Rosenbauer International : Group intends to double revenues through electric mobility and new digital business models to € 2 billion by 2030

• Position as global industry leader to be enhanced through innovation, but this must meet the requirements of mass customization
• Electric mobility is to be used - together with targeted measures to increase operational excellence - to improve profitability
• Topic ownership for system solutions tailored to specific scenarios, semi-autonomous systems and digital upgrading of conventional firefighting technology

The Rosenbauer Group, the world's leading system provider for preventive firefighting and disaster protection technology, intends to continue growing much faster than the market[1] in the years to come and to double its revenues from just under € 1 billion to € 2 billion by 2030[2]. In line with the long-term Group strategy, the Group's profitability is expected to improve significantly. The targets are a permanent EBIT margin of around 7% (2021: 3.6%) and a return on capital employed of 14% (2021: 5.7%). The management wants to increase the business volume by EV sales, a rigorous development of the non-vehicle business, new digital business models and the development of additional markets. Electric mobility is to be used - together with targeted measures to increase operational excellence - to enhance the Group's profitability. The Growth is primarily to be achieved organically; acquisitions are only envisaged if they provide access to new technologies or markets.

Adjustment of strategic positioning, stronger focus on operational excellence

Climate change, digitalization, and social change will fundamentally alter the working conditions of fire departments around the world and thus the business of providers of firefighting equipment in the years to come. These megatrends present major challenges, which Rosenbauer also sees as opportunities.

On the way to becoming world market leader, the Group has previously relied primarily on its innovation and technology leadership and strong customer intimacy. In the future, this will be supplemented by a stronger focus on operational excellence. This means that, while the position as industry leader is still to be secured and enhanced through outstanding innovation, there will be a more intensive search in the cooperative partnership with customers for scalable solutions that also meet the requirements of mass customization. Product innovation is not an end itself but instead must contribute to operational excellence.

The aim by 2030 is a growing proportion of pre-configured products and standardized parts that can be quickly manufactured at attractive prices. The advantage of this is that tried-and-tested solutions can be made more easily accessible, e.g., by way of manufacturing licenses or component deliveries, and new technologies can be disseminated more rapidly.

Vehicle business: Alternative drive technologies and expansion in North America

Although its share compared with other product segments will shrink slightly, there is no doubt that the vehicle business will still be the Rosenbauer Group's most important generator of revenues in 2030. According to internal projections, the segment's volume will double from € 709 million to € 1.4 billion by the end of this decade, which equates to annual production of around 3,000 firefighting vehicles (2021: 2,000). Half of all delivered Rosenbauer vehicles, or around 1,500, will have an alternative drive system. At the same time, it can be assumed that the vehicles will tend to be of higher quality thanks to new digital functions, which will enable networking, and more assistance systems.

Rosenbauer is pursuing a dual strategy in electric mobility. On the one hand, the Group is developing its own battery-powered, electric drive concepts such as "Revolutionary Technology" or "PANTHER electric." On the other hand, it is adapting established body concepts for electrified series chassis such as the "AT electric" or the "LX32-A XS electric" aerial ladder. With these vehicle models, which are currently on display at INTERSCHUTZ, the Group has achieved a significant sustainability target early, namely to offer an alternative-drive vehicle in every series by 2023. Regardless of whether fire departments approach electric mobility in big strides or small steps, Rosenbauer's expertise makes it a strong partner for emergency services in this transformation process.

Rosenbauer also sees a lot of growth potential in the NOMA[3] and APAC[4] areas. The USA in particular developed very dynamically in 2021 - despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic - with a procurement volume of approximately 6,000 vehicles. Here, the Rosenbauer Group intends to consolidate its position as the second-largest regional produce of firefighting vehicles and to eliminate "white spots" on its sales map by approaching the major cities on the West and East Coasts with their vehicle fleets.

Growing importance of non-vehicle business

The expansion of the Rosenbauer vehicle fleet in service operations will have a positive effect on the Components and Customer Service product segments and will in some cases help them out. In contrast to many competitors, Rosenbauer as a full-liner is able to equip its vehicles with its own fire extinguishing equipment. This should enable associative effects and - together with SKD / CKD deliveries and additional partner business - revenue growth from € 26 million to € 60 million in components.

At the same time, Customer Service will grow its global network in order to bring the often demanded value added into the regions, not least through additional locations. Electric mobility and advancing digitalization are expected to provide new market opportunities thanks to the servicing of vehicles with high-voltage technology, maintenance of own chassis or database-supported and remote services. For a sustainable economy, greater importance will also be attached to the refurbishment of long-serving firefighting vehicles. In this way, the Customer Service business volume is expected to rise from € 78 million at present to € 180 million in 2030.

