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From miller to bottling professional

The Greif-Velox story begins with one of the oldest documented company foundations in the world. The development from the Greif mill to today's global technology leader in the bagging of lightweight materials can be traced back more than 1000 years. The speciality: The full lines focus equally on the processing of solid and liquid products.

The Greif-Velox story began with one of the oldest documented company foundations in the world. The development from the Greif mill to today's global technology leader in the bagging of lightweight materials can be traced back more than a thousand years. The speciality: The full lines focus equally on the processing of solid and liquid products.

This is something quite extraordinary: the story of Griffin Velox begins more than a thousand years ago with the foundation of the Greifen-Mühle in Klützow near Stargard in present-day Poland by monks. Today, the company operates as a developer of innovative and effective bagging and filling systems and full lines for the food, chemical and petrochemical industries and is therefore firmly established in the packaging industry.

In the 18th century, the mill came into the possession of the Mahlkuch family, who constantly expanded and modernised the business over the course of time - from the installation of turbines and steam engines up to the expansion according to the then new „American system“, which was used to produce very fine, high-quality flour. In addition to this flour production, bagging also became increasingly important at the end of the 19th century.

Advertisement for the „Velox“ bagging scales from the 1940s.

Several generations later, Ernst Mahlkuch founded the Greif factory in Klützow in 1938 on the basis of technologies he had developed in the bagging sector. His great inventive spirit was remarkable: As early as 1908, he patented the first calibratable automatic bagging scale, which was later christened „Velox“ - after the Latin word for „quick“ or „fast“. Mahlkuch responded to the needs of users with its developmentsWith the new patent, they were not only able to weigh and fill their product more accurately, but also save a lot of time. „Better, faster, more efficient is the Velox“ was an advertising slogan from the 1940s. Here too, the added value for customers was already the focus of the machine: The „Velox“ and the „Paradox“ bran centrifuge, also patented by Mahlkuch, are still well-known in milling circles today.

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On the way to becoming a full-line specialist

Due to the high demand for the innovative bagging solutions, the factory was already expanded in 1941 before founder Mahlkuch moved the company to Lübeck four years later as Greif-Werke, where the company still has its headquarters today. As early as the 1950s, Greif-Werke developed market-orientated combined solutions for bagging products. The Möllers Group, which included Möllers Maschinenfabrik für Abfüll- und Verpackungsanlagen, took over Greif-Werke in 1978. The managing directors at the time hoped that this would create new synergy effects.

Journey through the company's history. (Image: Greif-Velox)

„Over the years, we have developed more and more into a company, which offers not only packers, but entire lines to meet customer requirements„, explains the current Managing Director Ralf Drews. In the years that followed, highly specialised functions such as bag sealing, palletising and load securing were increasingly integrated into the systems and ultimately made Greif-Velox one of the technology leaders in the full-line. Vacuum technology for bagging in valve bags was also developed back in the mid-1980s.

Since 1997, the company has borne the current name „Greif-Velox“, which refers to two important historical milestones in its history: the original Greifen mill and the famous Mahlkuchs bagging scales, which laid the foundation for the company's direction in more recent times.

In 1999, the company Logdos, one of the market leaders at the time in the field of filling and dosing systems for liquid and viscous products, was acquired and the product portfolio expanded: „There are many customers in the chemicals sector in particular who produce both liquids and powders„, says Drews. „By expanding the product range, we can offer them offer more portfolio within the same industry segment in similar applications with the same value context„. To this day, this clearly sets the company apart from its competitors worldwide, who generally serve either the liquid filling or powder bagging segment.

The Greif-Velox machine factory in Lübeck. (Image: Greif-Velox)

The machines are also a testament to the company's robustness over time. „This longevity is extremely important for our customers,“ says Drews. „Because the connection between us and our customers often lasts longer than the average marriage in Germany, as the machines work reliably for 20, 30 or more years. It is therefore important that our customers can rely on us to not only be present and find the right solutions for them now, but also in the future.“

"Firmly anchored in our corporate culture: thinking ambitiously ahead, acting independently, making a 'ruckus' in the best sense of the word."
Ralf Drews
Managing Director of Greif-Velox

Greif-Velox has demonstrated this future viability once again in recent years: in 2018, the company separated from its previous parent company, Maschinenfabrik Möllers. The management team and an investment company acquired all shares in the company. „This gave us the creative freedom we needed to continue growing,“ says the Managing Director about his company, which now employs more than 150 people.

Smarter packaging

Values such as efficiency, innovation and reliability („EIZ“ for short) still fundamentally characterise Greif-Velox today. This performance potential is deeply rooted in the company's DNA, combined with the incentive to design systems that are solution-orientated and particularly efficient. The reorganisation since 2018 has been accompanied, among other things, by focused support for the Research and Development department, to further advance innovations such as the VeloVac-FIBC for bagging in the light materials sector and smart industry applications.

This VeloVac from 2017 sacks ultra-light powder into valve bags. (Image: Greif-Velox)

The world first was launched in 2021 as VeloVac-FIBC by Greif-Velox and is now called VeloVac-XL. It can bag ultra-light powders such as carbon black and silica efficiently and dust-free in BigBags. The team from the Research and Development department in Lübeck had been working on this product for years and it is now being put into practical use by the first companies. It helps to solve problems that have long existed in the industry and offers up to 400 per cent compacted bags without product loss or contamination. „Unsolved or only moderately well-solved customer problems usually lead to enormous innovation potential,“ says Ralf Drews. „We proactively create solutions for these customer problems, which generally always translate directly into productivity increases for the customer. This includes, for example, better quality, time and money savings or an improved appearance.“

„We have enough innovative products, now the next logical step is to find our way into the world so that even more customers can benefit from our products,“ emphasises the Managing Director. The establishment of additional sales partners and channels worldwide and the founding of an American subsidiary in 2020 were also realised. This growth strategy is also to be consistently implemented internally. In addition to the expansion of the production areas Griffin Velox therefore focussed on a future-oriented approach. „I am convinced that there is still plenty of room for innovation in the world of our customers„, is how Drews sums it up.

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