Bernard Krone vehicle plant

KRONE Commercial Vehicle Group
legal form	GmbH
founding	1971
Seat	Werlte , Germany
management	Bernard Krone, chairman; Gero Schulze-Isfort; Uwe Sasse; Gerold Wenisch; Ralf Faust;
Number of employees	approx. 1000 (locations Werlte and Tire / TR)
sales	EUR 1.08 billion (2013/14)
Branch	vehicle construction
Website	www.krone-trailer.com

The KRONE Nutzfahrzeug Group is the second largest manufacturer of truck trailers and semi-trailers in Europe. The KRONE Commercial Vehicle Group is part of the Bernard Krone Holding , based in Spelle in the Emsland district .

history

In 1906 the master blacksmith Bernhard Krone settled in Spelle and laid the foundation stone for a company in the commercial vehicle construction. Under his son Bernard Krone, a machine trade and small agricultural machinery production were added.

In the years after the Second World War and the economic upswing that followed, Bernard Krone was also able to take part in this thanks to the flourishing farms. The production of agricultural machinery grew and a new plant was built in Werlte . The production of agricultural machinery, dump trucks and manure spreaders found good sales.

In 1970, the purchase or orders of agricultural equipment and commercial vehicles fell sharply across the country. After the death of Bernard Krone II, his 29-year-old son Bernard Krone III took over the company. In 1971 he received an order from Kässbohrer to manufacture a three-axle trailer. After this order had been completed, Bernard Krone decided in 1973 to build his own commercial vehicles for the transport industry.

To distinguish it from other manufacturers, he had the idea of putting the name or a "Krone" logo on the rear of the trailer or semitrailer. An underrun protection at the rear in the lower vehicle area was attached to all Krone vehicles, which, as before, only served safety in Sweden. In 1973 Krone also installed a coil trough in the trailer and semi-trailer floor for safe transport of steel rolls. Due to the increasing demand for containers , production on the corresponding chassis was expanded.

At the beginning of 1996, Krone presented a "swap trailer" as a novelty. The Federal Ministry of Transport banned this articulated lorry again, which looked like an articulated lorry, but could be used like an articulated lorry because of the continuous loading length. Krone had established a connection to the semitrailer tractor at the bottom of the chassis and also attached the body.

Krone has also been offering refrigerated boxes since April 2000 and is now Europe's second largest producer of refrigerated semi-trailers.

In 2006 the plant produced a total of 26,000 rolling units, with 130 units leaving the factory every day. Between 1997 and 2008, sales at Krone grew by around 20 percent. The Werlte plant employs around 1000 people who produce up to 30,000 commercial vehicles.

At the beginning of 2016, Fahrzeugwerk Bernard Krone GmbH and BRÜGGEN Fahrzeugwerke and service companies were merged under the umbrella of the new KRONE Commercial Vehicle Group. The previous KRONE subsidiaries such as gigant axles, KRONE Used, the trailer plant in Turkey and the various foreign sales companies have also been integrated into the new KRONE commercial vehicle group.

Together with Liebherr , Krone founded the ° Celsineo brand in early 2019 for the development, production and sale of modular refrigeration systems for refrigeration logistics.

Vehicle factory

The Bernard Krone vehicle plant is mainly active in Germany and Europe; The new location in Turkey is intended to serve the Turkish market and neighboring countries. The product range includes semi-trailers, trailers and motor vehicle bodies. In Herzlake , Emsland , the complete change systems are manufactured by the partner company Brüggen.