KION Group establishes new industrial truck factory in Poland
KION GROUP AG is pursuing its growth strategy with the construction of a new industrial truck plant in Kołbaskowo, near Szczecin in Poland. Capital expenditure on this project will amount to over EUR 60 million, and KION, a global leader in logistics, will be creating more than 150 jobs at the site by 2023. Construction on the plant will commence this year, with the site set to come on stream in early 2021. The 18-hectare (approximately 44.5 acres) site will incorporate a cutting-edge production facility, a research and development center, and an administrative center covering almost 44,000 sq. meters.
The additional plant in Poland will complement KION Group’s existing production facilities across Europe and cater to customers with less intensive utilization in the EMEA region. “The new site in the heart of Europe will allow us to make further inroads into this fast-moving, high-potential market,” says Gordon Riske, Chief Executive Officer of KION GROUP AG. “The location near the German-Polish border has the additional benefit of easy access to an excellent network of suppliers,” he adds, highlighting the advantages of the new site. The plant in Kołbaskowo will produce Linde counterbalance trucks for loads up to 3.5 tonnes, including model series which are currently manufactured in Aschaffenburg (Germany) and Xiamen (China).
The KION Group aims to take even more advantage of growth in the intralogistics sector in the EMEA region through its Linde brand company. “The site in Kołbaskowo will provide us with the perfect springboard. The more than 150 new employees will benefit from a state-of-the-art working environment and the new research and development center will open up further opportunities,” says Riske.
The KION Group in Poland
KION Group brand companies have had a presence in the Polish market for many decades, and KION is one of the country’s leading providers of industrial trucks and warehouse technology. More than 29,000 new trucks were ordered in Poland last year, of which almost a third were purchased from KION Group brand companies. A comparison of global new truck orders highlights considerable long-term growth potential in the Polish market. Whereas recent figures show that only 600 new trucks were ordered in Poland per million inhabitants, in the USA it was 750 and in Germany just under 1,200.
The Linde Material Handling Polska Sp. z o.o. and STILL Polska Sp. z o.o. sales outlets focus on providing an all-around service and comprehensive logistics solutions, and are in high demand as business partners for customers looking for innovative industrial trucks. The offering is aimed at large companies and smaller family businesses that value high-quality, innovative and technologically advanced products. STILL also has its European reconditioning center for used trucks in Rokietnica, near Poznań. Every year, around 2,000 industrial trucks are reconditioned at the 2,500 square meter facility. The KION subsidiary Dematic, a global material handling specialist offering intelligent software and automation solutions for optimizing supply chains, also has a presence through its Dematic Poland Sp. z o.o. branch in Poznań. The KION Group currently has a workforce of over 800 in Poland, mainly employed in sales and aftersales.
