Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to welcome you very warmly. My name is Dr. Michael Macht, and as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Chair of this meeting, I hereby open the ordinary annual general meeting of KION Group AG. Due to the persistent COVID-19 pandemic, this AGM is once again held virtually, and we kindly ask for your understanding. We closely observe the current activities of the government to permanently establish virtual AGMs in a modified form. Once the legal situation has been clarified, we will decide in due time which format next year's AGM will have. It is, however, our clear intention to embark once again in direct dialogue with you. Shareholders and shareholders' representatives, we transmit the AGM fully via our online service. The transmission is open to the general public until we start answering the questions of our shareholders and shareholder representatives.
Shareholders and proxy holders who want to follow the entire AGM are kindly asked to log into the online service. I would also like to welcome the other members of the Supervisory Board who attend this virtual AGM via video and audio transmission. Mr. Ring has been nominated Deputy Chairperson of this meeting. I would also like to welcome the members of the Executive Board. The Chairman of the Executive Board, Dr. Rob Smith, is sitting right next to me. The other members of the Executive Board, Hasan Dandashly, Andreas Krinninger, Dr. Henry Puhl, and Ching Pong Quek, attend via video and audio transmission in our AGM. The new CEO, Dr. Smith, will introduce himself to you personally in a short while. I'd also like to welcome the Notary Public, Ronald Genz, who will take the notarized minutes of today's assembly.
I state and declare that today's annual general meeting was duly convened by publication in the Federal Gazette on March 30th, 2022. A copy of the publication is in the hands of our notary. Convocation and agenda were made available to shareholders, intermediaries, and shareholders associations pursuant to Section 125, Stock Corporation Act. All documents to be made available have been available via the website of the company ever since the publication of the convocation, and the documents are also available there during the AGM. The company has not received additional motions, counter motions, or nominations for elections. Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you an overview of the proceedings of the annual general meeting.
First of all, I will present the report of the Supervisory Board. Afterwards, Dr. Smith will explain the documents listed under agenda item one, in particular, the financial statement and the group financial statement for the 2021 financial years. Afterwards, we will answer the questions filed by shareholders and shareholders' representatives prior to our virtual AGM. Finally, we come to the resolutions on individual agenda items. You, dear shareholders and shareholder representatives, can cast your vote until we start counting the votes. Via our online service on the internet, you can cast absentee votes or change your votes, grant proxies to third parties or to voting representatives of our company. You also have the opportunity to change postal votes that have been submitted in due time, and the same applies to proxies to third parties granted per mail, fax or email, as well as for instructions and proxies granted to the voting representatives of the company.
All relevant information on the procedure of the AGM, including the voting procedure and the filing of objections against resolutions, can be found on the convocation on our website and also via the online service on the Internet. During the course of the AGM, I will also give you further information. Finally, I would like to point out that recordings of the transmission of our AGM are not permitted. Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the agenda. The agenda was published in the Federal Gazette on March 30, 2022, together with the resolutions proposed by the management. Let me call agenda item one: presentation of the annual financial statement, the consolidated financial statement, and combined management report.
Let me state as follows: the financial statement, the consolidated financial statement, and the combined management report for KION Group AG and the group were examined by the auditor and have received an unqualified auditor's opinion. The Supervisory Board has followed the auditor's opinion and approved the annual financial statement and the group financial statement. The annual financial statement is thus adopted. The consolidated financial statement and the combined management report for KION Group AG and the group are included in the annual report 2021. The annual report and the financial statement of KION Group AG have been available since the convocation of the AGM via our website. These documents are also available there during the AGM.
Sehr geehrte Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre.
Dear shareholders, under item one of the agenda, we have, as in every year, also this time, the report of the Supervisory Board for the past financial year. For that, I would first of all like to refer you to the details given in the annual report 2021 on pages 16 through 25. In the following, I shall address some of the key points of that report. Before entering into that routine part of my report, in view of the current situation, let me state the following. As so many of you, also my colleagues in the Supervisory Board and myself observe the terrible situation in Ukraine with great concern. Our thoughts go out to all people and families affected and who are currently confronted with immense suffering and threatened with death.
This cannot leave us unaffected, and I would therefore like to express our solidarity with all those suffering in this war and would like to ask for a minute of silence. The supervisory board explicitly supported the humanitarian aid measures, which the CEO will report about shortly. They are supposed to provide relief where the suffering is greatest. With great respect, we acknowledge that many of the employees of our companies have committed to helping overcome the effects of the war on the civilian population in their private and personal lives. We hope that all those concerned will soon see better times again. We wish for peace for all people in Ukraine and for ourselves from the bottom of our hearts. Let me now turn to our company. In a truly impressive financial year 2021, our company managed to generate a truly excellent group result.
