KNAPP Leoben: 30 Years of Logistics Innovation and Competence

What started out with a small team of 21 people in 1995 has grown into a worldwide leading business providing intelligent automation solutions. Since then, KNAPP Leoben has spent three decades innovating the logistics in food retail and empties management, with this year marking the company’s 30th anniversary and development from the ATIS company into a major global player within the KNAPP group. Today, the provider of automated logistics solutions employs around 800 people, actively shaping food retail logistics in Leoben, Austria.

Logistics competence from central Austria

KNAPP Systemintegration specializes in end-to-end logistics solutions for food retail. From one of Austria’s industrial centers, Leoben, the company supports large food retailers such as SPAR, MIGROS and Woolworths, as well as the internationally active Würth Group. The products and solutions from KNAPP ensure that customers can store, pick and deliver goods highly efficiently. Following an approach in which quality, reliability and innovation are paramount, KNAPP helps their customers make their value chains fit for the future.

Milestones and growth

KNAPP Leoben’s growth over the past three decades has been nothing short of impressive: Starting out with just one office building and 21 employees, the company today stretches across a modern campus of seven buildings and employs 800 people, becoming a major provider of cutting-edge robotics, intelligent control systems and software for automating processes in warehouses and industrial settings.

To make this development a reality, the company continually invested in expanding their location, evolving with every step: After the beginnings in 1995, the company moved to Waltenbachstraße in 2002 where the production facility was expanded. In 2007, more office and meeting space followed. In 2014 and 2019, state-of-the-art testing halls and pre-assembly areas were added. The newest building was finished in 2022, comprising today’s production facility, goods-in and goods-out areas, pre-assembly and electrical cabinet assembly as well as spare parts logistics. Reflecting KNAPP Leoben’s economic success, the expansion also demonstrates the location’s significance as one of the central innovation hubs of the KNAPP group, setting new standards in automation and digitalization for food retail and empties management.

Working at KNAPP Leoben

Besides driving innovation, KNAPP Leoben focuses on the people behind the company’s success, offering their employees a modern workplace, flexible work models, a wide range of opportunities for further development as well as a working culture that values team spirit, appreciation and a passion for innovation – corporate values that Managing Directors Rudolf Hansl and Bernhard Rottenbücher actively live by. “Our success is thanks to the commitment and innovative spirit of our employees. Working together as a team is what shapes the future of food retail logistics,” emphasizes the Management. At the same time, the location invests in training the specialists of tomorrow, offering apprenticeships in mechatronics and IT with a focus on systems technology. The apprentices have the chance to gain experience working in different departments, do stints abroad, and they have long-term career opportunities in the company.

From ATIS to KNAPP Systemintegration

The success story began in 1995, when the company ATIS was integrated into the KNAPP group. Back then, the company focused on control systems, picking systems and providing all-in-one logistics solutions. ATIS quickly grew into a reliable partner for trading companies, employing 100 people by the end of the 1990s. Since moving to Waltenbachstraße in the year 2000, the company goes by the name KNAPP Systemintegration GmbH.