KION Group to Invest EUR 15mn for new Industrial Truck Facility in India
German industrial truck manufacturer KION Group AG is expanding its Indian production site in Pune in the state of Maharashtra with the construction of a new industrial truck production facility.
The company will invest approximately EUR 15 million in capital expenditure on the new 94,000 square meter plant, which is slated to be launched in early 2020. It is creating more than 100 additional jobs in Pune.
The new plant will have a production facility, a research and development center, a training center for service personnel and space for future growth of Dematic in India. Dematic is the most recent member of the KION Group and a involved in intelligent supply chain, software and automation solutions.
The KION Group has had a presence in India since 2011. The company has a production facility in Pune in western India as well as a countrywide sales and service network consisting of over 40 branches and dealerships with over 100 sales outlets. KION India currently employs around 400 employees.
“The new leading-edge plant and R&D center will allow us to better serve our customers in the rapidly expanding Indian market,” said Eike Böhm, Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Board of KION Group AG.
“We want to be even more efficient in production and after sales. Our current workforce and the anticipated 100 new employees will benefit from the latest work environment while the new R&D center and the market launch of Dematic will open up further opportunities,” said Sunil Gupta, President of KION India.
Over the last five years, the Indian industrial truck market has grown five-fold and currently counts around 16,500 trucks per year. A comparison of global new truck orders indicates considerable long-term growth potential in the market. Recent figures show that only 13 new trucks were ordered in India per one million individuals, while in China it was 313 and in Western Europe 866. The KION Group is aiming to leverage growth in the Indian intra-logistics sector, particularly through its OM and OM Voltas brands.
“We want to harness the potential of this fast-growing market even more effectively with our new plant while further strengthening our leading position by increasing capacity in Pune,” said CP Quek, Chief Asia Pacific Officer and member of the Executive Board of KION Group AG, during the plant’s official groundbreaking ceremony.
KION India has been the country’s leading industrial truck and warehouse technology vendor since 2016 through sales of the Italian brand, OM, and its Indian-Italian brand, OM Voltas. In addition to the OM and OM Voltas products, KION India also sells industrial trucks, warehouse technology and services from Baoli in China and the German premium brand, Linde, allowing the Group to serve the premium, value and economy segments. KION has recently begun launching new automated supply chain solutions from Dematic on the Indian market.
The company aims to leverage its market position and customer base of the KION brands, especially in warehousing and logistics.
With an installed base of more than 1.4 million industrial trucks and over 6,000 installed systems, the KION Group’s customer base includes companies in all industries and of all sizes on six continents. The Group has more than 33,000 employees and generated revenue of EUR8 billion in 2018.
