Opportunities.
The KION Group is more than the sum of its parts. Pooling the strengths of its brand companies has unleashed huge potential. For customers and investors. Around the world. Jan Koepp creates synergies that add value.
Mr Koepp, the brand companies with the shortest histories in the KION Group are Baoli and Voltas – both of which are in Asia. You manage their integration into the Group. Do you know how many hours you have spent on planes?
At a rough estimate, I have flown round the world about five times, that’s about 200,000 kilometres, and most of the trips were to China. The remarkable insights that I gain are always worth the long flights. This gives me new ideas, sparks my creativity and recharges my mental batteries. When I land on another continent, I often don’t arrange to be picked up from the airport, I take public transport. I also like to be adventurous with food, which is probably due to the fact that I have lived abroad for 17 of the past 20 years, most of that time in Brazil.
The multi-brand strategy is a key element of the KION Group’s growth policy. What makes it so effective?
We want the right product range that covers all market segments. For this reason, we draw on local experts in every market segment and focus on the requirements of each market – in terms of meeting all needs, ‘one size fits all’ just doesn’t work. We share our knowledge of technology and products and we establish tried-and-tested, standard processes, which makes the brand companies more competitive. The idea is to merge downstream business units and processes and then to make them available to the brand companies. Together, these steps all create value and help to ensure that the KION Group continues to grow profitably and is not just a loose affiliation of brands.
How do you tackle the integration of a new brand company?
You have to understand what is needed locally. First, we summarise the expectations brought by the new company and the KION Group. Companies that have recently joined the Group want to grow faster than before. The KION Group would like to occupy a stronger position in a new company’s market. And KION customers have specific expectations in terms of products, their reliability and the service we offer. We then merge the KION Group’s strengths and experience with those of our colleagues in the new brand company. We can only become more successful in the market by working together.
How do you ensure that the Group’s new brand companies are able to meet these requirements?
It cannot be done by simply transferring funds for capital expenditure. Our job only starts in earnest when the agreements have been signed. We assess our partners’ internal processes, strategy implementation and conduct. We establish which aspects we want to work on so that we can meet all of our targets and we supply the necessary technologies and methods. The KION Group has a duty to provide each new brand company with what it needs.
The KION Group already had two global brands, Linde and STILL, Baoli is the third. What role does KION’s Chinese brand company play?
Baoli covers the value and economy market range and it has a special role in the multi-brand strategy. The Chinese brand company provides the technical foundation for products for the Indian and South American markets. Baoli receives marketing support from the regional KION companies such as KION South America and KION South Asia. Our Indian brand company Voltas in turn benefits from Baoli technology.
