Annual Report 2012 - Knorr-Bremse AG.

Management Report
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drive technology and rail vehicles. Knorr-Bremse has held
a majority shareholding in Heine since 2010.
In October 2012, Knorr-Bremse subsidiary Sydac Pty. Ltd.,
Adelaide (Australia) sold its military driving simulators
business to Rheinmetall Simulation Australia Pty. Ltd., Adelaide
(Australia), with effect from February 1, 2013.
Through this sale, Knorr-Bremse is moving out of an area
that does not fall within the Group’s strategic fields of activity.
On November 26, 2012, the Knorr-Bremse Technology
Center India Private Ltd., Pune (India), was founded as a
cooperative venture between Knorr-Bremse Systeme für
Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH, Munich (Germany) and Knorr-
Bremse Systeme für Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH, Munich
(Germany). The object of the company is to perform development
services for the Knorr-Bremse Group.
Overall, these acquisitions had no substantial effect on
the assets, financial status and profitability of the Knorr-
Bremse Group in fiscal 2012.
Major projects
In 2012 Knorr-Bremse continued its rigorous strategy of
localizing production and creating production capacity in
its various markets. Aligned with its regional approach,
this enabled the Group to further enhance its global market
position in a series of business areas and thereby
secure its commercial success. The aim is also always to
ensure the same customary high standards in terms of
production processes and product quality at all plants
around the world.
In the commercial vehicle sector, the joint venture between
Knorr-Bremse and the Russian commercial vehicle
manufacturer KAMAZ, Knorr-Bremse KAMA Systems for
Commercial Vehicles OOO, in Naberezhnye Chelny (Russia),
hereinafter referred to as “Knorr-Bremse KAMA”, began
series production of drum brakes for truck trailers in
the year under review. The brakes are destined for KAMAZ
subsidiary NEFAZ, one of the largest manufacturers of
trailers in Russia, with a market share of between 25 and
30%.
In the second half of 2012, brake shoe remanufacturing
operations, previously operated by an external vendor,
were integrated into the Huntington, Indiana (USA) plant
of Knorr-Bremse subsidiary Bendix as a part of the
company’s remanufacturing business unit strategy. The
line complements the plant’s existing facilities for the resource-conserving
remanufacture of used braking system
components. At its plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky
(USA) Bendix also expanded its machining capacities for
disc brake calipers by installing two new CNC machines.
In the first half of the year under review, at the Dalian
plant in China a disc brake production line came on
stream. The line turns out pneumatic 22.5-inch disc brakes
for customers including Yutong, the world’s largest bus
manufacturer with an annual output of some 47,000
units. The brakes will mainly be installed in Yutong buses
over ten meters long, a segment in which Knorr-Bremse
increased its supply position for 22.5-inch disc brakes to
80%.
Two plants also introduced the internal SAP standard
“PROGRESS” to support all operational planning, logistics
and production processes. Switchover to the new standard
took place at the Arcore plant (Italy) in April and at
the Pune plant (India) on July 1. This represents an important
step towards standardizing processes worldwide and
will help to safeguard the high standard of quality that is
customary at Knorr-Bremse. In Pune the introduction of
this system will also help with preparations for the move
to the new plant that is currently being built and will provide
the environment for a new and higher level of process
excellence.
In the rail vehicle systems sector too, the drive to expand
and optimize the integrated global production and de-