The founder of ECR Solutions Servicegesellschaft mbH Fred Schäfer and his group of companies have now joined the family business Krone. ECR, a renowned service provider for fleet management, was fully integrated into the Krone Group holding company at the beginning of the year. ECR stands for Efficient-Consumer-Response; over the past two decades, the Lower Saxony-based company has developed into a proven specialist in the optimization and digitalization of services in the fleet sector. Its services include advising fleet operators on business processes, a wide range of premium digital services for efficient, cost-conscious and future-oriented fleet management and supporting workflows with innovative software tools.
“The integration of ECR into the Krone Group is a logical and sensible step by two companies that are aligning themselves creatively and digitally for the future,” says founder and Managing Director Fred Schäfer. “Krone and ECR have been working together very successfully on the strategic direction of the Krone Service World since 2016, which was fortified by the first equity investment in 2022. We are now pooling our expertise in order to develop sustainable customer solutions together even faster and more efficiently in the future. As a responsible family business with great innovation potential and solid financial strength, Krone is the ideal partner to secure ECR’s business model.“
Ole Klose (CFO of the Krone Group) and Karsten Küwen (Head of Service Excellence at the Krone Commercial Vehicle Group and new Co-Managing Director of the ECR Group) are also delighted about the merger. “With the help of ECR, we have built up and shaped the digital service world in the Krone Commercial Vehicles division in recent years. The task now is to define and develop further customer-oriented tools. In addition to the logistics sector, there are also exciting prospects in the agricultural machinery sector. After all, intelligent fleet management also plays a crucial role in agriculture, as an example, in forage harvesting. Optimum coordination and timing of the various harvesting machines guarantees high-quality forage, which in turn ensures the best possible animal nutrition and ultimately the profitability of a farm.“
ECR Solutions Servicegesellschaft mbH will continue to operate as an independent company based in Edewecht. ECR currently employs 20 people. The ECR management team now consists of Fred Schäfer, Philip Häusler and Karsten Küwen.