KION Group sets course with strategy KION 2027
By rolling forward its Strategy 2020, which was launched four years ago, the KION Group has set the course for further profitable growth in the age of digitalization, automation, and Industry 4.0. The strategy KION 2027 takes account of the fundamental changes that the Group has undergone in recent years, including in particular the acquisition of Dematic, the specialist for automation and supply chain optimization, at the end of 2016 but also the reconfiguration of the Group into regional Operating Units.
The strategy puts the emphasis on innovation, digitalization, automation, efficient energy use, and on achieving better performance with regard to KION products and company processes. The Group’s objectives remain similar to those under Strategy 2020: to grow above the market, to remain the most profitable player in the industry, to generate a profit across the business cycle, and to always offer shareholders an attractive return on capital employed.
“KION 2027 builds on the success of Strategy 2020, under which we have achieved profitable growth, efficient use of capital, and a high level of resilience to economic downturns,” said the Chief Executive Officer of the KION Group, Gordon Riske, at the launch of the strategy during the presentation of the 2017 financial year results. “Our objective with KION 2027 is to build on our leading position and continue to unlock the potential within our Group. The aim is to focus much more on a joint customer-centric strategy for innovation, sales, and branding,” he added.
The action areas in detail
– Innovation: The KION Group is driving innovation in the material handling market with an effective innovation ecosystem and cutting-edge, rapid development processes. To this end, it enters into strategic partnerships with research institutes, universities, and innovative companies so that it can go to market quickly with new products and solutions.
– Digital: The Company is aligning its business to an increasingly digital world. The digitalization of customer solutions, which will even include fully automated warehouses incorporating robotics solutions, will be accompanied by the digitalization of internal processes.
– Automation: The KION Group’s solutions will enable customers to use automated technologies effectively and will help them to achieve a ‘lights-out’ warehouse, i.e. one in which light is no longer necessary because the operation is completely automated.
– Energy: The KION Group wants to lead the way in terms of efficient energy use through its products and solutions. A focus of the strategy will be to develop and commercialize new energy sources for industrial trucks, and related services, such as the provision of advice on energy matters.
– Performance: The Group is continually improving both its own internal efficiency and the performance of its customers’ operations. It is continuing to fully leverage its synergies as a strategic management holding company.