For the first time in the history of KION Group, revenues exceeded EUR 10 billion. Also all of the other parameters and figures show that KION Group in 2021 fulfilled or even overfulfilled the forecast. On this great success, we would like to say congratulations to the executive board and all employees. Without their commitment, such result would not have been possible, and all of you have done a splendid job. That deserves our respect. Therefore, it is very important to the entire supervisory board and myself personally to express our gratitude to all employees of KION Group and the executive board. I am certain that when saying that, I also speak on behalf of all of our shareholders. In this context, let me remind you that this record result was generated in a financial year which was tremendously challenging.
In almost all of the markets in which we are a reliable partner to our customers, we were confronted with difficult economic conditions in the last year. The general economic environment was still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, there were considerable difficulties in material sourcing and logistics. Those were reflected both in bottlenecks in material availability and also in substantially increased and continuously increasing prices for raw materials, pre-product and logistics services. KION Group can be all the more proud, as well as their entire workforce and the executive board, on what's been achieved. In the past financial year, KION Group once again proved its resilience under difficult economic framework conditions. Our company has proven to be a reliable company geared towards growth. The supervisory board provided support and advice to the executive board in its prudent but also decisive approach in that exemplary time.
Over the financial year 2021, it became apparent that the demand for products and services of KION Group was to increase on a rather robust level. Apart from the necessary structural changes in order to meet this enormous demand, the company was also able to rely on the investment and innovation programs that were already initiated in the previous year and which are also geared towards growth. Of particular relevance in all of this was the opening of a new production site for the production of a new generation of counterbalance trucks at the Chinese Jinan location in December 2021. At the same time, we also broke ground for setting up a new production facility at the same location for future activities of Dematic in the Chinese market.
After four months of ramping up activities, I can report that it was off to a good start and the forecast and outlook for the year is promising. It should also be mentioned at this point that the new plant of the ITS segments at the Polish location of Kołbaskowo was also finished on time and started operating according to plan. The supervisory board was involved in all of the decisive steps when implementing those measures and again, provided the executive board with advice. That these measures taken were the right measures remains undoubted, also in light of the burdens imposed in the current crisis. Even more, the executive board and supervisory board reviewed the level of implementation for the past financial year of the KION 2027 strategy, which is oriented towards the year 2027.
This strategy dates back to 2017, and it was essentially confirmed but also further developed in important aspects of entrepreneurial activity. This further development took into account the ongoing and developing mega trends, which will be determining for the future and successful development of our company. Key aspects were sustainability aspects. Including the energy transition. The orientation of the company towards the business model of sustainable management is a strategic imperative in all this. Positive contributions such as climate protection and prudent use of resources, while at the same time implementing the goal of profitable growth and creating value for all stakeholders, that is KION's objective. The consistent implementation of our KION 2027 corporate strategy means that our company is and remains well-positioned and well on track.
Let me now turn to another focus point of the work of the supervisory board, which is the further development of the executive board of our company. As part of the organizational further development that was initiated already in 2020, the executive board of KION Group AG was strengthened by two additional members with effect of the beginning of the financial year, 2021. Andreas Krinninger, President of the ITS EMEA segment, and Hasan Dandachly, President of the SCS segment. This means that all operative units are now directly represented in the executive board. This direct exchange between the supervisory board and those executive board members responsible for the operational business strengthens the general element of control of management through the supervisory board.
Moreover, the Chief Technical Officer, Dr. Eike Böhm decided in full agreement with the supervisory board to take early retirement as of 30th June 2021. Dr. Böhm played a leading role in building up the CTO organization of KION Group. For this, the supervisory board would like to express its gratitude to Dr. Böhm and wish him all the best. Dr. Böhm's successor, with effect as of 1 July 2021, was Dr. Henry Puhl. Dr. Puhl had already been appointed as an executive board member on 17 December 2020, with effect of 1 July 2021. He's been with the KION Group since 2016 and is well familiar with the business of KION Group. The supervisory board is convinced that Dr. Puhl will continue to successfully manage the CTO organization and will also gear it towards future success.
The executive board members mentioned have already introduced themselves to you as part of our AGM 2021. One highly visible event in the history of KION Group was the retirement of Gordon Riske, our long-term CEO, at the end of the past financial year. Mr. Riske has left a distinct mark on the company. After taking office, he put the company on a sound footing, both in operative and financial terms, thus providing the basis for the IPO in 2013. A key element was also the commitment of Weichai Power as an anchor investor with whom a very successful operative cooperation has been built up since. Another strategic highlight of Gordon Riske's term of office was the acquisition of Dematic in 2016.
