Business model and organizational structure

The KION Group’s business model is designed so that customers of all sizes and from all sectors can obtain the full spectrum of material handling products and services from a single source. Thanks to its broad technology base, diversified product portfolio, and worldwide service network, the KION Group is able to bring a comprehensive portfolio of such products and services to the market.

The KION Group’s market activities were divided into four Operating Units in 2022: KION ITS EMEA, KION ITS APAC, KION ITS Americas, and KION SCS. The KION ITS EMEA Operating Unit focuses on the ITS business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa across all brands. KION ITS APAC and KION ITS Americas hold cross-brand responsibility for industrial truck business in the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas respectively. KION SCS, featuring the Dematic brand, is the global supply chain solutions business. While KION GROUP AG is the strategic management holding company and is responsible for the groupwide strategy, the allocation of resources, and groupwide business standards, the Operating Units have full commercial responsibility for their business.

For internal management purposes, the KION Group has divided its operating business into two operating segments that correspond to the operating segments as required by international financial reporting standards (IFRS 8). The industrial truck business, including financial and logistics services that support sales, is shown in the Industrial Trucks & Services (ITS) segment, while activities focusing on end-to-end supply chain solutions make up the Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) segment. The two segments complement each other in terms of their respective market position and regional presence.

The Corporate Services segment comprises activities other than those of the operating business and the holding functions of the KION Group. These include service companies that provide services such as IT and general administration across all segments.

Industrial Trucks & Services segment

The KION Group’s portfolio of industrial trucks and services make it one of the world’s leading providers of industrial trucks, based on the number of units sold and backed by data from research institute Interact Analysis. The segment encompasses the activities of the international brand companies Linde, STILL and Baoli, the local brand companies Fenwick and OM, plus the financial services business.

• Linde is an international and technologically innovative premium brand that manufactures forklift and warehouse trucks and provides accompanying fleet management solutions, driver assistance systems, and service options, meeting demanding customer requirements in terms of technology, efficiency, functionality, and design. In France, Linde products are sold under the Fenwick brand.
• STILL, a provider of forklift trucks, warehouse trucks, and intralogistics systems, drives innovation in its field and has a particular focus on the European market and Brazil.
• Baoli is the international brand for the lower end of the volume segment and the economy segment.
• OM is the local brand company for the Indian market, through which the KION India Pvt. Ltd. subsidiary manufactures and sells electric and IC industrial trucks and warehouse trucks.
• KION Financial Services (KION FS) is an internal funding partner for the Industrial Trucks & Services segment, providing finance solutions to support sales.

So that it can fully cater to the needs of material handling customers worldwide, the business model of the Industrial Trucks & Services segment covers the key steps of the value chain: product development, manufacturing, sales and service, truck rental and used trucks, fleet management, and financial services that support the core industrial truck business.

The segment generated nearly half of its revenue in 2022 from the new business with industrial trucks. The product portfolio includes counterbalance trucks powered by an electric drive or internal combustion engine, warehouse trucks (ride-on and hand-operated), and towing vehicles for industrial applications covering all load ranges. Worldwide research and development activities strengthen the Industrial Trucks & Services segment’s position as a technology driver, which it is extending in areas such as energy-efficient and low-emission drive technologies and automation solutions. In this field, the KION Group operates 20 production facilities for industrial trucks and components in nine countries.

Some of the products in the multi-brand portfolio are built on a modular platform for diesel and electric forklift trucks to ensure a high standard of quality at competitive costs. The segment has its own manufacturing facilities for key modular components, notably lift masts, axles, counterweights, and safety equipment. This allows it to ensure security of supply for special customer requirements and to provide a reliable supply of major components for its spare parts business. Energy-efficient lithium-ion battery systems are manufactured by the joint venture KION Battery Systems GmbH (KBS). Other standard modules – such as hydraulic components, electronic components, conventional rechargeable batteries, engine components, and industrial tires – are purchased through the global procurement organization.

