diff --git a/elements/opensuse/element-deps b/elements/opensuse/element-deps
index 5c6d5779f..4c2b56c33 100644
--- a/elements/opensuse/element-deps
+++ b/elements/opensuse/element-deps
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 cache-url
 dib-run-parts
+zypper
diff --git a/elements/zypper/README.md b/elements/zypper/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aec7e6169
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/zypper/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+This element provides some customizations for zypper based distributions like
+SLES and openSUSE. It works in a very similar way as the yum element does for
+yum based distributions.
+
+Zypper is reconfigured so that it keeps downloaded packages cached outside of
+the build chroot so that they can be reused by subsequent image builds. The
+cache increases image building speed when building multiple images, especially
+on slow connections.  This is more effective than using an HTTP proxy for
+caching packages since the download servers will often redirect clients to
+different mirrors.
diff --git a/elements/zypper/post-install.d/99-zypper-no-keep-packages b/elements/zypper/post-install.d/99-zypper-no-keep-packages
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..a68a05e1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/zypper/post-install.d/99-zypper-no-keep-packages
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+# Disable caching packages for all repositories
+sudo zypper modifyrepo --all --no-keep-packages
diff --git a/elements/zypper/pre-install.d/01-zypper-keep-packages b/elements/zypper/pre-install.d/01-zypper-keep-packages
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..43c01882f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/zypper/pre-install.d/01-zypper-keep-packages
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+# Enable caching packages for all repositories
+sudo zypper modifyrepo --all --keep-packages
diff --git a/elements/zypper/root.d/50-zypper-cache b/elements/zypper/root.d/50-zypper-cache
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..9504bf3a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/zypper/root.d/50-zypper-cache
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+[ -n "$TARGET_ROOT" ]
+
+ZYPPER_CACHE_DIR=~/.cache/image-create/zypper
+mkdir -p $ZYPPER_CACHE_DIR
+
+sudo mount --bind $ZYPPER_CACHE_DIR $TMP_MOUNT_PATH/var/cache/zypp