Three partners, one mission

Founded almost 180 years ago in the town of Neustadt in Holstein, Germany, H. F. Meyer Maschinenbau looks back on a long, eventful history, says managing director Christoph Bürgi. After spending almost eleven years at Ferrum, a Swiss manufacturer of can seamers, he has now managed H. F. Meyer since January 2025. His move to the north of Germany came about as result of the joint takeover of the engineering company by Ferrum and Dortmund systems supplier KHS. “We started out as a tobacco factory. We later dealt in agricultural machines, petrochemical systems, equipment for the pharmaceuticals industry and test and measurement apparatus for the automotive sector.” Each of the six generations who once ran the family business has left their own particular mark on the firm. Can handling for the food and beverage industries, among others, has always been a mainstay, however. “Our customers once included companies like canned milk producer Glücksklee that belonged to the father of Karl Lagerfeld,” Bürgi states. 

Its key product range now consists of machinery that washes, handles and conveys beverage cans. “Besides all of our rinser technology – and here the HYAERO vacuum rinser in particular – the flagships of our range include the single-lane HYTRANS vacuum bridge with optional housing for laser coding and the fully automatic HYFLEX can twister,” Bürgi tells us. 

Greater efficiency 
in can filling

The HYAERO rinser in a horizontal design is a real innovation, he continues. “The cans run horizontally through the line without any difference in height. This is how we reduce the machine footprint in the third dimension. And unlike in the past, the containers aren’t conveyed through the center of the machine but along the outside. This provides great flexibility with respect to the container size – plus no changeovers are needed.” The same applies in combination with the HYFLEX can twister: all standard can formats can be processed without any conversions being required. “With our systems, our customers can considerably increase their levels of efficiency. The canning market will develop further in this direction in the future.”

Another highlight are H. F. Meyer’s HYTRANS single-lane or mass vacuum bridges that convey empty cans by suction. These are used for coding and inspection or for the rejection of downed or deformed cans.

Safety and innovation 
make all the difference

One unique selling point over the competition is safety, believes Bürgi. “Laser coding systems, for example, can be dangerous to the human eye. We’ve been using a sophisticated, proven system for many years here that satisfies all standards worldwide. In fact, it even surpasses them.” Another important plus point for H. F. Meyer is the high operational stability of its plant engineering. “The discharge is highly functional. Defective, downed cans are reliably detected and rejected.”  The company’s powers of innovation are another of its distinguishing features. “We’re constantly developing our products further – even for existing lines. We’ve developed a filtration system, for instance, that prepares process water. It allows our customers to cut water consumption during rinsing by up to 80%.”
 

Flexibility is writ large

Another advantage is flexibility. “We’re one of the largest suppliers in our niche sector,” Bürgi emphasizes. “This means that we can cater for customer requirements extremely flexibly and provide a high degree of customization, whereas smaller engineering companies have to standardize as much as possible.” H.F. Meyer of course also uses standard assemblies in its individual machine configurations. One striking example are the twisted guides on the can turner pockets. “Even in the high-capacity range, the containers pass through these turner pockets at high speed with maximum stability. These have to be engineered with the utmost precision so that nothing slows the system down, jams or falls over. You need lots of experience to do this and a sound understanding of how cans move and are handled. Our employees are a mine of information in this respect and manage this task to perfection. I think that here we’re on a level not yet achieved by the rest of the world.”

Network synergies

Which benefits does the Swiss managing director see in H. F. Meyer’s cooperation with Ferrum and KHS? “We profit in particular from our partners’ international sales and service network. And we’ll now be involved in global projects right from the start for the very first time. This enables us to exert more influence, gives us greater planning security and allows us to optimize our products in good time and contribute our expertise.”
 

Integration off to a successful start 

An intensive exchange of information is already taking place in numerous meetings and workshops. KHS engineers flown in from the USA are being trained in Neustadt. Spare parts orders and service requests can already be submitted through KHS Connect. “The speed we’ve begun exploiting synergies at proves that our partners take us very seriously,” smiles Bürgi. After all, the aim is to set up a virtual competence center for canning technology under the joint motto of “Smart Can Solutions”, in which the three partners will pool their respective expert knowledge. 

Prepared for the future

“This is where technical expertise, practical experience and new ideas all come together to develop tailored systems for the beverage industry,” the managing director claims. In view of the ever-thinner materials used and the growing demands made of process safety, reliability and efficiency, this is how the joint venture will be readying itself for future challenges. “Our systems aren’t just technically convincing; they’re also economically and ecologically viable for the future. Sustainability and energy savings are key issues here.” The real objective – and joint mission of the three parties involved – is to provide nothing less than the best canning line in the world.

It’s important that the focus is on the customer, says Bürgi. “Our claim is that with us, clients receive a holistic package from a one-stop shop. Whether technical consultancy, system delivery, installation and commissioning or after sales, we’ll give them a seamless customer experience.”