This expansion of business activities provided the basis for our company participating in the booming market for automation solutions and intralogistics, which it has since influenced substantially. The entrepreneurial farsightedness of Mr. Riske and the Executive Board under his management have always been positively accompanied by the Supervisory Board. Our company owes a great deal to Mr. Riske, and therefore, on behalf of the company, its employees, and the entire Supervisory Board, I would like to once again express all of our gratitude to Mr. Riske. The Supervisory Board, and in particular, the Executive Committee, at an early point in time already started looking at successors for the office of CEO. A structured process was followed, selecting from a diverse group of candidates, Dr. Rob Smith as the most suitable candidate. The Supervisory Board is very pleased that we were able to attract Dr.
Smith to take over the office of CEO of the company. He took office as CEO on January 1, 2022. From the point of view of the Supervisory Board, the cooperation with him so far to the benefit of the company, has been highly constructive and successful. Dr. Rob Smith will introduce himself to you as part of today's AGM. Finally, shortly after the start of the financial year 2021, the term of office of Ms. Groth as CFO was up for prolongation. By mutual agreement and on the best of terms for the Supervisory Board, Ms. Groth decided for an early termination of her term of office as per March 31, 2021, in order to accept new challenges outside of the company. The Supervisory Board would also like to thank Ms.
Ms. Groth for all of her commitment and hard work for KION Group, in particular, with a view to the modernization of the finance segment. For her new challenges, the supervisory board would like to wish Ms. Groth all the best. Since first April 2021, the CEO, Dr. Smith, took over the responsibilities of the CFO on an interim basis. At the moment, the supervisory board is looking very closely for successors as CFO. However, there's not yet any status that I could report about today. The cooperation between supervisory board and executive board has always been open, constructive, and characterized by an open dialogue. This way of working has also continued throughout 2021 and also with all new members joining the supervisory board in 2021 and in the current year.
The involvement of the Supervisory Board into key decisions of the company always took place early on and comprehensively. All of the Supervisory Board's duties in connection with the corporate governance decisions or declarations to be made by the company were all discussed diligently in the full body and in the committees, and after that, decided on unanimously. That includes particularly declaration of compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code and the review of the sustainability report. The written report of the Supervisory Board also contains information on the meetings of the full board and committees of the Supervisory Board. Let me stress in summary that all members of the Supervisory Board and the Supervisory Board's committees have fulfilled their tasks with great personal and great time commitment, both during Supervisory Board meetings as well as outside of those meetings.
The executive board and supervisory board report on KION Group AG's corporate governance in great detail in the declaration on corporate governance, which you will find on pages 31-54 of the annual report, and is also available on KION Group AG's website. This statement also includes details on the self-assessment of the supervisory board, which takes place at regular intervals, and thus also in the financial year 2021 with the help of external consultants. As already in 2015 and 2018, the supervisory board work in the company was assessed very positively. Dear shareholders, finally, I would like to address two items on today's agenda which are of particular relevance to the supervisory board. Since later on, there are no plans to provide further details on those agenda items, I would like to use this opportunity to do so.
On today's agenda, there is the submission of the remuneration report for the 2021 financial year to be submitted to the AGM for approval. The remuneration report was put together in keeping with Section 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act. For the first time, and in keeping with Section 122a of the German Stock Corporation Act, it is for the first time submitted to the AGM for approval. The Supervisory Board, and especially the Remuneration Committee, newly established in May 2021, have dealt in great detail with the remuneration system for the Executive Board, also in the past financial year. This took place in particular regard in view of the vote of the general assembly of 2021 on the Board's remuneration system and the criticism voiced by some of the investors.
We discussed this criticism in detail, and it affected mainly three points in particular: the range of ±30% for determining the personal performance factors in Executive Board members' variable compensation, the possibility of granting a special remuneration under particular circumstances, as well as the three-year performance period for the long-term variable remuneration. The Supervisory Board comprehensively discussed and appreciated all of those points of criticism. After weighing all of the pros and cons, the Supervisory Board reached the opinion and view to not change the remuneration system. The specifications of the remuneration system in the Supervisory Board's view, provided they are applied responsibly, follow the principle of pay for performance.
