Annual Report 2012 - Knorr-Bremse AG.

Management Report
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annual output of around 15,000 school buses. The systems
are manufactured at the Bendix Modules Center
of Excellence in Huntington, Indiana.
South America
Rail Vehicle Systems
The fall in global demand for commodities exerted a negative
influence on freight volumes in South America in 2012.
As a result, output of freight cars in the region was cut in half
in the year under review, to around 2,000 units. Output of
locomotives staged a recovery in 2012 and at approximately
200 units was back at the level of 2008.
The passenger transportation market remains buoyant. Two
major events − the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics,
both in Brazil − are driving the expansion of the country’s
mass transit networks. In this context, Knorr-Bremse won
the order to supply Bombardier Transportation with complete
braking systems for 54 car sets for the new Expresso
Tiradentes monorail line in São Paulo. Moreover, Knorr-
Bremse also secured an order to supply the air supply and
brake control systems for 19 trains built by Alstom Transportation
for the metro in Lima, the capital of Peru.
Commercial Vehicle Systems
2012 brought a slump in the South American commercial
vehicle market which saw truck production (over 6 t) fall
35% to 139,000 units. The downturn had been preceded
by a surge in advance buying in the previous year before
the introduction of the Euro V emissions standard in Brazil.
In this tough market environment, Knorr-Bremse was able
to secure a long-term order from Volvo do Brasil for the
supply of ABS6 brake control units and pressure control
valves for its new truck platform. The start of series production
in Brazil is scheduled for 2014. The order runs until
2018 and prescribes localization of production of the pressure
control valves from 2015 onwards.
Asia/Australia
Rail Vehicle Systems
Developments in the rail vehicle market in Asia/Australia in
2012 varied from one part of the region to the next. In China,
demand for new locomotives and multiple units in the
mainline sector − and the high-speed segment in particular
− continued to fade. However, local growth in the mass
transit sector, driven primarily by the continuous expansion
of the country’s metro systems, as well as in the service and
maintenance sector was able to offset this downturn almost
entirely. The Indian, Japanese and Southeast Asian
markets all drove new growth.
Knorr-Bremse scored a major success in the Japanese market,
winning further orders to supply bogie equipment for
Shinkansen high-speed trains. The orders from operator JR
East covered 23 cars of its E6 platform and 170 cars of its
new E7 platform. On top of this, for the first time ever Knorr-
Bremse secured an order from operator JR West to supply
bogie equipment for 100 cars of its new W7 Shinkansen
platform.
In India Knorr-Bremse won the contract to supply 115 CCB
1.5 locomotive control systems in the year under review. In
addition, the market launch of the new CCB 2 locomotive
control system proved a success, as orders were received to
equip 50 diesel locomotives and 17 electric locomotives. In
the growing metro system market in China, Knorr-Bremse
was able to secure its first ever order for all three subsystems
for metro cars. As a result, the car sets for the Qingdao
Metro are to be equipped with braking, door and HVAC
systems from Knorr-Bremse.
Commercial Vehicle Systems
The Asia/Australia region reported a further drop in truck
production in 2012, with output falling 16%. The sharpest
downturn was in China, where truck production was
down 21% at 879,000 units. The decline was due to the
uncertain global economic situation, which led not only