Stronger together: why partnerships drive the KION Group forward

It's a busy morning at Brussels Airport. Business travelers rush to their gates, suitcases roll across the floor, and loudspeaker announcements drown out the babble of voices. Amidst the hustle and bustle, Gunter Van Deun, CTO Director Partnering Strategy, sits with an espresso at the terminal window. In a few minutes, his flight to Shanghai will take off – the reason for his trip: talks with technology partners in China. "We don't have to do everything ourselves," he says in our interview, which we conduct shortly before his departure. "There are areas where others are stronger or faster. Our job is to integrate and orchestrate precisely these competencies. China is a very important and dynamic test market for new and innovative technologies – that's why we give it the attention it deserves."

Gunter Van Deun works closely with the Operating Units and technical teams of the CTO organization to develop partnerships with other companies – from Asia to Europe to the USA. The most important task here is to identify technological gaps that potential partners can quickly close.

Partnerships at KION often originate from traditional supplier relationships and have evolved over time into strategic collaborations. This remains true today. However, it is crucial that partnerships are not left to chance but are specifically designed in line with our Playing to Win strategy. This strategy clearly focuses our attention on three key objectives: faster implementation, consistent cost efficiency, and targeted innovation.

Eike Wibrow, VP Technology Strategy, sums it up: "Today, innovation no longer means what a single company can invent within its own walls. The decisive factor is how quickly you can network with the right partners, technologies, and ecosystems to create added value together. The companies that master collaboration will shape the future."

This attitude is translated into a proactive approach: new, innovative technologies are tested in an agile and cost-efficient manner together with partners, especially in China—an important environment for rapid market testing. One example is the collaboration with EP Equipment, in which both sides contributed their respective strengths to quickly close gaps in the low-lift pallet truck segment at both the product and market levels. This initiative was a key contributor to market share and revenue growth in China—not only for the local business, but for the entire KION Group. We remain open to such collaborations in the future—with the clear goal of growing together with strong partners.

A second example is Eurofork: in 2024, KION sealed a strategic partnership with the Italian manufacturer of pallet shuttle systems. In the ITS segment, KION brands in EMEA have since been selling the E4CUBE® solution – a standardized system that automatically stores and retrieves pallets. For customers with more complex requirements, KION subsidiary Dematic remains the central point of contact within the KION Group. As an experienced system integrator, Dematic continues to plan and implement customized solutions that are deeply integrated into warehouse processes. This clear division of labor—standardized solutions for rapid deployment here, individual system integration there—shows how KION thinks strategically about partnerships.

But what criteria determine who KION enters into a partnership with? For Gunter Van Deun, the answer is clear – and it doesn't start with technology, but with a structured picture of needs: "We analyze our gaps in requirements and visualize what we need for a complete solution – technology, software, capability –whatever it may be: we search specifically for the right partner."

There are clear requirements:

• Does the product fit into our system architecture?
• Is it regionally scalable – both technically and economically?
• How quickly can we implement the new technology?
• How does the partner fit into our organization – and how do we ensure that the collaboration is also long-term and successful for them?

"This isn't something that can be done overnight," says Van Deun. "Documentation, testing, approvals – we take all of this into account from the outset. At the same time, our focus is on rapid decision-making and swift implementation. The next steps are to integrate the solution into other areas of KION – because we want to maintain the pace." This is exactly how the partnership with Eurofork came about: the 4D shuttle E4CUBE was to be brought to market quickly – as a standardized, compact solution for specific pallet applications, without the effort of a complete system integration project.

The large-scale project at Radial Europe shows how successful this strategy is: there, 299 AMRs at 45 pick & pack stations jointly coordinate the flow of goods – implemented by Dematic with hardware from Quicktron. We have now already implemented several dozen projects with this AMR technology.

However, it is also important to us to regularly review existing partnerships – and to develop or expand them in a targeted manner where necessary.

One partnership caused quite a stir at CES 2025: since the beginning of the year, the KION Group has been working with NVIDIA – a leading global provider of AI hardware and simulation platforms – and Accenture, a global technology and consulting company, on the next generation of warehouse control systems – with digital twins and AI-supported system intelligence. The collaboration was presented at CES, the world's largest trade show for consumer electronics and digital innovation, in the form of a fully simulated warehouse: including realistic robot fleets, optimized traffic management, and predictive orchestration—all mapped in the digital twin with NVIDIA Omniverse.

"It's more than just hype," says Gunter Van Deun. "We're not talking about a showcase for the trade fair here – we're talking about a toolset that fundamentally changes the way we plan, test, and implement." Specifically, this means that entire warehouse environments are simulated in real time with NVIDIA Omniverse – including material flow, robotics, traffic, bottlenecks, loading cycles, and utilization. So, before an AMR or shuttle system is installed in the hall, you know how it will behave in operation. Gunter Van Deun says, "We no longer just build warehouses. We orchestrate behavior."

Partnerships also contribute to sustainability. To ensure that end-of-life lithium-ion batteries do not contribute to environmental pollution, KION entered into a strategic cooperation with Li-Cycle in 2023 – a Canadian company specializing in the recycling of lithium-ion batteries. The agreement will initially run until 2030. Since the second half of 2023, batteries have been recycled at the Li-Cycle site in Magdeburg; the process recovers up to 95% of the valuable materials. In this way, KION closes the material cycle – in line with its own battery production (KBS) in Karlstein am Main, Germany.

Van Deun emphasizes the importance of his role as an enabler – someone who creates opportunities rather than setting requirements. "I don't tell the OUs what to do," he emphasizes. OUs are the KION Group's Operating Units – independent business divisions spread across regions and product lines.

Technology partnerships are evaluated together with the OUs based on clear market potential, while go-to-market partnerships (G2M) are also reviewed by the CTO team from a technological perspective. “The goal is for everyone involved – both centrally and decentrally – to pull in the same direction,” says Van Deun. His job is to avoid duplication of work, leverage synergies, and keep an eye on the speed of implementation.

In addition, he works with the units to develop a needs-based partnering strategy for the entire KION Group – based on identified gaps, opportunities, and strategic goals.

This is because new partnerships are emerging worldwide – in China, Europe, the US, and India. China plays a special role in this regard: the market is not only large and dynamic, but also serves as an agile testing ground for new, innovative technologies with global potential. Developments that are quickly tested there can be transferred to other regions if successful, thus accelerating innovation worldwide.

Central coordination ensures that these initiatives complement each other rather than contradict each other. This allows successful concepts to be validated, scaled, and rolled out across brands and regions more quickly – with tangible added value for our customers.

The result: solutions that have a faster impact – and take effect exactly where they are needed.