The Supervisory Board is fully aware of its responsibility to make use of the discretion allowed under the remuneration system only with the application of measurable criteria and in strict compliance with all legal requirements, and takes this task very seriously. The Supervisory Board's considerations regarding the Executive Board remuneration system can also be found in detail on pages 5 to 7 of the remuneration report. The remuneration report fully and comprehensively fulfills legal requirements. It provides a detailed and transparent list of all remuneration paid to and owed to all members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board in the 2021 financial year. Executive Board and Remuneration Committee have met various times in order to look at the new regulatory requirements for the remuneration report. The report was unanimously approved in March 2022 by the Executive and Supervisory Board.
With that, let me turn to the second main point of governance topics that the supervisory board had to deal with, which is the new election of shareholder representatives by today's annual general meeting. With the end of today's AGM, the terms of offices of the supervisory board members, Birgit A. Behrendt, Dr. Alexander Dibelius, Tan Xuguang, and myself are going to end. That is why those four mandates have to be newly filled. This means that the staggered board concept introduced by the 2020 AGM, which is the concept of staggered terms of offices of the shareholder representatives in the supervisory board. The objective of that is that not all shareholder representatives are up for re-election at the same point in time by the AGM in order to thus keep up continuity of experience and expertise in the supervisory board.
When preparing the proposals for election, the nomination committee made use of the competence model of the supervisory board dating back to 2007, which was reviewed and further developed. It is of particular importance to supervisory board members to have competencies in areas which are of particular relevance for the company, such as the so-called ESG topics, which fall under the term of sustainability, and also topics such as alternative sources of energy and the Chinese economic region. These are now anchored in the new competence profile of the supervisory board, which was approved by the full supervisory board. The nomination committee, in its meeting of December 2021, prepared and deliberated on today's proposals for election. All shareholder representatives whose term of office ends today have expressed their readiness to be candidates again.
When preparing the election proposal, we also took into account the reservations voiced by some investors against individual shareholder representatives. After weighing the pros and cons, the supervisory board in each individual case was of the opinion that the respective election proposals are in the interest of the company and its shareholders. We have, of course, taken note of the fact that for some shareholders, there are internal regulations setting forth particular requirements for such appointments. In some cases, such requirements contradict each other. In other cases, there is a focus on other aspects. We realize that in such matters, it is difficult, bordering on impossible, to cater to everyone's taste. We therefore decided to take guidance in the regulations of the German Corporate Governance Code, and all election proposals are in keeping with the recommendations of the code.
The composition of the supervisory board, consisting of individuals with manifold experience and qualifications, are a guarantee for successful work in the supervisory board. This is also impressively confirmed by the result of the self-assessment. In keeping with this, Birgit A. Behrendt, Dr. Alexander Dibelius, Tan Xuguang, and myself are being proposed as candidates for re-election as shareholder representatives for a new term of office until 2027. Dear shareholders, let me now turn towards the end of my report on the past financial year. I mentioned at the beginning that the current financial year will put all stakeholders in our company to the test once again.
Economic stresses as a result of the war in Ukraine, raw material and logistics costs that continue to increase, as well as record-level inflation constitute new challenges that will stay on for longer and also to a stronger extent than expected some months ago. In view of these uncertainties, the company decided to take back its forecast for the 2021 financial year on April 4, 2022. At the same time, the year 2022 will continue to demand a lot from the company and its stakeholders. Still, the company is well-equipped as a full-range vendor for intralogistics and has a strong and worldwide anchoring and a solid financial basis in order to thus master also these challenges. With that, the company is well-equipped to consistently implement the successful strategy KION 2027. With that, let me summarize.
In the past year, the executive board led the company very successfully through the pandemic and the challenges resulting from it. With that, we've managed to generate a record result in the past financial year. In addition to this, the executive board has positioned the company well for facing the ongoing tense economic environment. My supervisory board colleagues and, in case of my reelection, myself, will continue to support and advise the executive board on this way. Also for the year 2022, we are looking forward to continuing to make our contribution to the success of KION Group AG. Thank you very much for your attention. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to give the floor to Dr. Rob Smith, our new CEO.
He will briefly introduce himself and then explain and take you through the documents and report on the situation of the company and also give an outlook for the current financial year.
Thank you very much, Michael. Dear shareholders and partners, dear supporters of the KION Group, welcome to this year's annual general meeting, also on behalf of our more than 40,000 employees. Since last year, the world has become a very different place. There has been a terrible war in Europe for 77 days now. We are deeply shocked by the war and by the suffering in Ukraine. I would like to echo the words of our Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Michael Macht. Our thoughts are with all those who have suffered so much loss and grief. We wish them strength and fortitude, even though we appreciate that our words can offer little comfort. We can help, and this is what we have been doing. Soon after the beginning of the war, we donated EUR 1 million to the German Red Cross for people in need in Ukraine.
