KRONES HITS HIGH NOTE
FOR WEBSITE CONCEPT
For its new group-wide website concept, Krones was awarded the German Prize for Online
Communication (#dpok) in bronze in the ‘Metal and Machines’ category. Krones head of web
solutions Sabine Kolbe-Weber explains its winning process and the work behind the website.
www.foodtechnology.co.nz 19
Our future is digital, and
it’s changing amazingly
fast. In the online world,
particularly, there is an
ever-widening choice of
display and communication options – and
thus too, of course, rising levels of user
demand and expectations. To enable
these to be met as promptly as possible,
Krones has since 2017 been using a
modularised design system for all the
group’s websites.
This was developed jointly with the
technical service provider comspace and
the design team headed by Professor
Wolfgang Gauss, and was based on
extensive analyses, subsuming not
only interviews with clients, partners
and prospects, but also usability tests
by means of eye-tracking. In addition,
experience maps were drawn up, the
competitive environment rigorously
analysed, and the existing contents
meticulously evaluated.
The aim was for the corporate website
www.krones.com to create a platform that
meets the requirements of all website
visitors – irrespective of whether they’re
looking for product details, general
information or career options. From these
three main categories, the users navigate
to the sub-pages they want with separate
sub-structures, which only then are
depicted there as well with the navigation
function.
What’s more, external microsites can be
integrated at need quite easily into the
existing website, such as for particular
trade fairs. www.krones.com thus offers
a comprehensive range of products and
services for all user target groups.
In order to assure a harmonised visual
image for all the group’s companies,
the design concept also integrates the
websites of Krones’ subsidiaries. From a
modularised template kit, the websites of
KIC Krones, Syskron, Maintec, Evoguard,
Milkron, HST and Krones Izumi are
designed, thus representing a harmonised
brand image on the web.
Every year, the German Prize for Online
Communication is awarded for projects,
campaigns and strategies in the field of
digital communication. The jury comprises
more than 50 representatives from
the academic community, corporate
communication and online PR. The
sectoral #dpok honours the best digital
communication achievements by
companies in 16 different sectors.
We’re delighted that we came out top –
next to global players like Liebherr and
Trumpf – among the Top 3 in the ‘Metal
and Machines’ category. This accolade
demonstrates that with our new design
concept, we have online mastered the
balancing act of presenting Krones as an
innovative, up-to-the-future company while
at the same time giving our broad brand
and product portfolio a harmonised visual
image.
For creating its websites, Krones will in
future be utilising a specially developed
set of templates that covers all the
requirements involved for displaying the
contents concerned. The development
work was centred around user experience
and operator-friendliness.
Responsive design: the sites created
from this modularised kit are responsive,
and thanks to their flexible web design,
automatically match their format and
display mode to any particular terminal
concerned.
Faster navigation: a sticky-content
navigation feature, a smart-hamburger
menu and a dropdown menu enable
users to navigate quickly and easily to
the sub-pages concerned. What’s more,
filtering options in particular categories,
plus a full-text search function with an
auto-suggest capability facilitate navigation
on the website, and promptly deliver the
desired results.
Better reachability: in parallel to the
relaunch, a new IT structure has also
been put in place: a worldwide network
with around 22,000 servers increases
the range, and enables the website to
be outputted through the server that is
closest to the request location concerned.
Krones is a German packaging and
bottling machine manufacturer.
Sabine Kolbe-Weber
In addition,
experience maps
were drawn up,
the competitive
environment
rigorously
analysed, and
the existing
contents
meticulously
evaluated
/www.foodtechnology.co.nz
/www.krones.com
/www.krones.com
