KION's new Stríbro facility

The KION Group has officially opened its state-of-the-art plant near the Czech town of Stríbro close to Plzen. The world's second-largest manufacturer of forklifts and warehouse technology has equipped its new production facility with digitally connected systems to create a 'smart factory'.

The KION Stríbro plant is initially building Linde-branded reach trucks, with the capacity to manufacture 12,000 units per year. Around 150 people are working at the site currently.

KION has spent around EUR14 million (USD15.6 million) on fitting out the building, which has an area of approximately 24,000 sq m.

"Our new factory represents a major milestone in the implementation of our KION Group Strategy 2020, with which we are making sure our work is even more focused on customers, innovation and quality," says Gordon Riske, KION CEO.

"Stríbro's location is ideal. Firstly, the new factory brings us closer to our customers in eastern and southern Europe and, secondly, it is just a few hundred kilometres from Linde's core plant in Aschaffenburg and other sites."

The Stríbro plant is KION's third site in the Czech Republic. Linde Pohony makes steering axles and electric and hydrostatic drive axles for the group in Ceský Krumlov. JULI is a joint venture of the KION Group near Brno and builds electric motors.