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Innovation from experience!

How it all began

Today, Knüppel Verpackung is able to look back on a 100-year company history – all thanks to loyal customers and our ability to keep impressing them with innovative products.

News

As well as developing its own group of companies, Knüppel Verpackung also cooperates with many other suppliers. With professional products from all areas of industrial packaging, Knüppel has already overcome challenges in domestic and international goods traffic – on every scale.  

2023

At the beginning of the year, Knüppel Verpackung GmbH & Co. KG received the "Top Employer" and "Top Training Company" awards from the German Institute for Quality Standards and Testing (DIQP).

Rising order numbers mean that expansion of the existing storage capacities is required. Therefore, the Bayreuth warehouse is being relocated to the Bavarian town of Hemau near Regensburg. The administrative office will remain in Bayreuth. The new building in Hemau will be a completely new location. It will be commissioned in April 2023.

In the summer, construction work will also begin on the expansion of the existing warehouse at the Hann. Münden site.

In December, Knüppel receives another award as an employer with the TOPAS seal (Top Employer South Lower Saxony) from the South Lower Saxony Foundation.

2021

Ckdpack GmbH is being acquired by the conveyor technology provider ITFT Industrie Transport Fördertechnik GmbH.

2019

On 1 April, Knüppel Verpackung will be celebrating its 100th birthday. The small family-run business has grown into a globally active group of companies. Around 500 people work for the company: across six German locations, branches in Austria and Hungary, and production plants in Denmark and Ukraine. There are also two highly specialised joint venture holdings, EXCOR® and Ckdpack.

2017

Knüppel acquires Hans Joachim Dill Papiere-Pappen-Packmittel GmbH, based in Leinfelden-Echterdingen.

2015 

Ckdpack GmbH acquires a production site in Schwepnitz, Saxony that had been declared insolvent to design and mass-produce steel load carriers.

2014 

EXCOR opens its own sales office in Romania to expand its sales territory. The company now has its own warehouse and three employees.

2013 

Knüppel company Ckdpack founds Ckdpack Co. Ltd. in Shanghai, China. 

2012 

Ernst Hahn joined the company back in 2006. In 2012, he was appointed to the management of Knüppel Verpackung GmbH & Co KG. 

2010 

Knüppel relocates the production of its proprietary brand Fleeceguard® from Poland to Ukraine. The new plant brings greater production possibilities.  

2009 

In Austria, the demand for professional packaging solutions and consultancy is also growing. Knüppel founds another subsidiary in Vienna to distribute its products. The same year, a modern office and warehouse building is constructed on the company’s premises at Am Kümmerling 15 in Bodenheim. (Relocation of the previous site from Mainz)

2008

Knüppel founds the joint venture Ckdpack in Hann. Münden. The company develops and manufactures individually designed reusable steel load carriers for shipping components and assemblies.
EXCOR is increasing its activities in Mexico and now also has its own employee on the ground there.

2007 

EXCOR acquires euromasch Maschinen-Handels-Gesellschaft m.b.H. on the outskirts of Vienna to distribute VCI products in Austria. 

2006 

Knüppel is becoming increasingly international: the company founds “Knüppel Verpackung Sp.zo.o.” in Ozorkow, Poland. This is where the production and finishing of FleeceGuard® is carried out according to the specifications given by the Design department at Head Office. 
In 2006, Knüppel also opened an independent, CAD-supported development department for customised constructive packaging in Dresden. 

2004 

In Hungary, Knüppel takes a 50% stake in Corline Kft., which was founded in 2003 and is already an Excor sales partner, opening up a new sales territory. In 2011, Knüppel acquires 100% of the shares in the company and becomes sole shareholder. One year later, Corline becomes Knüppel Csomagolástechnika Kft.

2002 

This year, Excor established its own sales force in Italy. An EXCOR employee has also been on site in Spain since 2001.
Office and warehouse capacities are extended at Head Office in Hann. Münden.

1999 

Knüppel Verpackung successfully creates proprietary product brands in response to specific customer requirements. In 1999, the FleeceGuard® brand was launched, with products based on a multilayer composite of film and fleece that provide excellent protection for surfaces sensitive to scratches and dirt. 

1996 

As EXCOR became more successful in the automotive industry, new questions arose that could only be answered with specific chemical expertise. EXCOR therefore founded EXCOR Corrosion Research in Dresden. The laboratory soon becomes a European leader in the worldwide joint venture network.

At the same time, EXCOR expands its sales activities to Italy and Spain. In 1997, Mexico is added to the list.

The Gotha branch moves to Emleben into a purpose-built warehouse and office building at Pfauseeallee 4.

1991 

Knüppel acquires the packaging division of the former “VEB Versorgungskontors Papier- und Bürobedarf” from Treuhand and starts operations in the current warehouse and office building in Dresden’s Elbhafen.

By founding the company EXCOR, Knüppel goes from being a distributor to a joint venture partner of the US company NTIC, the first in the world to be able to equip films with VCI.  

1990 

Reunification brings new challenges – and opportunities! Knüppel acquires a privately run packaging retailer in Gotha from the GDR and establishes the first location in the new German Federal States. 

1988 

Knüppel joins the Nordic Woodfibre company in Haarlev near Copenhagen, Denmark, and with it becomes involved in the production of padding and impact-resistant endless lamella packaging made of soft and hard wood fibre boards for the surface protection of, for example, cable reels, sheet metal coils, shafts, rollers and pipes.

1979 

New location in Bayreuth. Acquisition of the Norba company in Egerländer Straße 24 – the Knüppel Bayreuth branch is established. 

1976 

As part of the expansion, the first Knüppel branches are opened in Lauterbach and Mainz in 1976. 

1974 

Knüppel expands and decides to relocate from Breite Gasse to the Volkmarshausen industrial estate – just outside Hann. Münden. Knüppel moves into a purpose-built, significantly larger office and warehouse space to meet the requirements of a growing customer base and the increasingly differentiated division of labour, and continues to expand its product portfolio. 

1969 

Knüppel celebrates its 50th anniversary. The grandson of the founder, Gerhard Hahn, becomes a partner in the company. Hermann Chr. Knüppel, Sr., shares his experience and principles with him and then gradually retires from active business life.  

1948 

Knüppel becomes a limited partnership: Junior steps in as a partner alongside Senior. The “German economic miracle” supports further growth. The company’s product portfolio and professional expertise are increasingly differentiated. 

1945 

End of the war: the company’s buildings, which were only erected in 1937, are partly destroyed, partly severely damaged. In the following years, new storage and office space is built from rubble and debris in Breite Gasse.

1939 

Start of World War II: Hermann Chr. Knüppel is called up for service and can no longer continue his work. His son Helmar Knüppel handles the most important company business, but is himself drafted into military service in January 1942. The remaining employees continue and make do as best they can.

1937 

The company grows at a satisfyingly fast pace. Hermann Chr. Knüppel intends to grow further and decides to move to newly created office and warehouse premises in Breite Gasse on the edge of what was then the old town. 

1928 

Hermann Chr. Knüppel is partial to good, strong wrapping paper made of pure cellulose. He applies for the corresponding quality mark and uses it to advertise his products. He can offer his customers a guarantee of quality paper and this sets him apart from many of his competitors. 

1919

Hermann Chr. Knüppel founds a paper wholesaler in the centre of Hann. Münden on 1 April 1919. He brings with him expertise, courage, diligence and the determination to build up an independent business. He initially rents a storage space in Packhof. Some years later, he acquires a warehouse directly opposite the town hall.