What began in 1966 as a one-man operation started by Helmut Koenig is now a globally active company. Andreas Putz, Head of Group Marketing and Product Management, talks about Koenig’s approach to baking technology and strategy for the future, on the company’s 60th anniversary.
Catalina Mihu: The dough divider and rounder machine called Rex Automat, designed by Helmut Koenig, was the first piece of equipment that marked the beginning of Koenig as a company. Since then, Koenig has pursued a strategy of modernization. Please comment on the technology needs in bakeries (in Europe and beyond) 60 years ago and today.
Andreas Putz: When Helmut Koenig began developing machines, the core need in bakeries was very practical: how to make hard manual work easier, more consistent and more efficient. Coming from a baker’s family in a small town in Austria, he understood the physical work behind bread production, and his guiding principle was that technology must serve people.
Sixty years ago, automation meant relieving bakers from repetitive, labor-intensive tasks, such as dividing, rounding and forming dough pieces. Today, the needs are broader: bakeries need quality, flexibility, hygienic design, energy efficiency, digital serviceability, and the ability to produce a wide variety of products with reliable output. In Europe, labor shortages and energy costs are major drivers; beyond Europe, the priorities may also include scalability, standardization, local eating habits and robust service support. The core need, however, has not changed: our machines must support bakers in producing better baked goods more efficiently, without losing the character of the product.
Mihu: What are the company’s long-term sustainability goals, and where is Koenig on this journey today?
Putz: For us, sustainability means combining economic success with long-term responsibility – toward our employees, our customers, and the environment. Our goal is to help bakeries worldwide produce in a way that is more resource-efficient, energy-efficient, and cost-effective.
That is why we make targeted investments in modern technologies that reduce energy consumption, use raw materials more efficiently, and optimize production processes. At the same time, we focus on durable machine designs, high serviceability, and sustainable partnerships spanning many decades.
Sustainability is already an integral part of our product development and corporate strategy. With new machine designs, automation solutions, and energy-efficient systems, we create tangible added value for our customers while contributing to more sustainable food production. Our long-term goal is to make sustainability measurable across the entire life cycle: from engineering and manufacturing to operation, service, spare parts, and machine longevity.
Mihu: Koenig is now known for technical rigor for the solutions it develops. What are the goals for the design teams when working on new innovations and process improvements?
Putz: The design team’s first goal is always to understand the baker’s process. A machine is only successful if it solves a real production problem: better product quality, more stable output, easier cleaning, less waste, lower energy consumption, faster changeovers, or safer operation.
At Koenig, this means that innovation must be robust in daily use. We develop machines for bakeries that run under real production conditions, not only in a showroom. Therefore, our teams focus on process reliability, dough-friendly handling, hygiene, ergonomics, accessibility, serviceability and long-term availability of parts.
Another key focus is on automation and digitalization, aimed at helping bakeries worldwide address labor shortages, rising costs, and the optimization of their production processes. Our goal is to develop innovations that function reliably over the long term and provide our customers with sustainable competitive advantages.
Mihu: What aspects must always be considered for any type of new technical development, which would together constitute ‘the Koenig standard’? What is the group’s innovation strategy?
Putz: The ‘KOENIG Standard’ is based on a combination of technological precision, high reliability, and a deep understanding of the baking process. With every new development, we therefore focus on product quality, gentle dough handling, process reliability, durability, and ease of use. At the same time, our solutions must be flexible enough to meet the diverse requirements of international markets.
“Sixty years ago, automation meant relieving bakers from repetitive, labor-intensive tasks, such as dividing, rounding and forming dough pieces. Today, the needs are broader: bakeries need quality, flexibility, hygienic design, energy efficiency, digital serviceability, and the ability to produce a wide variety of products with reliable output.”
Andreas Putz, Head of Group Marketing and Product Management, Koenig
Our innovation strategy is not innovation for its own sake. It follows our founding idea: our products must serve bakers. Koenig’s stated goal is to simplify baked-goods production and increase quality while maintaining the artisanal character of the product.
