Simple data management instead of a complex siloed solution
COMPANY
Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG
SECTOR
Food
LOCATION
Bissingen
CUSTOMER SINCE
2013
SOLUTION
acron
~250
connected devices throughout the plant
~2,7 Mio.
data points per day
0
system-related failures
10
minutes to get up to speed
Initial Situation
New Filling Lines, Process Recording, Energy Data – Three Requirements, No System
When Gropper commissioned new PET filling lines, pressure mounted from several quarters at once: the plant manufacturer required seamless process records for validation. In addition, internally, the company wanted to finally start systematically recording and managing energy consumption. Gropper needed a simple and efficient solution.
“In the past, at the end of the month, several people would walk round the plant and note down the meter readings,” says Gerhard Reinnisch, Head of Energy Supply & acron Administrator at Gropper Dairy.
Image: Filling Line Milk | © Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG
New Line with Siloed Solution Not Cost-effective
The new filling lines would have required their own, costly system – without a shared database for the entire plant.
Manual Meter Readings
At the end of the month, staff would walk round the premises and record consumption figures; this was prone to errors and not scalable.
Complicated Acceptance Testing without Data
The new filling lines should not be validated or accepted without complete process records.
“The best thing about acron? For almost 13 years? It’s simple.”
Gerhard Reinnisch, Head of Energy Supply & acron Administrator · Gropper Dairy
Solution
One Plant. One Platform. One Database.
Gropper wasn’t looking for a solution for a single line, but for the entire plant. The decisive factor for acron was the ease of integration via OPC: Each production line already had its own measurement devices integrated into the control system. Today, around 250 devices are connected—ranging from filling lines to energy supply and water treatment to cold storage facilities.
“We didn’t have to retrofit any measurement points at all initially; we were simply able to use all the existing ones. That was actually the biggest advantage of all. Other providers always wanted to sell their own measurement points as well,” says Gerhard Reinnisch.
acron Graph and acron Reporter are part of the daily toolkit across the entire company: shift supervisors check production figures, maintenance analyzes temperature and pressure curves, the controlling department evaluates energy costs per product, and management receives monthly overviews—all from a single database. Reports are sent automatically: daily to the wastewater treatment plant, monthly to the municipality, and annually to the water management and environmental agencies.
New measurement values are in the system in under five minutes. No extensive training is required for daily use and standard requirements.
Tangible Added Value for All Company Levels
Production & Filling
Shift supervisors check production figures and OEE metrics from all 14 filling lines on a daily basis.
Energy Management
Steam boilers, combined heat and power (CHP) units, PV systems, water treatment, energy audits, and more: all meters are logged centrally.
Maintenance
Temperature and pressure curves for rapid fault diagnosis and system monitoring.
Controlling
Energy costs per product, electricity per metric ton, monthly reports for management.
Regulatory Agencies & Audits
BAFA, EMAS, Water Management Office, Wastewater Treatment Plant – fully automated report submission.
Environment & Sustainability
CO₂ savings, wastewater volumes, well monitoring – reporting requirements under EMAS and the WHG.
Energy Supply & AI
REST API for external AI control, PV monitoring, and battery storage management.
“We use acron for a wide variety of purposes—for all our audits, reports, the environmental audit, and BAFA grants. We couldn’t imagine doing without it. Not a day goes by without acron.”
Gerhard Reinnisch, Head of Energy Supply & acron Administrator · Gropper Dairy
Results & Added Value
From Meter to Audit — More Cost-effective, Transparent, and Centralized with acron.
EFFICIENCY
Time savings in operations
No more manual meter readings. Real-time data accurate to the second replaces error-prone monthly readings.
→ No need to walk through the facility to troubleshoot. Monthly readings accurate to the second instead of having a margin of error of ±2 days.
Quick Troubleshooting
Historical data graphs show immediately where a deviation began—without the need for time-consuming root-cause analysis during operation.
→ Less downtime, faster response.
Precise Controlling
Energy costs per product can be determined more precisely — which is essential as product variety increases.
→ A reliable basis for price calculations.
Image: Milk Processing | © Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG
REGULATORY & COMPLIANCE
A Single Database for All Departments
Shift supervisors, maintenance, controlling, and management—everyone receives the report relevant to their area from a central source.
→ No data discontinuity, no room for misinterpretation.
Automated Regulatory Reporting
BAFA, EMAS, Water Management Authority, wastewater treatment plant—all required documentation is generated automatically by acron. As an environmental management system, EMAS provides the regulatory framework; acron supplies the process and energy data for this purpose.
→ No manual compilation. Legal certainty during audits.
Future-Proof Through Updates
acron has already undergone two major version updates at Gropper and continues to evolve in line with operational and regulatory requirements.
→ Investment security for nearly 13 years.
Image: Filling Line Juice | © Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG
“acron is used a lot. We benefit enormously from it. We also enter a lot of data, and it runs reliably. There has never been a single system failure. I don’t even want to think about how it used to be.”
Gerhard Reinnisch, Head of Energy Supply & acron Administrator · Gropper Dairy
Looking Ahead
acron as the Data Base for Tomorrow’s Energy Strategy
AI-Powered Energy Control
An external AI control system makes automatic decisions: charge the battery, start the electric boiler, or use PV power directly. These decisions are based on historical data from acron, retrieved via the REST API.
New PV System & Battery Storage
A 15.8 MW ground-mounted PV system and two battery containers with a total capacity of 10.6 MWh are now operational. acron records all meter readings, monitors feed-in and consumption limits, and generates the documentation required for BAFA subsidies directly from the system.
Additional Processing Lines
Starting in the fall of 2024, the heating lines in milk processing will be integrated in stages. The goal: to determine precise energy costs per product—from ESL milk to mineral water. Energy consumption varies significantly between these products.
Image: Aerial View of the Bissingen Site | © Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG
Customer Profile
Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG
Family Business. Billions in Revenue. Winner of Numerous Awards.
Molkerei Gropper GmbH & Co. KG, headquartered in Bissingen, along with its joint venture Moers Frischeprodukte GmbH & Co. KG, is a family-run company with approximately 1,850 employees and revenue of 1.12 billion euros (2025). Today, the company is one of Germany’s leading suppliers of private-label products. Its customers now include all major European food retailers and discounters.
With 14 filling lines for cups, PET bottles, and cartons, Gropper produces dairy products, juices, smoothies, and coffee beverages. Each year, the company processes approximately 800 million kilograms of milk from just over 700 regional producers. Together with Dr. Oetker, Gropper has also been operating the Moers Frischeprodukte production joint venture in Moers since July 2018
Gropper is one of Germany’s most award-winning food producers: winner of the German Sustainability Award in 2025, the Federal Honorary Award in Gold in 2026, the German Packaging Award in Gold, and a four-time Top 100 Innovator.
Since 2007, acron has served as the central data platform at the Bissingen site.