Driving Sustainable and Digital Transformation: An Exclusive Interview with KHS Group CEO, Kai Acker

KHS is one of the world’s leading providers of filling and packaging systems for the beverage and liquid food industries. Headquartered in Dortmund, Germany, the company supplies turnkey systems – from bottle development and container manufacture through filling and labeling to palletizing. With production sites in Germany, the USA, India, Mexico, Brazil and China plus a global service network, KHS offers its customers extensive expertise throughout the entire packaging chain. 

Asian Water: KHS has a long history in beverage filling and packaging systems. How is the company evolving to meet the challenges of sustainability and digitalisation?

Acker: Sustainability and digitalisation are key pillars of our corporate strategy. We’re continuously improving the energy and resource efficiency of our systems with material reduction, lightweight design and closed loops. This won us a platinum award from EcoVadis for the very first time in 2025, for instance, where we earned 86 out of 100 points and are thus now rated among the top 1% of over 150,000 assessed companies. In our sustainability report for 2024, we also considerably expanded our non-financial key figures and had our climate protection goals validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). We’re aiming for net zero emissions by 2045 for scopes 1 and 2 and by 2050 for scope 3. At the same time, we’re forging ahead with the digitalisation of our systems and solutions by making use of intelligent controllers, data-assisted services and smart line monitoring systems. One concrete example of this is our KHS ConnectApp which operators can monitor their live line and machine states with. We also apply our Innoline Basic Line Monitoring (BLM) and Innoline Flex Control (IFC) modules for realtime analysis of line efficiency and performance data. This helps with predictive maintenance and the optimization of operating costs. Further examples of this are our Remote Diagnostic Service (ReDiS) and Augmented Reality Service (ARS) for remote maintenance and fast troubleshooting. These digital tools supplement our sustainability measures and enable our customers to produce more efficiently and sustainably throughout the entire life cycle of their plant equipment.

Asian Water: What role does digitalisation – such as predictive maintenance or IoT-enabled machinery – play in your sustainability efforts?

Acker: Digitalisation makes production processes transparent and measurable. With KHS Connect and the Innoline Basic Line Monitoring, clients are given a real-time summary of their energy consumption, machine states and efficiency potential. Predictive maintenance cuts downtime and extends component lifetimes, in turn lowering material and energy costs. In addition to increasing machine availability, we employ in-line product inspection and process control to optimise production, thereby enhancing both machine efficiency and product quality. Digital systems and solutions are therefore a major lever when it comes to sustainable production.

Asian Water:  What are KHS’ main strategic priorities for the next five years, particularly on global markets such as Asia or the Middle East?

Acker: We want to strengthen our global presence, expand our local production capacities, increase our service coverage and continue to provide market-specific systems and solutions. In Asia and the Middle East, we see great potential in energy-efficient PET and can filling technology and in modular systems tailored to regional requirements. Another focus is on life cycle services and retrofits that allow customers to sustainably optimize their existing machinery and retain its value.

Asian Water: How does KHS support local manufacturing and after-sales services in regions outside Germany?

Acker: KHS operates a number of regional production sites in Ahmedabad (India), Kunshan (China) and Waukesha (USA), for example. Here, we manufacture key components locally so that we can react quickly to customer demand. In addition, our global service and spare parts network provides direct technical support, spare parts and training at a local level. Further afield from our international factories, mobile service teams comprising dedicated KHS employees support our customers worldwide. They perform all service tasks, from installation, commissioning and maintenance through process optimisation to the supply of an extensive range of spare parts. We thus combine global quality standards with regional agility.

Asian Water: Could you share insights into how KHS integrates customer feedback into its R&D and innovation processes?

Acker: Our innovation strategy centers on partnerships with our customers. Through joint development projects, pilot installations and continuous feedback from our sales and service teams worldwide, new ideas and suggestions are fed straight into our R&D roadmap. This is how we prioritise technologies that provide genuine benefits in efficiency, sustainability and flexibility.

Asian Water: KHS has long been active in developing environmentally-friendly packaging technologies. Which recent innovations are you most proud of?

Acker: At KHS, we’ve made considerable progress when it comes to sustainable packaging. Among our achievements are our Premium LITE bottle, an extremely light 0.25-litre PET bottle made of 100% recyclate and weighing just 6.2 grammes, and the InnoPET Blomax Series V that uses up to 40% less energy than the previous generation. Another example is our Nature MultiPack (NMP). This technology holds containers together with just a few dots of adhesive and no longer needs any shrink film, making huge savings in packaging materials. What’s more, our Plasmax coating technology extends the product’s shelf life without detriment to the container’s recyclability. This technology is in successful use worldwide, also in countless applications in India, among other places, where it provides better product protection for soft drinks in small bottles in particular.

Asian Water: Can you discuss any recent partnerships or collaborations that have significantly impacted KHS’ innovation pipeline?

Acker: KHS works closely together with partners throughout the entire value chain to implement innovations faster and more efficiently. Those that deserve a special mention here are our cooperations with Ferrum Packaging AG, H.F. Meyer Maschinenbau GmbH and Tyrolon GmbH. Together with Ferrum und H.F. Meyer, we’re pooling our canning expertise and driving the development of efficient and sustainable packaging systems. With Tyrolon we’re working on further optimising machines, processes and materials to provide future-proof filling and packaging technologies for our customers across the globe. In association with Husky Technologies, a leading provider of preform injection molding systems, we’re designing lightweight systems for PET. Our joint successes include our Premium LITE bottle and the Factor 101, a 591-milliliter bottle that weighs just 5.89 grams and saves up to 30% in material.

Asian Water: Lastly, what are your hopes for the future of the sustainable packaging industry?

Acker: We consider the future to lie in intelligent closed-loop systems that combine recyclable materials with efficient production and reuse. This calls for close cooperation throughout the entire value chain – from material suppliers through machine manufacturers to brand owners. KHS sees itself as an enabler of this transformation, so that sustainability and economy go hand in hand for our customers.