Despite all the current political discussions and random areas of local discord, Europe is a unique continent. Its fascinating cultures, the unequaled innovative strength of its many companies, its great overall dependability in its international relations and its exemplary striving towards sustainability in both social and economic developments are impressive.

It’s this diversity which shapes our daily business – all over the world. This was and still is paramount to our outstanding position among our international competitors. We see ourselves as a company which with its roots and locations, experience, and expertise is firmly anchored in Europe yet also successful on a global scale. This issue of KHS competence invites you to embark on an exciting journey. It will show you how we have realized a number of ambitious projects with total reliability in close cooperation with our customers and local partners. We will take you from the westernmost edge of the Continent and the large-scale Unicer brewery in Portugal to owner-managed Stiegl Brewery in Austria to Georgia in Eastern Europe and the Georgian Beer Company. All of these places reflect the philosophy we have practiced for many decades: regardless of the task at hand, we strive to always provide innovative, top-quality systems with clear competitive advantages for our customers according to our motto of ’First Choice in Technology and Service’.

There is diversity in many things – here too. One of these is our innovation feature this time discusses PET. This again demonstrates the vision and the consistent approach to service we adopt when realizing new equipment for your benefit. In this vein, for example, we have set new standards in lightweighting with our market-proven, extremely light plastic bottles. You will also find that service is the top priority at KHS regarding the creation of added value for our customers in almost every article in the magazine. For example, we report on the growing trend for full service packages in Europe, too, and show you how our field service personnel give customer satisfaction worldwide. Our new KHS World Logistics Center is also providing our customers with consistent service. With our much bigger central warehouse we will noticeably optimize our service performance, meeting the demands of our growth and internationalization strategy and supplying our clients much more quickly and even more reliably. This is all backed by our employees who think like corporate decision-makers, finding exactly the right solution for companies both large and small.

If you’d like to experience this fascinating international and technological diversity first-hand under one roof, please allow me to extend a personal invitation to the forthcoming BrauBeviale to be held in Nuremberg, Germany, from 11–13 November 2014. We at KHS – and here we come full circle – will be presenting a number of exciting topics at the trade show, such as filling technology and holistic consultancy on all aspects of PET. At our Booth 5-147 in Hall 5 with its customary hospitable atmosphere inspiring meetings and interesting talks can be had with our customers, partners and KHS personnel from Europe and all other continents of the world. This is our pledge – you’re more than welcome to join us!

Yours sincerely,