market for a minute. For a long time it was taken for granted that American companies exported their products to all corners of the globe. Through the large breweries and active beverage producers based in the USA KHS ­quickly­ recognized the promising growth potential of this huge market. The logical consequence was that in 1971 a sales organization was founded in New Berlin, Wisconsin, which had the specific brief to sell top-quality filling systems to the market. Regarding the can, KHS‘ strategy was clear: to build up the company‘s expertise and gain the edge on experience so that KHS could act as a pioneer on the fast-growing can market worldwide.

Today, we can see that this strategy has been successful. Thanks to the expertise it already had in beverage filling at that time, KHS soon managed to penetrate the American market. The machine and systems manufacturer then went on to develop its expertise.

The Innofill Can DVD can filler: record values with minimum oxygen pickup and reduced CO₂ consumption.