We have also made free forklift trucks available to the German Red Cross for its logistics centers in Eastern Europe to provide humanitarian aid on the ground. We have also sent forklift trucks to Berlin Tegel Airport. This is where the support efforts of the German Red Cross are being coordinated. What's more, many of our colleagues, of our employees, have been committed to helping in person. Naturally, we comply with all sanctions against Russia and Belarus. Furthermore, KION Group has decided to restructure and reduce its business in Russia. We are currently considering the options for selling our business in Russia. Most of all, we do hope that we will once again be living in peaceful times soon. Ladies and gentlemen, as a global player, we promote dialogue between cultures and nations. I myself have lived in and feel at home in many countries.
Let me introduce myself to you briefly. I hold joint German and U.S. nationality. I live with my wife here in Frankfurt. I've got family in the United States of America. I have lived and worked in the USA, in Germany, in France, in Switzerland, and in Finland, always in global companies. That is why I am particularly pleased to be leading the KION Group now, a strong group that is active around the world. I am inspired by the people here at KION, by their energy, their motivation, and their talent. We've got great customers, and I love our business. I'm proud of our products, services, and our intralogistics and supply chain solutions. KION is in a very good position, and the company has huge potential for the future. This is also shown by last year's results. 2021 was dominated by the ongoing pandemic and its effects.
Once again, we had major challenges to overcome, significantly higher procurement costs and disruptions in the supply chain. Despite this, we met the forecasts and achieved our guidance for all of our KPIs in 2021. That's a great result. In 2021, we recorded the highest order intake in our history to date, around EUR 12.5 billion. That is a year-on-year increase of more than 30%. At around EUR 10.3 billion, revenue was also significantly higher than in 2020. It was the first time that we exceeded the 10 billion mark, an increase of 23.4%. Adjusted EBIT rose by 53.9% compared to 2020. Last year, we achieved an excellent EUR 842 million. The adjusted EBIT margin improved by 1.6 percentage points to 8.2%. We have achieved a more than fourfold increase in our free cash flow, which reached EUR 544 million.
The strong performance in 2021 is also reflected in the undiluted earnings per share of EUR 4.34, a big increase compared to the EUR 1.81 in the previous year. We want you, our shareholders, to participate in this success. We therefore propose to the 2022 annual general meeting a dividend of EUR 1.50 per share. How did business in our two segments go last year? The Supply Chain Solutions segment with the Dematic brand increased its order intake by 19% to around EUR 4.3 billion. Revenue in Supply Chain Solutions also rose significantly to EUR 3.8 billion, exceeding the figure in 2020 by approximately 45%. Adjusted EBIT came to around EUR 410 million, substantially higher than the EUR 278 million in 2020. The adjusted EBIT margin stood at 10.8%, slightly higher than in 2020.
In 2021, the Industrial Trucks and Services segment also made more than up for the setbacks of 2020, which had been caused by the pandemic. Order intake rose by 14.9% to EUR 8.2 billion. The segment also increased revenue by an impressive 13.8% and reached EUR 6.5 billion. The segment's adjusted EBIT rose to EUR 536 million, while the adjusted EBIT margin reached 8.2%, an improvement of 2.8 percentage points on 2020. Let's now take a look at the first quarter of 2022. In the first three months of the current fiscal year, much higher procurement costs and disruptions in the supply chain adversely affected the group's profitability. An already tense situation has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, and there have been new COVID-19 lockdowns. As a result, adjusted EBIT fell to EUR 170 million. Accordingly, the adjusted EBIT margin dropped to 6.2%.
Free cash flow was down significantly on the prior year at EUR -432 million, driven by the increase in unfinished products. Net income for the period stood at EUR 80 million, which was also below the level for the prior year period. This figure included an expense of EUR 29 million after taxes for non-recurring items relating to business in Russia. The KION Group's order intake grew by 10.4% to EUR 2.9 billion in the quarter under review. Consolidated revenue even increased by 15% year-over-year to EUR 2.7 billion. Due to the political and economic uncertainties, on the fourth of April, KION Group AG decided to withdraw the outlook for 2022 that had been published.
From the current perspective, it is not possible to reliably assess how the war in Ukraine or the COVID-19 pandemic will unfold or what their economic impact will be. There's still considerable uncertainty in any assessment of our business performance for fiscal year 2022. We intend to produce a new outlook in the course of the year when it will be easier to assess the situation. Despite the many challenges, I am confident that our group is well-equipped for the future. What is the cause of my optimism? We are the leading full service provider in intralogistics and supply chain solutions in terms of revenue, and we are active in all important markets around the world. Our two strong segments and the group's solid financial footing mean that we are very well-equipped to successfully overcome the new challenges that face us.