Equipment has long since been part of Rosenbauer's core business. The Group's annual output of about 100,000 units makes it one of the three largest helmet producers in the world. In particular, the shorter life cycles in personal protective equipment make these products ideal for establishing and maintaining close customer relations. Work is underway preparing supplementary electronic and digital products and services for technical equipment.

Based on annual revenues of € 89 million, the target volume in Equipment is set at € 180 million. The main focus here is on loose equipment and higher penetration of core markets in Europe and the Arab world. The aim is to increase core products' market share to at least 65% in the top five countries. In addition, it plans to tap major new markets in North America and in the Middle East. Optimized processes behind the scenes should support direct access to customers and online business.

"The next big things": Holistic fire protection by way of topic ownership, digitalization

Preventive Fire Protection will experience the strongest growth compared to the product segments in the period up to 2030. Annual growth is expected to come to just under 15%, with revenues climbing from € 30 million to € 100 million. To achieve this, the management wants to increase market penetration in the core markets of Germany and Austria and add an additional country to Fire Protection Systems as a full-liner. Wherever there are sales opportunities for ambitious key products such as early detection systems, the company also intends to enter secondary markets together with partners. It is precisely this position as a full-liner that allows for efficient and stable production processes, maintaining the structure with optimized production facilities and local sales offices.

Fundamentally, the boundaries between stationary and mobile fire protection are expected to blur in the future, as are the boundaries between infrastructure operators and emergency services. Accordingly, Rosenbauer will integrate preventive components into holistic systems and provide complete solutions tailored to specific scenarios in the future. For this purpose, specialist advisory expertise will be bundled and transformed into comprehensive topic ownership. Wildfires and e-mobility are the first examples of strategic areas of this nature where the company will develop holistic expertise and make this available to emergency services.

Digitalization is a key factor in developing new fire protection products and growing the non-vehicle business. Routine firefighting processes are increasingly being automated or controlled digitally, with sensors and assistance systems integrated into analog technology. Both operational and fleet management systems play an increasingly important role in day-to-day firefighting. Rosenbauer is very active in this extremely dynamic field and will be showcasing new drone and robot applications at Interschutz. It will also provide an insight into ongoing research and development work on early warning systems, assistance systems and product upgrades with (semi) autonomous capabilities. RDS Connected Fleet vehicle management is being expanded to incorporate new digital products and services from partners and provide these to fire services as part of an overall system. It is hoped that digital products and services will account for about € 50 million of consolidated revenues by 2030.

Operational excellence and sustainability

Standardization, a clear flow of orders, modern production infrastructure and a permanent improvement process are the central elements of operational excellence. Together, they guarantee smooth production. By 2030, Rosenbauer intends for pre-configured and standardized products to account for 40% of production. A detailed description of standards and an intelligent product configurator will form the basis of the relevant sales activities. The various products will also undergo continuous value analysis, reducing process complexity and loss-making orders. Production of specialty vehicles could be kept separate from the production of standard vehicles in organizational terms and outsourced to its own modification centers. Output is to be increased primarily by efficiency improvements, shift models, involvement of other Group locations, increasing capacity at existing plants, production outside existing infrastructure and outsourcing. Given the still challenging production conditions as a result of supply chain disruption, the Rosenbauer Group launched a transparency and efficiency initiative to mitigate risks for its 2022 business objectives and ensure that the strategy for 2030 can go ahead successfully.

Rosenbauer's production is particularly environmentally friendly and is careful to conserve resources. Energy and water consumption, as well as CO₂ emissions and the volume of waste, are far lower than the capital goods average. Occupational safety, satisfaction at work, diversity and the empowerment of women are key aspects of social sustainability to which Rosenbauer, as a responsible employer, is extremely committed as part of a continuous improvement process.

Sustainability is also enshrined in Rosenbauer's core business. In connection with the initial application of the EU Taxonomy Regulation for the 2021 financial year, Rosenbauer reported taxonomy-eligible revenues potential of € 511 million. This represents 52.4% of consolidated revenues. The main focus here is on vehicle production for the European market, which comes under vehicle categories N2 and N3. Here, the requirements for sustainable economic transformation set out in the EU Taxonomy Regulation match Rosenbauer's 2030 e-mobility strategy.

A new Group-wide CSR strategy is currently being drawn up that covers all aspects of sustainability, including a climate strategy in line with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which is intended to establish a route to carbon neutrality for the Rosenbauer Group that is compatible with 1.5-degree targets.