KION Group opens Center of Excellence for automated solutions

KION Group opens Center of Excellence for automated solutions

• Now under one roof: Automated trucks and software development, customer solutions development, project realization and production
• New facility improves efficiency and fosters collaboration to develop industry-leading automation solutions for KION Group brands
• Ching Pong Quek, CTO of KION Group: “We can now more efficiently respond to customer needs and deliver innovative automation solutions faster."

Frankfurt am Main, October 1, 2024 – The KION Group has opened the KION Automation Center Antwerp in Belgium, a Center of Excellence facility for automated solutions in EMEA. It is the first of its kind and now the primary hub for research and development, testing and customized production of automated solutions in EMEA. Employees from the KION brands will now work and collaborate on automation projects and individual customer requirements.

"Automation is the future for our industry, so I'm very excited about the new facility," says Ching Pong Quek, member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer of KION GROUP AG. "By bringing various capacities under one roof, we can now respond to market needs and deliver automation projects faster, more innovatively and cost-effectively. The teams design the right automation solutions for our customers and support our regional sales teams." The new building allows new solutions to be tested and optimized on site and requirements to be addressed individually and quickly. "The Center of Excellence will enable intensive collaboration across businesses with the aim of serving our customers even better", says Quek.

Approximately 400 employees with diverse professional backgrounds and 40 nationalities are working at the KION Automation Center Antwerp. The 11,800-square meter building is well equipped for collaborative work, with a flexible office concept encouraging creative thinking, learning, testing, and training. The building is located near the port of Antwerp in an industrial area that is set to grow and develop further in the coming years.

Cross-departmental collaboration an important success factor at new site

The employees who used to work in the two rented locations in Antwerp and Zwijndrecht have now moved into the new automation center. It shortens distances and promotes cross-departmental team collaboration. One of the teams is KION subsidiary, automation and software specialist Dematic, which has vacated its previous offices and moved less than 100 meters away to the new building. The team provides centralized services on automated solutions for customers across Europe.

In addition to Dematic, other operating units of the KION Group are also based in the new building. One of them is KION Industrial Trucks and Services (ITS) EMEA, where a team handles customer projects from planning to delivery, including training sessions conducted in the office and test floors. They also focus on the testing and development of custom hardware and software solutions, as well as the production of customized solutions, particularly for industrial vehicles.  

Robotic system development will play a major role in the new Center of Excellence for Automation. The mission of the team is to deliver intelligent, driverless and interoperable robotic products, solutions and services that are easy to deploy, operate, maintain and support throughout their lifecycle in brownfield applications.

Building design focuses on solutions that support sustainability

The KION Automation Center Antwerp features modern standards of sustainable design, such as advanced insulation, solar panels and a green roof. The goal is to achieve BREEAM sustainable building certification, which is based on a holistic approach to achieving environmental, social and governance (ESG), health and net-zero goals. From energy to ecology, a BREEAM assessment uses recognized performance measures against established benchmarks to evaluate a building's specification, design, construction and use.

In addition, the KION Group is working closely with the European agency Encon to obtain a WELL Gold certificate from the US-based international WELL Building Institute. The WELL Building Standard is an evidence-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring building characteristics that affect the health and well-being of occupants.

The new address of the location:

KION Automation Center Antwerp
Katwilgweg 3
B-2050 Antwerpen

The Company

The KION Group is one of the world’s leading providers of industrial trucks and supply chain solutions. Its full spectrum of services includes industrial trucks, such as forklift trucks and warehouse trucks, as well as integrated automation technologies and software solutions for the optimization of supply chains—including all related services. The KION Group’s solutions ensure the smooth flow of materials and information in customers’ warehouses, production plants, and distribution centers in over 100 countries.

The MDAX listed group is the largest manufacturer of industrial trucks in the EMEA region based on the number of units sold in 2022. Based on revenue for the year 2022, the KION Group is the leading overseas manufacturer in China, and including domestic manufacturers, the third-largest supplier there. The KION Group is also one of the world’s leading warehouse automation providers, based on 2022 revenue.

At the end of 2023, more than 1.8 million industrial trucks of the KION Group were in use by customers from all manner of sectors and of varying sizes on six continents. The group currently has more than 42,000 employees and generated revenue of approx. € 11.4 billion in the 2023 financial year.

You can access up-to-date image material for the KION Group via our image database https://kion-mediacenter.canto.global/v/MediaCenter/ as well as on our respective brands’ websites.

(kage)
 

Disclaimer 

This release and the information contained herein are for information purposes only and do not constitute a prospectus or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Future results could differ significantly from the results that are currently expected due to various risk factors and uncertainties such as changes in economic or industry-specific conditions, changes in the market environment or political situation, changes in domestic or international legislation, interest rate or exchange rate fluctuations, legal disputes and investigations, and the availability of financial resources. We do not assume any responsibility for updating the forward-looking statements in this release.

Further information for media representatives

Karoline Gellrich
Spokesperson KION Group Communications
Phone +49 (0)69 201 107 254
karoline.gellrich@kiongroup.com

Further Information for Investors

Sebastian Ubert
Vice President Investor Relations
Phone +49 (0)69 201 107 329
sebastian.ubert@kiongroup.com

Raj Junginger
Senior Manager Investor Relations
Phone +49 (0)69 201 107 942
raj.junginger@kiongroup.com

Website: www.kiongroup.com/media