As a rule, industrial trucks are built according to the customer’s individual specifications. The premium positioning of the international Linde and STILL brands is based on the integration of end-to-end mobile automation solutions, advantages for customers in terms of total cost of ownership (TCO), and high energy efficiency and safety standards. The segment is underpinned by an extensive sales and service network. As at December 31, 2022, this network comprised around 2,000 outlets in over 100 countries and was staffed by some 8,700 service employees and a large number of external service engineers. A comprehensive service offering represents a competitive advantage, not only in the premium segment but also in the volume and economy segments.

The worldwide vehicle fleet, which consisted of more than 1.7 million industrial trucks at the end of 2022, provides a broad base for the service business. This business helps to smooth out fluctuations in the segment’s revenue and is aimed at reducing dependency on market cycles and supporting new truck sales by maintaining lasting customer relationships. Extensive and innovative services such as digital fleet management are offered for every stage of the lifecycle, mainly for premium products. There are also individual orders for repairs and maintenance work as well as for spare parts. In addition, the Operating Units have extensive used truck and rental truck businesses, allowing peaks in capacity requirements to be met and customers to be supported after their leases have expired.

Financial services support the sale of new trucks in many markets, forming another pillar of the service business. Its activities comprise the financing of long-term lease business for external customers, the internal financing of the short-term rental business, and the related risk management. In the large sales markets with a high volume of financing and lease activities, legally independent KION Financial Services companies handle this business. About half of all new trucks are financed via the KION Group itself or via external banks and financing partners. Offering financial services is therefore part of the truck sales process. Leases are generally linked to a service contract covering the term of the finance agreement.

Supply Chain Solutions segment

The Supply Chain Solutions segment, featuring the Dematic brand, is the world’s leading provider in the market for warehouse automation, based on revenue figures for 2021 and data from Interact Analysis.

Manual and automated solutions are provided for all functions to ensure seamless material handling for customers, from goods inward and Multishuttle warehouse systems to picking, automated palletizing, and automated guided vehicle systems. Picking equipment controlled by radio, voice, or light is available for nearly all goods and packaging types. Automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRSs), robotic picking systems, and compact, split-case and pallet picking stations can be used to achieve very fast throughput times and picking rates. At the same time, cross-docking solutions increase the efficiency of the system as a whole by eliminating the unnecessary handling and storage of goods. The micro-fulfillment system was developed to speed up the processing of online orders in retail and in distribution centers near urban areas. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are designed to improve the inhouse movement of goods on the factory floor, in warehouses, and in distribution centers.

Real-time management of the supply chain solutions is based on the proprietary software platform Dematic iQ, which can be integrated into the customer’s existing application landscape. With features such as real-time material flow data analysis, Dematic iQ can help with the optimization of all kinds of processes to ensure seamless order processing. The Dematic iQ portfolio comprises a warehouse execution system (WES) that ensures a high level of workflow efficiency, a cloud-based asset performance management (APM) platform that brings together all operational, maintenance, and equipment data, a plant emulation and simulation platform for digitally modeling operational or software changes, and a process execution platform for executing manual business processes using mobile devices.

The segment is primarily involved in customer-specific, longer-term project business. With nine production facilities in North America, Europe, China, and Australia and regional teams of experts, Dematic is able to plan and deliver logistics solutions with varying degrees of complexity worldwide.

The (new) project business (business solutions) covers every phase of a new installation: analysis of the customer’s needs and the general parameters, provision of appropriate advice, computer simulation of bespoke intralogistics solutions in the customer’s individual environment, technical planning and design of the system, implementation of the control technology and its integration into the customer’s existing IT infrastructure, site and project management, and plant monitoring and support for the customer during implementation of the system, including training for the workforce. 

The system components, which are specified for each customer project, such as automated guided vehicles, palletizers, storage and picking equipment including automated storage and retrieval systems, sorters, and conveyors, are manufactured mainly inhouse or, in some cases, by third parties.

As at December 31, 2022, there were over 1,900 employees and further external engineers on hand to provide modernization work and services (customer services), which usually cover the entire lifetime of an installed system, to customers at their sites in a total of around 30 countries.

For an interactive map of production sites visit www.kiongroup.com.