Richmond

Frequently Asked Questions

What sets Richmond apart?
Richmond, Virginia is an outstanding place to live. Located on the East Coast, close to both the mountains and the ocean, Richmond is a growing and vibrant community of over 1.3 million people. We enjoy a lower cost of living than much of the United States and have historic low levels of unemployment. With our thriving arts and culture scene, university systems, nationally ranked public and private education systems, excellent health care facilities, parks and rivers, Richmond is an excellent place to call home. There is something for everyone here.
What does Körber offer its employees?
Hello, I'm Latori. I work in finance. Good to see you. As an employee at Kerber here in Richmond, we firmly believe that we are stronger together. As an employee, you will find a company that cares for you both personally and professionally. There are opportunities to grow within the company. The whole Kerber group and continuing your education is definitely supported by the company through our wonderful educational reimbursement program. the company provides a great complete benefits package to ensure that you and your family's health and financial needs are taken care of.
How does Körber in Richmond differentiate?
Our experienced employees are used to welcoming colleagues on board whether they come from us locally or from another country. We will make you feel right at home by extending to you our southern hospitality that Virginia and Kerber in Richmond is known for. We look forward to meeting you.
What do you do at Körber?
Hello, I'm Nick Henriquez, manager of APP services. The asset protection programs are tailor-made maintenance programs based on the customer's necessities. This can range anywhere from predictive maintenance kits based on runtime hours to QEP. QEP, which stands for quick exchange programs in which only sub-assemblies are used in a reactive manner but are instantaneously accessible at the customer sites. Due to the varied demands of our customer base, we supply a wide range of parts to keep the APP programs a viable solution to our customers. We take the responsibility of inventory control out of the hands of our customers and provide them with the solutions to keep their manufacturing in production with minimum downtime.
How can AI help in your daily business?
Hi, I'm Christian, Sales Manager Services. In collaboration with other Kerber business areas and internal teams and Dane Studios, we are creating a product to enhance our APP program. Through various workshops with Dane, a data and AI consultant group, we developed user stories that clearly defined opportunities for improvement. Our solution was the creation of a dashboard which can classify SAP movements and visualizes them through a platform such as Power BI. This helps to better direct our efforts in the APP program to reduce costs surrounding inventory. We are excited to explore the potential AI implementations surrounding predictive maintenance. Our ultimate goal is to expand these concepts to Kerber as a whole.

Additional information

We create outperforming technogies

The success of our customers is our primary objective. The Körber Business Area Technologies stands for cutting-edge technologies. These technologies enable you to transform your factory into a Factory of Excellence and to take productivity to a whole new level. This means higher output, higher quality, greater precision, higher speed, more flexibility, more automation, more digitization, greater reliability and better efficiency.

We develop customized solutions in the areas of machinery and equipment, software, measuring instruments, flavors and services focusing primarily on the tobacco and canabis industries. With our 25 global production, sales and service locations, we see ourselves as a strategic partner for our customers.

How the business in Richmond started

A central component of the Körber Group's DNA has always been customer proximity - locally and globally. A precise understanding of markets and consumer trends characterizes all companies in the Group. Kurt A. Körber therefore expanded its business abroad at a very early stage. With the founding of the Richmond, Virginia location in in 1955, he set the course for the Group's international growth.

How did this happen? In the US during the 1950s, all the major American cigarette corporations had their production facilities in Virginia or North Carolina. In the spring of 1955, Kurt A. Körber acquired a suitable site in the East Coast city of Richmond. Specialists from the Bergedorf headquarters lead the establishment of the new location, which quickly developed into a thriving business.

Today, the Körber Business Area Technologies is represented worldwide on five continents with production and sales companies and representative offices. Partners benefit simultaneously from the network of a large international company and the proximity and the local service and agility of a regional partner. The location in Richmond focuses on providing tailored solutions to customers' problems and requirements. This includes inspections and maintenance services, as well as the assembly of new equipment and the refurbishment of older generation equipment including cigarette makers, filter makers and logistics equipment.

Meet our Hauni-Baby

The Hauni-Baby was the first motor-driven cigarette machine for laboratories, developed in the late 1950s. Over a period of 35 years, nearly 300 Hauni-Babies were manufactured at the site in Hamburg-Bergedorf.

The Hauni-Baby displayed here, with serial number 90, was built in 1970 and served for 19 years to produce test cigarettes for a customer based in North Carolina. It was totally overhauled and rebuilt here at the Richmond Training Center in 1990. In 2005 the machine was restored by Reseach and Development, bringing back its original design.