The fundamental growth drivers of our industry remain strong: sustained growth in the e-commerce, urbanization, a growing shortage of warehouse workers, and higher expectations by all customers when it comes to speed of delivery. Ladies and gentlemen, digitalization and automation remain the game changers, and that is the case in intralogistics too. KION is excellently positioned to take advantage of this as one of the leading providers of fully automated warehouse systems, of automated guided vehicles, of robotics, and of digital software solutions. The trend toward fully automated distribution centers continues. Fast, reliable, and efficient supply chains are absolutely essential for our customers in competition, not just in the online economy, but in all sectors of industry. The warehouse of the future combines sustainability, safety, and performance. Machines operate and react in real-time, thanks to innovative software and networks with full transparency and simple operation.
The ultimate goal is the lights-out warehouse, fully automated, including network trucks, warehouse technology, and warehouse systems. These fulfillment centers are high tech and operate almost without any human intervention. This video shows you how we want to achieve this.
The warehouse of the future is digital, automated, and sustainable.
Renewable energies dominate, and the efficiency and durability of our vehicles and warehouse systems are even more central.
The warehouse of the future is flexible, adaptive, customizable, CO2 neutral.
It is the first real swarm. This is the first real use of artificial intelligence in the field of intralogistics.
The core of the warehouse of the future is a highly dense, fully automated warehouse system, modularly structured, expandable, connected with swarms of vehicles. The entire system is networked, controlled by an artificial intelligence.
These are developments that we very rarely have, where you look at them and you say, "That's it. That is the future of intralogistics.
The warehouse of the future is an essential part of the logistics chain of the future, and we are already laying the foundation for this today with our KION 2027 strategy.
Real-time networks, high-frequency camera systems, artificial intelligence, new computing technologies, we bring all of this together. The LoadRunner swarm will turn the industry on its head.
LoadRunners are designed exactly for what they are supposed to do: transport packages of 20, 30 kilograms at high speed. 40 kilometers per hour are possible with these LoadRunners, and acceleration like a Formula One vehicle.
Das Warenlager von morgen ist ein Zusammenspiel von intelligenten Maschinen und Geräten, die in Echtzeit miteinander kommunizieren und ein virtuelles Abbild des gesamten Warenlagers darstellen.
Mit dem digitalen Zwilling haben wir eine Echtzeitabbildung des Lagers. Wir haben damit eine Echtzeitinventur des Lagers.
KI-basiertes Energiemanagement stellt sicher, dass möglichst ressourcenschonend gearbeitet wird bei gleichzeitig hohem Durchsatz.
Das übergeordnete System steuert die Fahrzeuge in einer Form, dass der Energieverbrauch des gesamten Lagers von morgen optimiert wird, den LoadRunner, den Mobile Automated Picker, andere automatisierte Fahrzeuge, die Warentransporte vornehmen.
Der Clou an dem Mobile Automated Picker ist natürlich die Flexibilität. Ich kann je nachdem, wie die Auftragseingänge reinkommen, flexibel planen. Ich kann unterschiedliche autonome Transportsysteme einsetzen. Ich kann die Anzahl der mobilen Roboter variieren.
Wir haben künstliche Intelligenz in der Steuerung übergeordnet. Wir haben aber auch künstliche Intelligenz auf den Fahrzeugen.
Künstliche Intelligenz wird uns befähigen, die Systeme stets zu optimieren. Die Systeme werden lernen. Sie werden natürlich auch die Intelligenz, die jeweils erworben wurde, jeweils an die anderen Systeme weitergeben und wir können echt viel erwarten in der Zukunft.
Das, was da auf uns zukommt, das nennen wir Silicon Economy. Das ist jetzt nicht nur ein neues Fahrzeug, es ist eine neue Welt. Wir sprechen manchmal von Ecosystem. Ein neues Ecosystem, was uns umgibt und in dem dann eben künstliche Algorithmen laufen, wie zum Beispiel gerade jetzt, wo das Fahrzeug hier zu mir fährt, gerade passend für den Film. Das ist künstliche Intelligenz.
KION arbeitet mit seiner globalen Technologieorganisation und den vielfältigen Partnern mit Hochdruck daran, das Warenlager von morgen Realität werden zu lassen. Schritt für Schritt lights-out.
