Company History

1966

Packmat Maschinenbau GmbH was founded in Stetten/Remstal, Germany and the first semi-automatic wrapping machines for greeting cards were developed and manufactured. Before this major development, greeting cards were exclusively packed by hand.

By the beginning of the 70s, Packmat Maschinenbau developed two other machines for the closing of aluminum-made containers. Between 1978 and 1982, the company manufactured several machines for the banding of chocolate boxes. At that time, famous companies like RitterSport, Waldbauer and Tobler, were already among the customer base.

Beginning of the 80s, the company took a major step with the introduction of a wrapping machine that was able to produce open wraps and soon became the market leader in the greeting cards industry.

1980

Two employees ventured out and started Köra Verpackungsmaschinen in Schorndorf, Germany. Both the Köra and Packmat wrapping machines were identical in construction and there was almost no competition as the two companies concentrated on different markets.

1989

After 23 years in Stetten im Remstal, Packmat Maschinenbau decided to move to Villingendorf, Germany where there was good access to qualified employees and an excellent infrastructure.

1997

The two companies Köra Verpackungsmaschinen and Packmat Maschinenbau GmbH merged to become today's KÖRA-PACKMAT Maschinenbau GmbH with headquarters in Villingendorf, Germany.

In the middle 90s, when the telephone cards market started to boom, KÖRA-PACKMAT introduced the perfect solution - VMC 100. Within a short time, this became the market leader with its high speed and packaging quality. Today, packages made on a VMC 100 set the standard worldwide.

Around the same time, further machine developments were also made for the paper industry, combining the best technologies of the Köra and Packmat machines.

Since the beginning, feeders have been an important component on our wrapping machines. However, they were produced only for in-house needs. KÖRA-PACKMAT soon recognized the increasing demand for feeders especially by paper converters and manufacturers of paper converting machines and wrapping machines. In 1997, KÖRA-PACKMAT started its own Sales Department for Feeding Systems.

1999

In 1999, KÖRA-PACKMAT celebrated yet another success with the introduction of the VMC 105. This machine capitalized on the proven technology of the VMC 100 including a compact welding head, extending the format flexibility to smaller and medium-sized products. The format range covers everything from paper, CD sleeves up to empty converted bags.

2000

The continuous boom in the telephone card business called for wrapping machines with higher capacities and higher quality standards. To meet these requirements, the CardSeal, a new card wrapping machine utilizing the ultrasonic sealing technology with a capacity of 18,000 products per hour, was launched in 2000. Today, more than two billion telephone cards worldwide are wrapped on the CardSeal wrapping machines every year.

2001

The strong growth of KÖRA-PACKMAT's sales activities within the Asia Pacific region led to the founding of Kora-Packmat Asia Pte Ltd in Singapore (sales and support office) and Kora-Packmat China (branch office).

The company recognized the great potential of the markets in this region and was determined to provide even better support to customers by having offices closer to them. Today, the customer base here contributes substantially to the overall sales of the KÖRA-PACKMAT.

2004

KÖRA-PACKMAT added to the machine range the SonicSeal wrapping machine. This compact and highly economical machine suits perfectly customers with smaller production quantities. The machine capitalizes on the yet-again proven ultrasonic technology on the CardSeal.

2005

Another break-through came about when KÖRA-PACKMAT came up with the PrintSeal, industry's first, combining personalization and packaging on one machine.