KION CEO Gordon Riske

The KION Group plans to start enlarging its global plant structures this year in order to meet an anticipated increase in demand for its industrial trucks.

Group CEO Gordon Riske explained at the company's AGM in Wiesbaden last week that this was part of its Strategy 2020 (Forkliftaction.com News #660) that the group had unveiled earlier this year. "Our key objective in this process is to locate our production even closer to the fast-growing sales markets."

Specific investments are aimed at increasing efficiency in the core plants. At the same time, the company is starting the development of trucks for markets like the United States on the basis of existing product platforms.

The group will also further expand its research and development activities in Asia, where around a third of all R&D employees in the KION Group are now based.

Frank Brandmaier, head of corporate media relations, tells Forkliftaction.com News that KION is preparing its plants for the expected "significant increase in volumes in emerging markets". "Increasing production closer to those markets is therefore just a logical step.

"Besides North America, the KION Group attaches particular importance to the fast-growing Asian market, as it is pointed out in our Strategy 2020."

Riske expressed his confidence about the current year. "For 2014, we see continued momentum for the stabilisation of demand for industrial trucks in western Europe and for further growth in North America and Asia,"

He added that KION had delivered excellent performance in 2013 and previous years and that this success was the starting point for the Strategy 2020.

Other objectives within Strategy 2020 are an EBIT margin in double digits and a significantly higher return on capital employed.

Nearly a year on from the IPO (Forkliftaction.com News #622), the first AGM voted by a large majority in favour of the supervisory board's and executive board's proposals, including a dividend of EUR0.35 (USD0.48) per share.

The KION Group claims to be the world's second-largest manufacturer of forklifts and warehouse technology, with a stable of brands including Linde, STILL, Baoli, Fenwick, OM and Voltas.