KION Group. We keep the world moving. We keep the world moving and we are shaping the future of our industry. In the areas of sensors, software, big data, cloud solutions and many others, KION combines our engineers' skills with the latest IT technology. We are both a software and a hardware company. The growth of e-commerce offers great potential for our business. Other drivers of innovation include the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, and the introduction of 5G will enable more accurate real time analysis and activity. KION is well prepared for these trends. Some people say, "Bring on the future." At KION, we say, "The future is already here and we are actively and sustainably shaping it." Let me give you an example. The new high performance multichannel fulfillment center of the Kering Group. Dematic built it in Trecate, Italy.
Kering is a French fashion and luxury goods company with famous brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Brioni. The distribution center delivers garments, jewelry and much more to 80 countries around the world. The two complexes of the Kering Fulfillment Center in Trecate cover an area the size of around 22 football fields. It's one of the most modern and fastest warehouses that Dematic has ever built. It has set the benchmark in Europe and around the world. Are you curious to see how this works? See for yourselves in this video.
Kering Fulfillment Center, located in Trecate in the north of Italy, is composed of two main buildings, A and B, hosting different activities with variable levels of automation, allowing the group to implement a new logistic operations model. Highly automated Building B will cover all the retail, wholesale, and e-commerce activities, thanks to state-of-the-art automation, allowing the group to exploit the full capacity of the warehouse. This new facility will have a total storage capacity of 12 million pieces, with an outbound flow capacity of 350,000 pieces per day at peak. The warehouse can operate up to 1,500 employees in total in 3 shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during peak season. The warehouse has an additional surface of 105,000 square meters, created thanks to 4 levels of mezzanines.
Building B is composed of three compartments: B1, B2, and B3. This building manages state-of-the-art technologies such as two Multishuttles, a Pouch Sorter, garment on hangers, a shipping sorter, and conveyors. All products entering Building B follow seven main steps: receiving, put away and storage, picking, packing and value-added services, buffering, sorting, and finally palletizing and loading. The inbound flow starts with the goods unloading in the receiving area of the warehouse. These products are received from consolidation centers or directly from suppliers. Products are manually unloaded on pallets on the docks and then received. Products will be stored in different storage areas depending on their categories and specificities. Small products will be stored in the inventory Multishuttle and shelves. Garments on hangers in the GOH area and large products in the racks. Jewelry and dangerous goods will be managed in dedicated areas.
Jewelry storage capacity at end state will be 1.4 million pieces. After being unloaded from the dedicated receiving area, pallets with small products are brought in front of the Multishuttle and the operator places products into totes at decanting stations. Products are automatically put away using conveyors, lifts, and shuttles that dispatch them into the Multishuttle. The inventory Multishuttle is an automated high-density storage and retrieval system used for small products. On the other side, medium products are manually brought to shelves on the mezzanines by means of vertical lifts, whereas large products are stored on pallet racks. All garments on hangers are handled by the GOH system, which relies on semi-automated trolleys. In this way, it is possible to move a large volume of garments at a time with very little manual effort. The outbound flow starts with the picking process, which is performed in different areas.
For small products, totes are automatically retrieved from the inventory Multishuttle and brought to goods to person picking stations, which are located on mezzanines in B1 . An operator picks the items from the tote and injects them directly into pouches in the Pouch Sorter. Inside the Pouch Sorter, a matrix sorter is used to consolidate the pouches belonging to the same order and to sequence them if needed. The picking of medium and large product is done manually using trays that will be put on conveyors to reach the buffer system. The buffer system is another Multishuttle capable of consolidating medium and big items by order and synchronizing them with the pouches at packing stations. For garments on hangers, picking is semi-automated, thanks to trolleys, and is done by order. At the end of the picking process, packing and value-added services activities located on mezzanines can start.
In the VAS area, value-added services such as reticketing can be performed on products before shipment. Later on, pouches and trays of all kinds of products are carried through trolleys or conveyors to packing stations where they're packed manually. All workstations have been designed using virtual reality involving operators in order to provide enhanced ergonomics. At this point, all the packed cartons from the same order must be grouped together. Packed cartons will be sent to the buffer Multishuttle, grouped by order, and retrieved in sequence towards the shipping sorter. The shipping sorter has 26 destination exits and a capacity of 6,600 cartons per hour. It sorts packed cartons by destination. Cartons are manually palletized.
The consolidation activity to palletize the parcels coming from different areas is performed directly on the dock in order to add the parcels coming from different flows, such as GOH, dangerous goods, and jewelry. Finally, pallets and cartons are loaded into trucks for shipping.
