150 years of Bizerba - From scale manufacturer to technology company

In 1866, locksmith Andreas Bizer laid the foundation stone of the company in Balingen, 70 kilometres south of Stuttgart, and had his own small business entered in the commercial register as „A. Bizer, Fabrikation von Brücken-, Tisch- und Balkenwaagen“. Decades later, Bizer and Balingen became Bizerba. What began with scales developed into a success story over 150 years.

Today, in addition to shop scales and slicers, industrial systems from Bizerba are in particularly high demand. They are All-rounder and processing, weighing, testing and labelling, labelling and packaging on the assembly line. Andreas Wilhelm Kraut, who is currently the fifth generation to manage the family business, tries to sum up the recipe for success: „At Bizerba, we have always done everything we can to recognise the wishes of our customers and consumers. We cater to this with our industrial solutions. It is important to develop a feel for trends, keep an ear to the market and move with the times. Being flexible and adaptable and focussing on the customer has been our recipe for success for five generations.“

From workshop to Germany's largest scales factory

„Making quick, flexible decisions and implementing the right ideas - that's what it's all about, especially in a company like ours, which is characterised by tradition and at the same time hungry for innovation.“ Andreas Wilhelm Kraut, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Bizerba GmbH & Co. KG, Balingen.

Proven traditions and values are just as valued at Bizerba as innovation and fresh thinking. Andreas Kraut looks back with pride on the history of his company, which is also that of his family. The business economist didn't sit in a nest he had made, but first gained experience in other companies and abroad.

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Already with Introduction of the metric system of weights and measures in 1871 A calibration centre was set up in Balingen under the master weigher Andreas Bizer. In 1906, Bizer sold his scale construction workshop to his son-in-law, later Professor Wilhelm Kraut, for 25,474 gold marks. With eight employees, he mainly manufactures table and running weight scales and sells most of them in southern Germany and Switzerland. From the 1920s onwards, he is actively supported by his son Wilhelm Kraut junior.

In 1923, aged just 17, he took over the management of the company when his father fell seriously ill. He succeeds in The world's first inclinometer scale to develop. This innovation is patented in 1925 and quickly becomes indispensable in the trade, as it eliminates the need to handle loose weights.

Wilhelm Kraut junior turns out to be a dynamic businessman and at the same time the driving force and heart of the company. By the end of the 1920s, Bizerba was already an industrial company and, with 800 employees, the largest German scales factory.

The computing miracle for the shop counter

The successful dual-track nature of the delivery programme begins with the development and series production of Industrial scales. The high-precision double pendulum measuring heads with one and five pointer revolutions used for this purpose are regarded as precision mechanical marvels, the manufacture of which is reserved for the best employees. In the 1930s, Bizerba develops the first number printing unit for industrial scales, which are produced in the large scale hall still in use today at Bizerba's headquarters in Balingen.

After the war, the grandfather of the current managing director continues to expand the company. After many different postal, parcel and checkweighers, in 1949 Bizerba launched the first counting scale for mass parts another genre onto the market. In 1951, Wilhelm Kraut junior had the „Bizerba-OP“, the calculating miracle for the shop counter.

Bizerba produces hundreds of thousands of the world's first shop scales that display the price visually and delivers them around the globe. Decades later, the era of mechanical scales comes to an end with the transition to electronics.

In 1967, Bizerba develops the first text-writing, calibrated invoicing system for the meat industry. An accuracy previously considered impossible in industrial weighing technology is achieved with the first optical-mechanical weighing cabinet WS 6000 has achieved. It breaks down the fully automatic weighing range into 6,000 analogue and digital parts. The further developed WS 10,000 followed shortly afterwards.

Expansion into Europe

In 1974, Wilhelm Kraut's son Günter takes over the baton and management of the company. He drives the expansion in Europe forward and sets a central strategic course that further diversifies the business. For example, in 1983 he founds the Paper and label production in Bochum. In the 1990s, he expands the Bizerba industrial programme to include precision scales for checking, classifying, counting and formulation applications. On the 125th anniversary of the company, a completely new generation of products for trade, craft and industry sees the light of day and Günter Kraut inaugurates the new head office building at the Balingen site.

In the two decades under Günter Kraut as Managing Director, Bizerba developed very positively. The gap he leaves behind is correspondingly large when he dies of sudden heart failure on the tennis court in 1995 at the age of 58. His wife Frigga Kraut took the reins herself and bridged the years after her husband's death with the help of an advisory board. All family members decide not to sell their shares in the company, but to continue their father's life's work.