That means we innovate both in individual machines and in complete systems. With the Koenig Group portfolio today covering mixing, dough make-up, proofing, scoring, baking, cooling and freezing, we can look at the full production chain rather than isolated process steps.
A message from the CEO
“Koenig Maschinen GmbH stands for 60 years of sustainable development – from the beginnings in a small workshop in Graz to an internationally active group of companies.
This development is based on entrepreneurial foresight and clearly defined values: responsibility, stability, reliability and cooperative partnership – both internally and externally.
Innovations and a consistent focus on user requirements have always been key success factors. With current developments, such as the new head machine series and developments in the industrial dough sheet sector, we are consistently building on this foundation. In this way, we are expanding the performance of our technologies and increasing the benefits for our customers.
Our primary goal is to further develop König as a reliable partner, to expand our international presence and to strengthen our technological expertise, with a clear view of the future.”
Hannes Stelzer – CEO, Koenig
Mihu: Koenig has a team of around 800 people. What is the strategy behind the company’s expansion over the years? And what new markets could look interesting for future growth, geographically?
Putz: Our expansion has followed our customers. Koenig started as a one-man company in Graz and has grown into an international group with around 800 people, production facilities in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Finland and Germany, and sales subsidiaries in several key markets.
A factor that has been essential to our success has always been our ability to understand regional market requirements and offer customized solutions for different baking cultures and production scales. At the same time, we continuously invest in innovation, service, and international sales and partner networks.
We see significant potential for future growth, particularly in regions where food production is becoming increasingly industrialized and demand for automated baking processes is rising. These include North America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and selected markets in Africa and Latin America. It is precisely in these regions that demands for efficiency, product quality, and automation are rising sharply.
Our goal is to continue growing globally in the future without losing sight of our roots: high-quality technology – ‘Made in Austria’, combined with international proximity to our customers.
Mihu: How does the group address artisan bakers and large-scale producers, according to their operational needs?
What is innovation for Koenig, for each of these bakeries?
Putz: For artisan bakeries, innovation often means compact machines, flexibility, gentle dough handling, simple operation and the ability to maintain a handmade product character with less physical strain. For large-scale producers, innovation means line efficiency, automation, consistent output, hygienic design, data-supported reliability, and integration from dough preparation to cooling or freezing.
Our strength as a group lies in our ability to understand both worlds. We combine decades of baking expertise with modern technology to develop solutions tailored to the specific needs of our customers – from small artisan bakeries to fully automated industrial bakeries.
Koenig Group in key figures
+ 93% export rate – main markets: Germany, Poland, USA, UK, Czech Republic
+ 800 employees worldwide, of which about 50 are designers and 17 are apprentices
+ 8 worldwide subsidiaries: Germany, Switzerland, USA, Finland, Hungary, Austria, Netherlands, Italy
+ 5 production sites: Austria, Hungary, Finland, Italy, Germany
A place for collaboration with bakers: the Demo Center
Mihu: And how can Koenig support both, at its Demo Center? How was the Center developed?
Putz: Our Demo Center is a central component of our customer-focused strategy. It was designed to provide bakeries – from artisanal shops to large-scale industrial producers – with a hands-on environment where technologies, processes, and new product ideas can be tested under real production conditions. It is an essential part of our company, creating a consultative environment for product trials, line configuration tests, external and internal trainings, events and also co-creation of new baked goods with customers.
This provides significant added value for our customers: they can work with our experts to develop customized solutions, test machine concepts, and optimize production processes before making investment decisions. At the same time, the Demo Center enables the realistic simulation of different doughs, products, and line configurations.
Especially at a time when flexibility, efficiency, and product quality are becoming increasingly important, the Demo Center is a vital place for working together with our customers to further develop the bakery of the future.
Mihu: Koenig now has a global footprint. Where is its ‘brain’, and how is the R&D structured?
Putz: Our expertise comes together at the headquarters in Graz. At the same time, our R&D is not isolated in one department. It is a network between design engineering, product management, production, service, sales, the Demo Center and our customers. The Group structure gives us additional specialized know-how from our different locations and brands. Another key component of our development work is direct collaboration with bakeries – from artisanal shops to industrial bakeries. Many innovations stem from specific customer requirements and are tested and refined in collaboration with our application engineers at the Demo Center.
