Kiefel

About Kiefel

Kiefel GmbH was founded in 1955 as Paul Kiefel GmbH and is still based in Freilassing, Germany, where it added a technology centre and campus in 2012. Since 2007 it has been part of the Brückner Group, headquartered in Siegsdorf, whose other units are Brückner Maschinenbau, Brückner Servtec, PackSys Global and Hennecke. Kiefel's own site puts its workforce at about 600 people across 18 locations.

The company works with thermoforming and welding technology for both polymers and natural fibres. Its lines include SPEEDFORMER machines for packaging, among them the KTR tilting models for cups, the NATUREFORMER series for fibre-based packaging, and equipment for medical and pharmaceutical products, supported by in-house tooling and automation. Tooling capacity grew in 2016 with the purchase of Bosch Sprang in the Netherlands and Mould & Matic Solutions in Austria. Other sites include Kiefel Technologies in the United States (founded 1995), an automotive unit in the Czech Republic acquired in 2014 and a Brückner Group production facility in Thailand opened in 2023.

The Kiefel KMD 78.2 Speed is a high-speed, roll-fed steel rule thermoformer from the KMD series, used for PET, PP and PS trays, clamshells and drink cup lids. It is listed with other formers on the thermoforming machines page, and the European versus Asian machines comparison sets out what to weigh when a German line is compared with alternatives from Asia.

A good fit for

• Packaging plants running PET, PP or PS trays and clamshells at high speed
• Lid makers that need steel rule cutting on a roll-fed line
• Converters planning fibre-based packaging alongside plastic