We aim to expand and strengthen our position continuously as one of the world’s leading providers of industrial cranes, crane components, harbour cranes and terminal automation technology. “The challenge for us therefore lies in getting even closer to customers and meeting their needs through efficient system solutions, with the aim of creating clear added value for them,” explains Thomas H. Hagen, Management Board member with responsibility for Industrial Cranes and Port Technology. For this kind of tailored solution, we can, for example, fit out entire plants with Demag crane technology, as we have done for our customer Siemens in Görlitz. For the manufacturer of industrial steam turbines, we have developed and installed an integrated intralogistics solution, with cranes specifically designed for heavy lifting, workspace logistics and assembly optimisation. Our activities focus on individuality and the customer through applications that are integrated into the production process, especially in the Process Cranes product line. Highly experienced project managers who specialise in key industries ensure the high quality and efficiency of the equipment. This in-depth industry expertise is also a major reason why the aircraft manufacturer Airbus has fitted its plants in Germany, the UK, China and elsewhere with our cranes. We use regular surveys to broaden our dialogue with customers and place their needs and interests at the heart of our activities. “Our aim in this regard is ambitious,” emphasises Thomas H. Hagen. “We don’t just want to satisfy our customers, we want to inspire them. To do so, we have to know precisely what their needs and future challenges are.” But we have also intensified our focus on customers and their requirements through a wide range of internal measures as part of the optimisation of production processes. For instance, in financial year 2008/2009, we completed the reorganisation of our mechanical production. In addition to investments in a high-performance machine park, this EUR 4.7 million project saw production structures reorganised and material flows and the corresponding intralogistics remodelled. As with the modular breakdown of mechanical assemblies, standard and special processes were also separated by reorganising rope hoist assembly. The breakdown into modular assemblies made it possible to optimise the utilisation of production capacities and substantially cut the processing time of individual machine parts and standard hoists. Manufacturing costs and inventories were also reduced.

Established as Global Technology and Innovation Leaders in Crane and Port Technology

Demag Cranes has already registered more than 1,000 patents for its two brands, Demag and Gottwald. And the number of pioneering technological improvements and new developments is constantly increasing. In this way, we set our products and solutions ever further apart from the competition – and set the benchmark with outstandingly high productivity, low operating costs, superior quality and reliability. In addition, these developments meet exceptionally high environmental and security standards. As a supplier of integrated systems, we deliver complete automated solutions to the customer, benefiting container terminal and port operators, among others. As the world market leader for mobile harbour cranes and pacesetter in the automation of terminal logistics, our Group develops and implements fully automated, integrated system solutions for this target group, from the quayside to the stackyard, including the related software. This opens up attractive revenue and earning potential for Demag Cranes, since experts claim that container traffic continues to grow worldwide despite recent setbacks as a result of the economic and financial crisis. The Industrial Cranes segment also provides one-stop system solutions for the automated storage of paper, bulk materials, steel and other products. Our innovative strength is borne out among other things by the newly developed platform strategy. This enables us to construct Mobile Harbour Cranes and Floating Cranes on the basis of identical components. In order to motivate our employees to submit even more suggestions for improving products and production processes, the Group launched an ideas initiative as part of its ideas management system – with great success. In less than a year, more than 500 employee suggestions were singled out for award. The Management Board will therefore now extend ideas management to harness the innovative power of our workforce and maximise the resulting added value.