Dynamic growth course

With the appointment of Andreas Wilhelm Kraut as Chairman of the Management Board and CEO in 2011, a fifth-generation shareholder has once again been at the helm of the family business. All family members are shareholders. The Managing Director's eldest sister, Angela, manages the finance and leasing division, and the middle sister, Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, who was elected to the Baden-Württemberg state parliament by direct mandate in March 2016, is also a shareholder. With this in mind, the owner family Kraut announced at the beginning of 2016 that the company would be reorganised after around 20 years. 100 per cent family-owned is located.

The buyback of all external group shares coincides with the 150th anniversary this year. His father expanded Bizerba in Europe and overseas and Andreas Kraut is now working on positioning the company worldwide as a global player.

[infotext icon]Industrial companies that have existed for 150 years and have been owned and managed by the same family for five generations are a rarity. The weighing specialist Bizerba is one such company. Weighing products used to be marvels of mechanics. Today they are Digital all-rounder and is recognised and valued all over the world. The devices and applications have become indispensable in the packaging environment in particular; around every second pack in the supermarket is weighed and labelled using Bizerba technology. The former machine manufacturer has developed into a globally active technology company that is a market leader in many areas[/infotext].

Today, Bizerba is represented in 120 countries around the world with a total of around 3,700 employees. The technical precision wonders from the Swabian Alb are admired and purchased all over the world. An average growth rate of eight per cent in recent years, targeted acquisitions, new start-ups in dynamic growth markets and further expansion of the solutions portfolio bear the signature of Andreas Kraut, who is in charge of the company. He continues the growth course, defines the strategic direction and decides, for example, on the expansion into South Africa or the opening of a new location in Singapore. Kraut expanded the portfolio in the area of food safety with the acquisition of French inspection specialist Luceo in 2015, while the acquisition of Helf in Austria led to a further increase in the rapidly expanding labelling business.

Into the future with fresh ideas

The expansion course, but also the company's own new developments, mean that Bizerba is growing dynamically. One of the most important aspects of this is the Quality assurance for the end products of the customers. In order to guarantee this, for example Bizerba vision systems (BVS) with a high-resolution camera automatically detect the label position, text and film colour of packaging. They can be integrated into labelling lines and use a pusher to reject faulty packaging from production. Products can also be categorised into different quality levels based on their fat content.

In 2007, Bizerba presents an innovation for all packaging companies: The so-called TTI system label with application technology offers the food industry, retail and logistics a practicable solution with which compliance with the cold chain and therefore freshness can be visualised right up to the PoS. With targeted label management, Bizerba can support companies today in reducing their total cost of ownership. To mark the 30th anniversary of Bizerba's labelling division, the new dispatch warehouse was officially opened in 2012. The label specialist can now cover customer-specific requirements of two to four months, including outsourcing of label storage, as part of large-volume production. A total of around 3.25 billion labels can be stored in the state-of-the-art warehouse and delivered with a very short lead time.

Further development milestones

Another major step in the packaging environment in 2013 is the introduction of the Price labelling machines GLM-Ievo. The high-performance machine for the food industry weighs and labels up to 200 packs per minute, has a camera inspection system for pack quality control and configures itself automatically via a coded label roll when changing products. The ideal system can be customised according to individual requirements using a modular system. Thanks to the acquisition of Luceo in 2015, it is no longer only possible to optically inspect packs for labelling, foiling and lettering, but also for density. Optical seal inspection can be used to prevent inadequately sealed packs from being placed on the market.

However, the company has not only diversified in the area of devices over the years. Bizerba has recognised the changing production conditions and offers a range of programmes for industrial companies as well as for trade and commerce that make everyday production easier. In addition, Bizerba is available to its customers with a broad-based service to the side.

Keeping pace with change

The former scale manufacturer has become a technology provider that combines the values of a traditional family business with the opportunities of a globally active group. Since its launch 150 years ago, Bizerba has succeeded in using innovations to Industry standards to define. The CEO knows that this will not continue automatically. „Made in Germany has a very good reputation worldwide, and the prospects for Bizerba are promising. Our task for the future is to maintain this high technical level and continue to drive it forward. I look forward to pursuing this path with our team and with our customers,“ he emphasises.