The leading global logistics supplier will create more than 150 jobs at the Polish site by 2023. The plant, construction of which will begin this year, is scheduled to start operations at the beginning of 2021. In addition to a state-of-the-art production facility, a research and development center and an administrative area covering almost 44,000 square meters will be built on an area of around 18 hectares.

The additional plant in Poland will complement the KION Group's existing Europe-wide production facilities and will serve customers with less intensive operating conditions in the EMEA region in particular. "The new location in the center of Europe is ideally suited to further tap the potential of this dynamic market," says Gordon Riske, CEO of KION Group AG, highlighting the advantages of the new site. "In addition, we can draw on an excellent supplier network here, close to the German-Polish border." The new site in Kołbaskowo will produce Linde counterbalance trucks for loads of up to 3.5 tons, including product series that are currently manufactured in Aschaffenburg (Germany) and Xiamen (China).

With the Linde brand, the KION Group aims to benefit even more from the growth of the intralogistics industry in the EMEA region. "With our plant in Kołbaskowo, we are creating good conditions for this. We offer the more than 150 new employees a state-of-the-art working environment. In addition, the affiliated research and development center offers attractive prospects," emphasized Riske.

The KION Group in Poland

More than 29,000 new trucks were ordered in Poland last year, almost a third of them from the KION Group brands. A comparison of new truck orders worldwide shows that the Polish market has long-term growth potential. While around 600 new trucks per million inhabitants were recently ordered annually in Poland, the figure was around 750 in the USA and almost 1,200 in Germany.

The sales offices of Linde Material Handling Polska Sp. z o.o. and Still Polska Sp. Z o.o. are partners for industrial truck customers. Still also operates its European reconditioning center for used equipment in Rokietnica near Poznań. On an area of 2,500 square meters, around 2,000 industrial trucks can be refurbished here every year. The KION subsidiary Dematic is also represented in Poznań with its own branch, Dematic Poland Sp. Z.o.o.. More than 800 employees currently work for the KION Group in Poland, primarily in service and sales.