Schmitz Cargobull AG | IAA Transportation 2024 (International Press Workshop)

Welcome. I'm happy to see all of you again. Let me give a quick background on Schmitz Cargobull. We are a family-run business with about 2.6 billion turnover, 6,000 employees across Europe and the world. We produced 57,000 units, making us the market leader in the semi-trailer business with a 26% market share across Europe. We are pioneers in telematics with over 100,000 active systems and approaching 30,000 units in transport refrigeration. Today I want to talk about the challenges our customers face: extreme volatility in the market, cost increases driven by regulation and legislation, digital transformation as a countermeasure, and uncertainty about technical shifts. Looking at cost increases, the producer price index shows a 55% increase from December 2020 to January 2022. Costs have come down but stabilized at a 40% increase. We do not see further reductions; secondary effects like labor costs are increasing. We need to pass these costs on, but we are working to reduce total cost of ownership by improving insulation (K value) by about 50%, improving refrigeration units, and increasing trailer longevity. Our trailers last longer than competitors', reducing environmental impact. Our message is that CO2 reductions must be economically viable. Regarding market volatility, our telematics data shows that European customers outside Germany drive longer distances, but utilization has dropped in recent years. It seems to be beginning to crawl up, possibly a turning point, but I don't know. Regulation is a major driver of cost increases. The amount of regulation on a family business like ours is overwhelming. Government seems to pass unpleasant tasks to industry, leading to inefficient outcomes and higher costs. I predict Europe will spend much more per ton of CO2 reduction than other regions. For example, the trailer CO2 regulation in 2024 assumes trailers emit CO2, which is nonsense. We can help the truck, but the incentives are not set right. Trailers are used in many different ways, and a one-size-fits-all regulation will increase costs. Our customers know better how they use their trailers. Unfortunately, we are moving away from a social market economy to a plan economy, which will lead to higher costs and less efficiency. We are actively lobbying with the VDA to reduce burdens, but we will have to comply. We need more attractive conditions to keep industry in Europe and Germany. We are offering solutions like the EOD that reduce CO2 and costs. Digitalization is a huge aspect. We use data to analyze the market and offer solutions for different users. We also make data available for small and medium-sized companies. I won't go into drivetrains. Our strategy: flexible collection networks to deal with volatility, lower logistics costs, close to customers, sensible regulation, innovation to boost competitiveness, and sustainable transport solutions for sustainable business success. These are not contradictions. Our production network: Germany is still the home base, but we produce successfully in Spain, Turkey, Lithuania, and are expanding internationally to Australia and South Africa. We have taken a participation in Belgium to complement our offering. In digital transformation, security is critical. We cannot allow unauthorized access to the brake system. We are committed to making data available to customers and working on remote diagnostics and predictive analytics. We are optimizing cooling based on route prediction. Different segments need different solutions. We believe a general cargo trailer should be robust and last long, reducing CO2. Lighter trailers for freight, refrigeration for food distribution with electrification for cities, construction, agriculture. We offer practical solutions and services, including financing. Economic profitability and sustainability go hand in hand, but we need less regulation to come up with efficient solutions. We strive for 3 million turnover in 2025.