The very first Herrmann Ultraschall project in the packaging industry was sealing of „Elmex“ tubes on a IWKA tube filling machine in 1972 at company Wybert GmbH in Lörrach, a member of GABA group.

The first MRE project (meal ready to eat) was realized for company Pfanni in Cloppenburg in 1975. The product „Pfanni Rösti“ was packed and sealed under vacuum on a Bosch packaging machine.

First PACKAGING series components developed for the sealing of Stand Up Pouches in a 10-lane packaging machine. The major challenge was the product foam in the sealing area caused by the hot fill process. For this application the ultrasonic sealing technology garantees a tight sealing and became a major global success story that lasts till today.

The first packaging specific product developed was triggered in 1984 by a solid customer request for a carton application in a multi lane food packaging machine. The improved stiffness of a rigid clamped lightweight 35 kHz converter and the increased 1.000 W of generator power at a reduced 19“ rack size made it a perfect fit and allowed a small and lightweight design compared to the previously used 20 kHz ultrasonic system. For this application the ultrasonic sealing technology garantees a tight sealing and became a major global success story that lasts till today.

Birth of the generator product line ULTRAPACK active control. ULTRAPACK generators had a power range from 600/1000 to 4.000 Watts and have been optimized for packaging applications in high speed packaging machines. In 1993 a high power generator of 5.000 Watts was added to the portfolio.

The ULTRAPACK digital control was the first fully digital market. It offered groundbreaking functions and features optimizing the application for perfect results.

Development of 30kHz converters and generators for high speed packaging machines to achieve significantly higher power compared to 35kHz at still reduced weight compared to 20kHz components. As option these converters had been made available as „wash down“ version for wet cleaning environments. At the same time the „wash down“ option was also added for the 20kHz and 35kHz converter product lines.

Completion of the generator portfolio with a compact version of the fully digital generator ULTRAPACK 1000M digital control. By it´s robust design thousands of these are still in production globally in Top Seal Pouch and Top Seal Carton applications.

The first two VFFS machines had been integrated with 30kHz wash down components in 2006 on CFS machines. Over the following years we learned a lot about specific requirements in the produce industry, especially about the effects of 100% humidity in a 3-4° C production environment. In the meantime the produce industry is widely relying on the ultrasonic technology to ensure 100% quality being shipped to the retailers. The ultrasonic technology supports the plant directors in reducing their carbon footprint by saving energy – not only by less heating energy consumption, but also by a reduced effort to cool down the production site.

In 2009 the european roll out of the ultrasonic technology for wet pet food retort pouches on horizontal form fill seal machines was started. This project went quite successful and was expanded globally in later years. In parallel we introduced the HDM quality control function which helps to detect failure states in the sealing area on stand up pouches before, during and after the ultrasonic welding process. Since then it was easy to detect missing, folded or double pouches in the sealing station as well as to observe the welding process to be in line with a certain specification. Till today this function makes a big difference in assuring best quality top seams on stand up pouches.

The ULTRAPACK digital product family was the 2nd generation of 100% digital generator: higher power levels have been combined with a more intuitive user interface, easier access for wiring and more fieldbus interfaces for automation integration.

Launch of the Europe-wide roll-out of ultrasonic technology on a vertical flow-wrapping machine for packaging fresh-cut salad.

Launch of the K-Cup success story for the coffee industry in the USA. The so-called cowboy capsule was extremely well received by consumers and became a bestseller on the market over the years. Americans love freshly brewed coffee cowboy style, where boiling water is passed through the coffee powder and a paper filter. This paper filter is attached to the top of the capsule using ultrasonic technology.

Development of a Herrmann Sealing Module for SUP fillers to reduce the integration effort for machine manufacturers. Based on the Top Seam Module (TSM) Herrmann is able to guarantee the quality of the top seam in SUP applications according to the agreed project specifications.

Introduction of the PACKLINE family of packaging modules and customer oriented consulting services called ULTRASONIC ENGINEERING. With the automation generator ULTRAPACK AMG the new interpretation of a compact generator for multi-lane packaging machines was released into the market and completed the portfolio. Compared to its predecessor ULTRAPACK 1000 M digital control it offered more power and more communication interfaces.

In April 2016 the former distributed teams of Sales, Application Engineering, Project Engineering, Product Management and Services have been merged into one organic team. Robert Hueber, in his former role as Sales Director PACKAGING, planned and executed this transformation into the business unit PACKAGING. As Business Unit Director PACKAGING Robert has formed since 2016 a strong team of leaders and segmented the unit into four areas of global responsibility. The four Global Heads of Business Development, Engineering, Sales and Services PACKAGING are designing the growth and market strategy as well as manage the day to day business together with their teams in the Global Headquarters and Tech Centers of the HU group.

With 50+ team members the Business Unit PACKAGING has been growing to a double digit global revenue level.