Our strength lies in combining traditional baking expertise with state-of-the-art technology to create innovations that deliver long-term benefits for our customers.
Mihu: What is the first thing you would want Koenig to be associated with/known for?
Putz: Above all, Koenig should be associated with quality, reliability, and gentle dough processing. For 60 years, our name has stood for technology that combines traditional baking expertise with innovative solutions.
Furthermore, we want to be recognized as a long-term partner to bakeries worldwide – as a company that understands its customers’ challenges and develops practical, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions.
In short, Koenig stands for the highest product quality, technological expertise, and trust across generations.
“Just like it’s from my father’s little bakery”
Mihu: What is one of your favorite customer stories and projects that comes to mind?
Putz: One story that particularly impressed me took place during a commissioning project in the Middle East. The customer had built a state-of-the-art industrial bakery and wanted to produce traditional local baked goods in large quantities while maintaining consistent quality – something that, until then, had been possible almost exclusively by hand.
Our team worked side by side with the bakers for days on end right at the production line, testing doughs, adjusting processes, and optimizing every single movement of the product. At some point in the middle of the night, the production manager came out of the line with a freshly baked product, tasted it, and said, “This tastes just like it came from my father’s little bakery.”
That was a special moment because it showed what our work is really about: using state-of-the-art technology in a way that preserves tradition, quality, and cultural identity – even in highly automated production environments.
Mihu: How is Koenig aiming to shape the future – that of the bakers it supports, that of the industry and, at the same time, its own growth together with its team?
Putz: We want to shape the future by helping bakers stay successful. That means giving artisan bakeries tools to remain competitive and attractive workplaces, and giving industrial producers efficient, flexible and sustainable production systems.
“A factor that has been essential to our
success has always been our ability to
understand regional market requirements and offer customized solutions for different baking cultures and production scales. At the same time, we continuously invest in innovation, service, and international sales and partner networks. ”
Andreas Putz, Head of Group Marketing and Product Management, Koenig
For the baking industry, we want to contribute to higher product quality, lower resource consumption, better working conditions and more resilient production. For our own company, growth must remain responsible: strong engineering, strong service, strong people and strong partnerships.
Koenig has grown from a one-man operation into a global group, but the mission is still very close to Helmut Koenig’s original idea: technology must serve people. If we stay true to that, then our next decades will be built on the vision of our founder 60 years ago.
Our goal is to bridge the gap between tradition and the future – so that bakeries around the world can continue to operate successfully for decades to come.
Koenig launches new generation dividing and rounding technology
In May 2026, Koenig introduced the new Industrie Rex Evo EC, the latest generation technology for dough dividing and rounding, bringing significant improvements in hygiene, performance and ease of use. For the first time, the suction-dividing principle – which enables particularly gentle yet precise dough division – has been incorporated into a system that achieves uniform processing of a wide variety of doughs with high weight accuracy and consistent product quality. At the same time, this principle ensures stable and reliable production.
The new Industrie Rex Evo EC comes in a modular design, with quickly interchangeable modules, to support flexible production planning. Moreover, it follows the principles of Koenig’s known Easy Clean Design, characterized by an open construction, large access panels, and a clear separation of the drive and dough areas. In this way, it ensures easy cleaning and maximum line availability in daily operation.
The machine is designed for industrial bakeries, focusing on optimizing process efficiency and convenience for operators. Product development focused on a clear goal, shares Koenig: maximum production output with minimum complexity. “The Industrie Rex Evo EC combines a compact design with intuitive operation, thereby reducing both training requirements and operator errors,” the Austrian expert highlights. The new machine also has a compact design, to free up valuable production space in bakeries.
Industrie Rex Evo EC specifications:
+ Weight range from 28 to 280 g in a single machine (1 to 10 oz)
+ Hourly output of up to 24,000 pieces
+ High weight accuracy of ±1% (depending on the dough)
+ Flexible changeover system for different products and weight ranges
+ Modern 10-inch touch panel for easy control
+ Compact design with integrated control cabinet
