KION Group (KION GROUP AG) is a German intralogistics conglomerate that launched in 2006 as a spin-off of Linde’s material handling business, and grew into a comprehensive provider spanning forklifts to fully automated warehouse solutions following its 2016 acquisition of Dematic.
1. Company Overview
- Company name: KION GROUP AG, listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (formerly MDAX)
- Founded: 2006, spun off from Linde AG’s material handling businesses (Linde Material Handling, STILL, OM Carrelli)
- Headquarters: Frankfurt am Main, Germany (relocated from Wiesbaden in 2017)
- Key brands: Linde Material Handling (1904), STILL (1920), Dematic (1819, acquired 2016), Baoli
- Market position: world’s No. 2 and Europe’s No. 1 forklift manufacturer by revenue
2. History and Personnel
The company launched in September 2006 after Linde AG, having completed its acquisition of BOC, restructured into gas and engineering operations (Linde Group) and material handling operations (KION Group). Linde AG sold KION Group to a KKR–Goldman Sachs consortium for approximately EUR 4 billion. The company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in June 2013 and joined the MDAX in 2014. Following its 2015 acquisition of Belgium’s Egemin Automation and its 2016 acquisition of US-based Retrotech, it acquired Dematic for EUR 1.9 billion in June 2016, propelling it to global leadership in warehouse automation solutions.
The company operates three business segments — KION Industrial Trucks & Services, Dematic, and KION Supply Chain Solutions — with Weichai Power holding an anchor investor stake. It maintains production sites in Germany, China, the United States, and India.
3. Core Technology and Key Equipment
The company offers a full lineup of lithium-ion forklifts and hydrogen fuel cell pilots, integrated AGV/AMR, shuttle systems, and automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), and achieves data-driven orchestration through its WES/WCS software platform.
- Dematic automation solutions — integrated AGV/AMR, shuttles, and AS/RS (tracing back to 1819)
- Linde Material Handling — lithium-ion and hydrogen fuel cell forklifts
- STILL — intralogistics systems (tracing back to 1920)
- Baoli — forklifts and warehouse equipment manufactured in China (since 2009)
- WES/WCS software — real-time data orchestration
4. Production Infrastructure and Quality Assurance
The company maintains production sites in Germany, China, the United States, and India, and operates in more than 100 countries.
5. Delivery Track Record and Partnerships
The company states it supplies intralogistics solutions to a range of industrial customers from e-commerce to automotive, but individual customer names are (undisclosed).
6. Financial Status and Roadmap
As a company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, its financial statements are publicly disclosed. Its 2016 Dematic acquisition was valued at EUR 1.9 billion (per publicly available materials). Individual recent-year revenue and profit figures are not arbitrarily presented in this profile.
The company addresses fleet energy cost volatility through lithium-ion battery telemetry, exchange, and charging strategies, and continues to advance its transition toward the software-defined warehouse.
This profile was compiled from publicly available sources including Wikipedia (English) and the company website (kiongroup.com); unverified figures and non-public information have not been arbitrarily included.