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Production facility in Stříbro, Czech Republic, expanded

KION Group has added a third factory building at its site in the Czech city of Stříbro. Here, Dematic now manufactures material handling equipment for perfect warehouse logistics.

2020-09-14

KION GROUP AG has added a third factory building at its site in Stříbro near the Czech city of Plzeň. The building, which covers 25,550 square meters, was constructed in less than one year and is operated by KION subsidiary Dematic. Here, the global leader in material handling using intelligent software and automation solutions for the optimization of supply chains will manufacture conveyor belts, pouch sorting systems, and storage and retrieval equipment – known as Multishuttle systems – that ensure the smooth flow of goods in warehouses and distribution centers. The KION Group has invested more than €2 million in the new factory.

“We expanded the production facility in Stříbro, one of our largest sites worldwide, in response to the growing trend for omnichannel solutions and the sustained boom in e-commerce,” says Gordon Riske, Chief Executive Officer of KION GROUP AG. He adds that Dematic is focusing its expertise on innovative, industry-specific warehouse logistics solutions, such as automated storage and retrieval systems, automated guided vehicle systems, Multishuttle systems and, increasingly, robotics.

In the first half of this year, the KION Supply Chain Solutions segment increased its order intake by 57.3 percent to €1.744 billion (previous year: €1.109 billion). Over 6,000 installed systems from the KION Group are deployed by customers large and small in a variety of industries on six different continents. Dematic currently has around 150 permanent employees in Stříbro, and this number is rising.

“I am very pleased with the successful completion of the third KION Group project in our industrial zone as I am extremely satisfied with the cooperation with this company. The company acts openly with willingness respecting the principles of social responsibility. Last but not least, I would like to emphasize that KION brought the end product manufacturing with high added value, as well as the qualified jobs,” said the mayor of Kostelec u Stříbra, František Trhlík.

“When KION entered Panattoni Park Stříbro five years ago, it announced in advance that if it was successful in the area, it would build another building, and if it was very successful, it would build a total of three buildings. I’m very pleased that it finally chose the maximum expansion, because it means maximum satisfaction for all. Secondly, I would like to emphasize that KION’s story testifies to the gradual transformation of Czech industry to the level of 4.0. All factories are fully digitized and their operations are paperless,“ says Pavel Sovička, Managing Director of Panattoni for Czech republic and Slovakia.

KION in the Czech Republic

KION GROUP AG officially opened its production facility in Stříbro, Czech Republic, in 2016. Since then, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of forklift trucks and warehouse trucks has been deploying digitally connected systems at its state-of-the-art facility to create a ‘smart factory’. Reach trucks and pallet stackers are built for the Linde MH brand at the KION Stříbro site.

The KION Group has a total of three sites in the Czech Republic. Besides the plant in Stříbro, where a transport company is also based, Linde Pohony (LiPo) makes steering axles and electric and hydrostatic drive axles in Český Krumlov for the KION Group’s brands, while JULI, a joint venture of the KION Group near Brno, builds electric motors. In total, almost 1,500 people work at the three sites.