KION Group, we keep the world moving. I find it enormously impressive what is already possible today, and the development continues at a rapid pace. All this is possible thanks to our successful KION 2027 strategy. The strategy provides the framework for profitable growth, and it defines targets across the group. It is flexible and can be expanded further. We have continued to systematically drive it forward. So far, we have focused on five strategic fields of action, energy, digital, automation, innovation, and performance. This sustainability is also important to us and our customers, which is why we have added sustainability as a separate central field of action, and we have set ourselves ambitious targets. Because one thing is clear, ladies and gentlemen, we share responsibility for the climate, the environment, and society, and we embrace this responsibility.
We do so with a clear focus on people, planet, and profitable growth. By people, I mean our customers, our suppliers and partners, our investors, and our employees around the world. Our expertise and progress in the area of sustainability is recognized on many levels. In 2021, the KION Group received a B rating from the nonprofit organization CDP and was awarded an A rating by MSCI ESG. These ratings categorize us as a sustainable investment, and we are listed in various ESG funds already. Every day, we aim to do a little bit better when it comes to sustainability. We include our suppliers and business partners in this. We support them in the implementation of their sustainability programs and contribute to their long-term success. We are happy to be judged by our own expectations. For us, sustainability begins in the boardroom at the very top.
20% of variable remuneration is linked to sustainability targets for the executive board itself and for more than 500 managers and executives around the world. We support the achievement of our growth targets through strategic investments. In November of last year, we announced plans to build a new Supply Chain Solutions plant in Jinan. It will be located right next door to our new Industrial Trucks and Services plant, which we officially opened in December. The new plants continue our growth strategy in China and expand our product portfolio in one of the world's most important markets for material handling. In the medium term, we aim to create more than 1,000 new jobs in Jinan. We also opened a new forklift truck plant in Kołbaskowo in Poland in 2021. By the end of 2023, we aim to create up to 400 new jobs there.
We're also investing in Kahl am Main in Germany. Here, we will set up our regional distribution center, an ultra-modern warehouse with automated and digitally networked processes. It's scheduled to be opened in spring 2024. As well as securing the existing 300 jobs at the site, we intend to create new ones. We are shaping the future of intralogistics, thanks to the pioneering spirit and innovative strength of our thousands of engineers and software specialists at KION. Let me give you an example of this too. We are one of the world's leading manufacturers of electric forklift trucks and warehouse trucks. Around 90% of all new industrial trucks manufactured by the KION Group are electrically powered. We're mainly focusing on the further development of lithium-ion technology.
Two and a half years ago, we founded KION Battery Systems in Karlstein am Main in Germany, in a joint venture with BMZ. At the end of April this year, we opened a new production line for warehouse trucks business in Europe. This is high tech made by KION and made in Germany. Every year, we invest around 3% of our revenue in innovation. As our revenue grows, so does the figure in absolute terms every year. Since we acquired Dematic in 2016, we have spent more than EUR 1.3 billion in research and development in our exciting future. What does this future look like? Here are two current examples. We have been successfully developing systems in partnership with the internationally renowned Fraunhofer Institute for many years. For example, the Dematic Multishuttle system.
This system has since become a firm fixture in intralogistics, as you saw in the video. Our next innovation is swarm robots for warehouses. You have seen these speedy little machines in the video. Our shared goal is to develop a completely new generation of autonomous transport vehicles. They are set to revolutionize intralogistics using artificial intelligence. The vehicles are fast, and they speak to each other and work together. KION is bringing a completely new technology to the warehouse, swarm robotics. My second example is energy management. We want to reduce the energy consumption of our customers' logistics operations to help them to improve their environmental footprint. Last year, KION took a stake in the company ifesca GmbH, with the aim of offering our customers this unique solution for their energy management. This platform also relies on artificial intelligence.
Using precise forecasts, our customers can schedule optimal charging periods for their truck fleets and warehouse technology. This reduces their energy costs and the load on the power grid, enabling them to optimize their energy consumption. These are great examples of how our high-tech solutions are helping customers to achieve their sustainability targets. We are paving the way for carbon-neutral intralogistics. Ladies and gentlemen, our ambition is clear, to keep the world moving. We are shaping the future of our industry, and we're helping our customers to achieve their sustainability targets with high-tech solutions from KION. Intralogistics is a highly attractive market of the future. It will continue to grow. We want to be part of this with and for our customers. Dear shareholder, shareholders, KION is intralogistics, and intralogistics is the future. Join us in shaping KION's success also in the future. Many thanks.
Thank you very much, Mr. Smith, for this exciting report. I would now like to point out that the public part of the broadcast will now end. Only shareholders and their representatives who have dialed in via the online service will be able to follow the rest of the meeting. I would like to say goodbye to the other viewers at this point and thank them for having followed the AGM, and thank you for the interest.