The KION Group is investing in future growth.

The KION Group is forging ahead with its KION 2027 Strategy and investing in future growth.

"The clear focus on our strategy, which was launched last year, has enabled us to substantially enhance our product and service portfolio and maintain our path of growth of previous years; we have delivered," says Gordon Riske, CEO of KION Group AG.

In a speech to shareholders, Riske spoke of the group's focus on digitalisation, an area where the KION Group has taken some decisive measures over the past months. These range from the creation of a dedicated executive board role, with Susanna Schneeberger appointed as chief digital officer, and the launching of new software solutions such as Dematic iQ Virtual and Dematic iQ InSights as well as the new KION Cloud.

The KION Digital Campus is a creative innovation lab that is working with the operating units to develop several new solutions, including apps for service technicians and for data-driven fleet optimisation for customers. The KION Digital Academy, a forum for providing digital training to the KION workforce, is in the process of being set up.

"In the years ahead, digital transformation will be the crucial distinguishing factor for many industries and businesses," notes Riske. "It will also massively change logistics."

In 2019, to maintain the rate of innovation at a high level and to fully exploit the growth anticipated in the coming years, the KION Group will heavily invest in expanding its production capacity. Along with the expansion of existing plants in Aschaffenburg, Hamburg, Châtellerault (France) and Luzzara (Italy), new factories are to be built in Poland, India and China. The three new plants are anticipated to help the KION Group meet future demand around the world.

According to the chairman's report, the KION Group believes it will be in an excellent position to benefit from global mega-trends in the coming years. The main drivers here remain the growing tendency of consumers to buy online (e-commerce) and the increasingly fragmented value chains of the global economy. The group also wants its operating segments to work even more closely together since demand for integrated intralogistics solutions is already high and will continue to grow in the future.

With a view to these global trends, the KION Group is confident that it will be able to write further chapters in its story of success over the coming years. It is aiming to generate revenue of EUR10 billion (USD )in 2022. "We want to leverage our leading position to generate strong profitable growth," explains Riske. "We are therefore explicitly re-affirming our medium-term target of achieving double-digit adjusted EBIT margins between 10 and 12%." The outlook for the current year was confirmed in April.

The KION Group is keen to generate its growth in the most resource-efficient way possible and has therefore formulated a sustainability strategy that it has been pursuing since 2016.