No sign of stop for Knorr-Bremse as brake specialist cements position

Knorr-Bremse, based in Munich, Germany, is the global market leader for braking systems and a leading supplier of rail and commercial vehicle systems. Around 29,500 employees at more than 100 sites across more than 30 countries use their skills and knowledge to serve its customers. In 2018, Knorr-Bremse's two divisions collectively generated revenue of 6.6 billion euros ($7.26 billion). Jurgen Wilder, executive board member at Knorr-Bremse, talks about how well-positioned the business is in China to respond to trends like urbanization and digitization.

What were its strengths that enabled you to develop the company in the Chinese market and win over customers in the rail and truck sector?

Over the years, Knorr-Bremse has become a significant and committed brand in the Chinese market. Knorr-Bremse has maintained contacts in China since the end of the 1970s. The cornerstones of our success are local value creation, innovative products and service infrastructure. With the localization of engineering in China, we are able to act in a quick and focused manner.

Where do you set the priorities for future growth?

Knorr-Bremse is over 114 years old. Since the 1980s, we have been on a strong growth path. First with brake systems, then with other subsystems for rail and commercial vehicle systems. It goes without saying that Knorr-Bremse has grown by being recognized as an innovative leader in many areas. We want to stay that way.

Mobility is now rated higher than fresh water, which is quite remarkable. As a group that offers subsystems for mobility systems, we are at the forefront of this mega trend.

Therefore, we have defined seven areas of innovation for our rail business: connected systems, automated and autonomous driving, new product generations, friction-free brakes and air-pressure-free vehicles, data-driven businesses, life cycle cost reduction and eco-friendliness.

A concrete example is our development in the area of Brake Distance Management. Being able to brake reliably within a given distance under all weather conditions means a tremendous efficiency increase on a given infrastructure.

Do you feel part of the Chinese community?

Absolutely. At our sites in China we operate as a Chinese company, in many cases in cooperation or joint venture with local companies.

In 20 Chinese locations, we had over 4,450 employees at the end of 2018.

As well as being part of the Chinese community from a business point of view, we also undertake localized corporate social responsibility.

Our charity organization, Knorr-Bremse Global Care, ran 54 projects in 22 countries worldwide. Those projects involve community work that was carried out by employees at local Knorr-Bremse sites. For example, staff from the Knorr-Bremse sites in the Chinese areas of Suzhou, Nankou and Daxing, supported by Knorr-Bremse Global Care and two local aid organizations, are working to assist local schools and nursing homes as well as providing educational scholarships.

In 1990, Knorr-Bremse equipped the subway in Shanghai with braking systems. Today, trains with your braking systems transport millions of Chinese every day. What is your current position in the railway division?

In 2018 alone, Knorr-Bremse supplied 26 metro projects in China.

In Shanghai, four projects with 698 cars and in Hangzhou - where we are heading for the Asian Games in 2022 - five projects with 852 cars. Urbanization is a mega trend that we can fully support.

Besides the metro business, the high-speed train network in China is an unprecedented success story. About half of the high-speed trains worldwide are operating in China.

We are proud to be a part of this development with our brakes and subsystems.

A division with increasing importance in China is Knorr-Bremse RailServices.

This brand bundles the service activities like maintenance and refurbishment.

Following on from the large volume of systems supplied in recent years, the number of vehicles coming up for overhaul has begun to increase.

In this segment, Knorr-Bremse RailServices is providing overhaul maintenance work on the Knorr-Bremse braking systems for more than 8,000 cars this year.

(China Daily 09/07/2019 page10)