The KION Group's Digital Business Unit (DBU) combines start-up spirit with corporate strength, making a significant contribution to shaping KION as the supply chain solutions company.
For two years, it has been driving forward the digital transformation of our industry with agile methodologies and intelligent solutions – quickly, boldly, and with a focus on the customer.
2026-03-11
Our Digital Business Unit is a "company within a company" with a clear mission: to become a pioneer in digital, connected intralogistics. The focus is on the customer and their requirements for a connected warehouse.
Five hubs – one team. The KION Group's Digital Business Unit (DBU) works as a well-coordinated, fully functional team across various locations: Barcelona, Hamburg, Aschaffenburg, Dortmund, and Frankfurt. Each hub has its own areas of focus – for example, the focus in Dortmund is on account management and incubation, while many developers are based in Barcelona. Nevertheless, everyone pulls together.
"Our strength lies in the fact that we think and act as one across all hubs – always with a clear focus on providing our customers with effective solutions that offer real added value."
Five hubs, one team: the KION Group’s Digital Business Unit (DBU)
The Digital Business Unit puts the customer at the center of all activities. Whether in workshops with supply chain solutions managers, digital experts, fleet managers, interactive usability tests, or live warehouse operations, every measure is aimed at generating real customer benefits from user requirements. All teams work closely with KION Group sales brands such as Linde Material Handling and STILL to not only design new functions that are precisely tailored to customer needs, but also to roll them out seamlessly and provide long-term support. "This ensures that digital innovations are smoothly integrated into market channels, introduced, and sustainably supported."
The DBU teams work closely with KION Group sales brands such as Linde Material Handling and STILL.
The DBU combines go-to-market and agile methodology based on the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to create a continuous process. The incubation team develops ideas and initial prototypes with customers and validates the added value for their warehouses. Strategic product portfolio and product roadmap reviews are conducted on a quarterly basis. Customer feedback is immediately incorporated into the next product version. The development team from all five hubs meets quarterly in big room meetings to bundle customer requirements, plan modular product releases, and set clear schedules. Customers thus benefit from a significantly reduced time to market. Special roles such as release train engineer, software architects, and ART product managers ensure seamless coordination. Not only customers benefit from the agile setup of the Digital Business Unit, but also the Group's own units from sales support, service, after sales, and all sales partners. "Thanks to the reliability of our product development and the adaptability of our development organization, we were able to successfully launch the two customer portals, myLinde and the STILL Smart Portal, in record time. Further innovations will follow this year, such as real-time localization and artificial intelligence to support our customers' decisions," explains Ron Winkler.
The hub in Barcelona, Spain
The core task of the DBU is to make forklifts and warehouse technology intelligent. The digital products use data from our digital twins, such as telemetry data, access authorizations, battery status, and assistance system information from all connected vehicles on a single platform. DBU products thus unlock hidden potential and convert raw vehicle data into meaningful, actionable insights in the form of informative dashboards that enable fleet managers, for example, to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Today, a forklift truck can independently report maintenance requirements or receive software updates "over the air." Connected forklift fleets provide real-time data on utilization and location—the fleet manager can see exactly which vehicles are productive and which are not. Routes can be optimized, loading cycles better planned, and downtime reduced.
"We don't just provide data, we provide scope for action," says Ron Winkler: "Our customers gain transparency about their fleet and their material flow – and thus real control options." DBU also supports energy saving: Together with AI specialists, it develops solutions for intelligent energy management in electric fleets. And there is more to come: cost and contract apps for better cost control and an AI-supported decision-making tool, as well as real-time localization to provide customers with answers to complex optimization questions and, for example, facilitate the transition to automation. Customers can experience exactly how this works – and what concrete benefits it brings in practice – live at the LogiMAT trade fair 2026 in Stuttgart.
The core task of the DBU is to make forklifts and warehouse technology intelligent. The innovations are presented at trade fairs such as CeMAT Asia in Shanghai and LogiMAT in Stuttgart.
Horns, forklifts, beeping reverse warnings – there is a lot of activity in the warehouse. Between shelves, loading processes, and traffic routes, the warehouse manager asks himself: Where am I losing time? Where is the material flow stalling? Until now, this meant reviewing data, comparing tables, and looking for patterns. Quite a laborious process. But the Digital Business Unit's vision goes further. Will a simple sentence in a chat window soon suffice – and will "The Digital Assistant for Warehouses" respond with specific recommendations for action? Ron Winkler smiles: "That is exactly our goal."
The next step is an AI-supported tool that directly understands user questions and provides appropriate answers – whether about fleet utilization, routing, or CO₂ reduction. "We don't want our customers to have to be data experts to make informed decisions," explains Ron Winkler: "The intelligence in the background takes care of that – and provides specific suggestions. Quickly. Understandably. To the point."
The KION Group's Digital Business Unit combines the best of both worlds – the agility and innovative spirit of a start-up with the experience and reach of a global market leader. Its five networked hubs develop solutions that further establish the KION Group as "The Supply Chain Solutions Company" on the market.
The Digital Business Unit (DBU) is a "company within a company." As an innovator, the team of 180 employees is driving forward the digital transformation of intralogistics and connecting forklift trucks with warehouse processes – for greater performance in the warehouse: transparent, efficient, and secure.
Customers can analyze data from their vehicle fleets in real time, identify maintenance requirements early on, optimize routes, or reduce energy consumption—enabling them to manage processes faster, more securely, and more cost-efficiently.
DBU's digital solutions convert raw vehicle data into meaningful, actionable insights that enable customers to make informed, data-driven decisions.
The MyLinde and STILL SmartPortal customer portals bundle fleet data, e.g., for the energy management of forklift fleets. Customers can read the data in real time and thus optimize routes, plan charging cycles, and increase safety, for example. By generating valuable reports, customers can use the myLinde and STILL SmartPortal portals to optimize their fleet, increase safety, streamline operations, and gain a clear overview of the activities in their warehouse.
"ChatGPT for the warehouse" is the working title of an AI-supported decision-making tool that the KION Group's Digital Business Unit is developing for use in warehouses and distribution centers. It is designed to provide clear recommendations for action – quickly and comprehensibly. ChatGPT for the warehouse will be part of the myLinde and STILLSmart customer portals and will be presented at LogiMAT 2026 in Stuttgart.
Artificial intelligence supports energy management, safety analyses, and the planning of charging cycles, for example. The DBU develops such applications for the KION Group's sales brands so that data can be turned into real decisions.
