Driving Digitalization. Knorr-Bremse Annual Report 2021.
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To the Shareholders

Knorr-Bremse enjoys an excellent financial profile with strong profitability, high liquidity, robust assets and a clear path to growth.

Frank Markus Weber – Executive Board Spokesman and Chief Financial Officer of Knorr-Bremse AG

Letter from the Executive Board

Digitalization

Digitalization is one of the megatrends that we at Knorr-Bremse benefit from directly.

In addition to urbanization, sustainability and mobility, collecting, analyzing and using data is essential for us – because data is a central resource for new products and services. For a technology leader like Knorr-Bremse, which has been a leader in its markets for decades, successful investments in digitalization are the key to continuing sustainable growth over the long term.

Magazine Articles

“WE’RE CREATING LONG-TERM GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES”

As the global market leader for braking and other subsystems in rail and commercial vehicles, Knorr-Bremse is investing in the digitalization of its products, structures and processes – for the benefit of the business, its customers and employees. So what are the associated opportunities and challenges? An interview with Dr. Jürgen Wilder, Member of the Knorr-Bremse Executive Board responsible for digitalization within the Group, Michael Hilzinger, Head of IT, and András Sávos, Head of Digitalization & Process Optimization.

DATA-DRIVEN TRAINS OF THE FUTURE.

Digitalization is opening up all kinds of intelligent, practical solutions to many of the challenges facing the rail industry. Knorr-Bremse is focusing on approaches involving data-driven systems – developments that are already adding plenty of value today. And have enormous potential for the future.

DATA-DRIVEN REWORK: KNOWING WHAT TO DO.

Even when quality standards are stellar, rework is an important part of ensuring product quality – in all industry sectors. Data-driven solutions not only deliver the highest possible efficiency during the rework process, they also make it possible to quickly identify and eliminate the root causes of non-conformances or defects. Ultimately, this should make the rework process itself superfluous. Knorr-Bremse has implemented a self-learning system at the Commercial Vehicle Systems division’s Aldersbach plant that is making the most of this opportunity.

The Divisions

Rail Vehicle Systems

Incoming orders in the Rail Vehicle Systems division decreased slightly year on year, falling -0.4 % from € 3,485.1 million to € 3,470.7 million. Growth in the Europe and North America regions was not able to completely compensate for the decrease in demand from the Asia-Pacific region, which had a particularly noticeable impact on the Chinese business. By contrast, the order book, which stood at € 3,875.1 million as of December 31, 2021, was up on the prior-year level of € 3,721.4 million, driven by the positive order situation, especially in the second half of the 2021.

Please find here the Key Figures Rail Vehicle Systems

Commercial Vehicle Systems

The Commercial Vehicle Systems division reported significant growth in incoming orders by 29.2% to € 3,818.0 million in 2021 (2020: € 2,954.2 million). This positive trend was attributable to a global market recovery that benefited all regions and boosted results in the first half of 2021 in particular. Continuing supply bottlenecks across the entire commercial vehicle industry led to delays and decreases in incoming orders in the second half of 2021 and primarily affected the North America region and China. The overall significant growth in incoming orders in the 2021 fiscal year was also reflected in the order book, which increased by 33.7 % year on year to € 1,696.8 million as of December 31, 2021 and reached a new record level (2020: € 1,269.0 million).

Please find here the Key Figures Commercial Vehicle Systems