KION North America

It is our ambition to understand our customer’s requirements better than anyone else and to provide them with tailor-made, safe, efficient, and innovative logistics solutions. A key factor in this is sustainable business. All our actions are guided by environmental, social, and commercial aspects. We also help our customers to implement their sustainability programs, thus ensuring that a crucial ingredient for their success is in place.

There is no shortage of eco-friendly concepts springing up at the KION plant in Summerville in the American Deep South. It all began with a smart waste recycling system and LED lamps in production. Next up are solar panels on the factory roof that are designed to supply the bulk of the electricity needed to power the machines.

It is not normally Max Vome’s job to climb around on roofs. But when it comes to protecting the environment, the KION employee is willing to make an exception. He makes special visits to Alder Energy in Charleston in the US state of South Carolina to take a close look at the solar panels and find out what he needs to know. Soon, solar modules will be installed on the flat roofs of the factory at KION North America in Summerville. “Our local solar vendor informed us of government tax breaks and funding for energy produced from renewable resources that brought this idea to reality,” says Vome, who is the plant’s health, safety, environment and security manager.

Internally, the initiative is called Project Sunshine. Daniel Schlegel, Vice President of Operations at KION North America, estimates that solar energy will offset around 80 per cent of the power needed for production when everything is up and running. By demonstrating its green credentials in this way, KION is playing a pioneering role in the US, where environmental protection is becoming increasingly important in the corporate world.

“Sustainability is a clear trend in the material handling industry – we experience this with each new day in the shape of greater customer interest in electric forklift trucks,” says Schlegel. “Now we are even in the position here in North America to offset our production line energy usage by creating energy through renewable resources.”

The KION Group and its members, including KION North America are guided by shared group values that serve as a compass for the way we work with our customers, business partners, within our communites and with each other.

The success of the KION Group can be attributed to the skill and commitment of our employees. We offer interesting and challenging roles in an international working environment within an innovative, forward-looking and fast-growing sector. We enable our employees to continually enhance their skills by offering training and professional development programs.

We are looking for highly qualified, dedicated and business-minded people who are interested in exciting opportunities in an internationally-oriented group of companies.