Kiefel Technologies, the Germany-based specialist in packaging machinery, has earned the gold award in the “Packaging Machines” category at the 2023 edition of the German Packaging Award. It received the honour for the advanced version of its fibre-packaging machine KFT 90, whose original version received a sustainability award back in 2022.
The gold award honours the most pioneering innovations among the award recipients, which included 34 products overall but only four gold awards. The advanced version of the Natureformer KFT 90 includes a range of innovative features that increase productivity and offer higher output due to cycle times reduced by up to 30%. The product was launched this year at Interpack.
The machine has a new temperature controller that ensures the highest possible process reliability and provides full control over every aspect of the operation, according to the manufacturer. An optimised human-machine interface that simplifies machine operation makes it easier produce high-quality parts right away, without a warm-up phase. It also features an advanced moulding process that reduces weight variation while increasing good parts. For those customers who already have the KFT 90 installed, these features are also available as an 'Advanced Upgrade'.
The jury of the German Packaging Award, which has been running for 60 years, applauded Kiefel’s ability to expand its product range in the direction of natural fibre-based materials in addition to the quality of its technology.
“The technology and, above all, the current technical process enables packaging materials to be produced which, in terms of quality features such as shape variety, accuracy, stability and surface quality, open up the most diverse areas of application for natural fibre-based moulded parts in attractive packaging,” the jury said. “It is particularly advantageous that the submitter offers a holistic concept from stock preparation to the finished packaging material, which can be applied in the context of a broad spectrum of raw materials. Functions such as resealability or labelling can also be effectively integrated.”
On top of the packaging award, at the end of August Kiefel also received a Silver EcoVadis Medal for its efforts towards sustainable practices across all business operations.