Somic founder Manfred Bonetsmuller passes away

Bonetsmuller created the company in 1974.

Manfred Bonetsmuller. Courtesy of Somic Group

Manfred Bonetsmuller, the founder and managing director of the Somic Group for decades, passed away on October 10, at the age of 83. His inventive spirit and personality reportedly shaped the company from Amerang in Upper Bavaria for more than 40 years. Private funeral services were held.

Bonetsmuller reportedly recognized the great opportunities of automation for food production when he founded the company in 1974. He continuously developed new technical innovations, and had customers from Germany and France with automated stacking, portioning, and wrapping packaging machines for the cheese industry. His willingness and know-how in response to individual customer requirements contributed to the company’s further growth.

In the early 1980’s, Bonetsmuller formed the foundation for Somic's continued success by developing the first carton erector. Somic later offered complete packaging lines for dairies.

Bonetsmuller opened new market segments when Somic developed a compact cartoning machine that combined two systems. This meant that for the first time, products could be collected, grouped, and packaged in one machine. With this technology, more product shapes such as cups, tins, bags, folding cartons, and others could be processed, which enabled the company to expand into more sectors and countries.

The basic modular principle of Somic's end-of-line packaging machines he developed are still one of the keys to the company’s success today, Somic says. It allows maximum output on the smallest footprint and can be individually adapted to any packaging task.

From simple tray packers and lid tray packers to complex wraparound packers, Somic machines are now used in food, non-food, and healthcare sectors. These are collected, grouped, and positioned on a carton blank according to the requirements of the respective product. Once closed, the shelf-ready cartons reportedly offer optimal protection of the product during transportation.

With his inventive spirit and passion for always offering customers the best packaging solution, Bonetsmuller grew Somic from a four-person business to a globally active mechanical engineering company. The company expanded to North America with Somic Packaging, Inc. in 2014, and another production facility was added when Somic Haag was acquired in 2019. Last December, subsidiary Somic Packaging Asia Pacific Co. Ltd., opened in Thailand.