The Company – Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH

The Company Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH

Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH – all under one roof

We at “Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH”, as a member of the Kuhne Group, have specialized in the production of individual blown film lines.

The origin of Kuhne as a company can be dated back to 1934 with the founding of the machine shop Maschinenfabrik Heinrich Koch. In 1959, Mr. Walter Kuhne assumes the management of the company “Battenfeld Extruderwerk” in Siegburg, which he later takes over in the year 1970, to become “Battenfeld Kuhne Extruderwerk GmbH”. In 1972 Kuhne Anlagenbau emerges as a division of Battenfeld Extruderwerk GmbH. The move to our current headquarters in Sankt Augustin took effect in 1975.

In October 1979, Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH was founded as an independent 100% subsidiary of Kuhne GmbH.

In the 70s and 80s, we executed many mayor turnkey projects in the plastics industry. In the 90s, we built a production program in the field of plastic recycling, and for a short time were considered the leading suppliers of complete plants. With the elimination of government subsidies this market collapsed almost entirely, so we had to look for new business opportunities. Based on decades of blown film know-how from our parent Kuhne GmbH, we developed our first Triple Bubble® blown film line in 1996.

With our present day core competence we focus above all on manufacturing multilayer systems of up to 17 layers, which can process virtually all thermoplastic resins.

THESE SYSTEMS ARE DIVIDED INTO THE FOLLOWING SEGMENTS:

“Triple Bubble®“ – Bi-orientated blown films

Structures: 1 up to 13 or 17 layers

Film characteristics:

Exceptional barrier properties
Excellent optical properties
Outstanding mechanical strength

Applications:

Sausage casings
Shrink bags
High barrier packaging
Food packaging

“Cool Bubble®“ – Water quenched blown films

Structures: 1 up to 11 or 13 layers

Film characteristics:

Excellent optical properties
High tear resistance
Outstanding thermoformability

Applications:

Food packaging
Medical applications

“Smart Bubble®“ – Air cooled blown films

Structures: 1 up to 11 or 13 layers

Film characteristics:

Superior thickness tolerances
Excellent flatness

Applications:

Industrial packaging
Food packaging
Technical films

Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH is one of meanwhile 3 companies owned by family Kuhne; besides the mother company Kuhne GmbH and its subsidiary Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH there is another subsidiary in the US, Kuhne North America Corp.

The origins of company Kuhne date back to the machine building company Heinrich Koch founded in 1934. This company developed the first extruder in 1949 and in 1957 was taken over by company Werner Battenfeld. In 1959 the leadership of Battenfeld Extruderwerk Siegburg was assigned to Mr. Walter Kuhne. In 1970 Mr. Kuhne took over this company (Battenfeld Kuhne Extruderwerk GmbH) which was renamed as Kuhne GmbH in 1975 when the company moved to its new and today’s site in Sankt Augustin.

Kuhne Anlagenbau was created in 1972, at that time as a department of Battenfeld Kuhne Extruderwerk GmbH. In October 1979 Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH finally was founded as independent 100% subsidiary of Kuhne GmbH. In the 70ies and 80ies Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH made its mark as general contractor for large-scale turnkey projects in the plastic branch. At that time Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH also acted as sales department of Kuhne GmbH for the countries of the Middle East and the former USSR.

In the 90ies Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH built up a production and sales program of their own for the plastic recycling branch in addition to their sales activities for Kuhne GmbH. After an impressively short time, Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH was successfully offering complete lines for the recycling of plastic waste. However, as this market almost completely collapsed when the public subsidies were suspended, Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH had to look for a new field of activity. Basing on the decades of film blowing know-how of Kuhne GmbH, Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH started the development of the first Triple Bubble® line for the production of bi-oriented blown films in 1996. The Triple Bubble^® technology allows to produce high-class food packaging films (for meat, sausages, cheese, etc.) which meet special requirements such as high oxygen barrier for the prolongation of shelf life and a corresponding aroma

barrier in combination with an excellent mechanical strength. Since then Kuhne Anlagenbau GmbH continuously developed the Triple Bubble^® technology and set up a broad product range.

The production program nowadays ranges from mono-layer high-speed lines for the production of small calibre sausage casings with production speeds up to 300 m/min (“XXS” series); and multi-layer lines for food packaging with up to 17 layers and medium film width (“M” and “L” series); up to the large scale orientation lines especially for widths of up to 3 metres (“XXL” series). Especially the “XXL” series provide extremely high barrier and mechanical properties while at the same time film thickness is reduced by up to 50% compared to films produced by conventional technologies. The large scale Triple Bubble^® lines meanwhile allow for output capacities of up to 2 tons, especially for applications such as deep drawn and vacuum packaging.

This wide-ranging production program provides ideal solutions for all types of flexible packaging with or without shrink or for formable packaging respectively.

1934	foundation of machine building company Heinrich Koch
1949	development of the first extruder HKS 80/60
1953	supply of the first complete blown film line
1957	company Werner Battenfeld takes over company Heinrich Koch
1959	Dipl- Ing- Walter Kuhne assumes management of Battenfeld Extruderwerk Siegburg
1960	supply of an industrial blown film line with a working width of 2,000 mm
1970	Walter Kuhne takes over company Battenfeld Extruderwerk Siegburg
1974	supply of various 2 to 4-layer coex systems for the production of multicolored carrier bags
1975	relocation of company Kuhne GmbH from Siegburg into the new site in Sankt Augustin
1975	presentation of the complete extruder program with the designation K 25 – K 150 in 24, 30 and 33 D length

1979	foundation of KUHNE Anlagenbau GmbH
1980	presentation of the first IBC blown film line with spiral distributor
1982	presentation of the first pure HDPE blown film line for 6 µm films
1990	presentation of a fully automatic blown film line with automatic thickness control
1990	presentation of the data management system = KEC
1994	presentation of a 5-layer blown film line for the production of barrier film
1996	first Triple Bubble ® line
1997	first 5-layer Triple Bubble® line
2000	first “high speed” Triple Bubble® line (>200m/min)
2003	first 7-layer Triple Bubble® line

2003	presentation of the first shrink film system based on Triple Bubble® process
2005	first WQB line (Water Quenched Blown film)
2006	Supply of a new “high speed” generation of Triple Bubble® lines (>300m/min)
2007	50^th Triple Bubble® line
2008	first 9-layer Triple Bubble® line
2009	first large 7-layer Triple Bubble® line (Roller width 1800 mm)	XL – Serie
2010	first 11-layer Triple Bubble® line
2011	first large WQB line (roller width 1600 mm)
2011	first large 9-layer Triple Bubble® lid film line (roller width = 1800 mm)	XL – Serie

2012	first large sausage casing line (high output > 150kg/h)
2013	first 7-layer conventional blown film line
2013	first supply of a Triple Bubble® line with a “Mo-Con” die
2014	first 9-layer conventional blown film line
2015	first 11-layer conventional blown film line
2016	first delivery of a conventional blown film line with a “Mo-Con” die
2017	first 13-layer Triple Bubble® line
2018	100^th Triple Bubble® line
2019	first 5-layer battery film line (roller width = 2100 mm)	XL – Serie
2020	first 13-layer Triple Bubble® line (roller width = 1800 mm)	XL – Serie