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    1. Management

    Knorr-Bremse Value Day: Passion Drives Employees’ Outstanding Technological and Social Achievements

    July 17, 2017
    All Knorr-Bremse employees around the world devote this day to one of the Group’s corporate values. In 2017, the corporate value of passion found expression in the sharing of groundbreaking knowledge and a range of community activities.
    Knorr-Bremse
    Autonomous Yard Maneuvering: At its Local Value Day in Munich, Knorr-Bremse demonstrated a semitrailer rig that can perform autonomous maneuvers in depots off the public roads.
    Autonomous Yard Maneuvering: At its Local Value Day in Munich, Knorr-Bremse demonstrated a semitrailer rig that can perform autonomous maneuvers in depots off the public roads.

    The Knorr-Bremse Value Day is an institution that unites the Company. All Knorr-Bremse employees around the world devote this day to one of the Group’s corporate values. In 2017, the corporate value of passion found expression in the sharing of groundbreaking knowledge and a range of community activities.

    “The Knorr-Bremse Value Day makes Knorr-Bremse strong – it helps all our employees to learn more about Knorr-Bremse and themselves. Their activities in connection with the corporate value of passion demonstrate not only their outstanding technological strengths but also their great humanity and social responsibility,” said Knorr-Bremse CEO Klaus Deller. “This shows how, through passion, good things can become truly exceptional.” At Knorr-Bremse, passion means that every single employee fulfils their personal potential in their own specialist field in order to achieve excellent results. In Munich and elsewhere, Knorr- Bremse presented some of the innovations that have resulted from this commitment, together with a number of community initiatives from around the world.

    A taste of the digital future

    The impact of digitalization across all transportation sectors and corporate divisions was one of the key themes of the Knorr-Bremse Local Value Day staged in Munich. Nineteen information booths and numerous presentations helped familiarize employees with the various activities in the context of digitalization. The highlight was the demonstration of Autonomous Yard Maneuvering — the driver assistance system that allows trucks to maneuver around the depot with no driver. A digital marketplace at the new Development Center helped show employees how well-prepared Knorr-Bremse is for the Internet of Things (IoT). Here, experts provided explanations of a variety of aspects on topics such as digital manufacturing and smart robots, the use of augmented reality glasses and 3D printing. Overall, Knorr-Bremse demonstrated how digitalization can facilitate highly efficient company-wide applications along the supply chain by means of integrated production planning. The opportunities that digitalization offers extend all the way to the development of new products and business models, as implemented by TruckServices in the telematics solution ProFleet Connect. Moreover, the Intellectual Property department addressed product piracy — an issue that is extremely important to Knorr-Bremse — explaining how to identify fake original parts and why they pose such a high risk for customers.

    Global sites celebrate passion

    Three Knorr-Bremse subsidiaries — Knorr-Bremse Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, New York Air Brake Corporation and Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems (Bendix), both in the USA — exemplified the creativity of Knorr-Bremse’s different sites around the world. Every facility participated in the passion-themed Local Value Day with workshops, Local Value Award ceremonies and a range of informative and entertaining activities, many of them designed to promote social awareness. After all, if people are passionate in other areas of their lives, they will bring this mindset to their daily work.

    “For Knorr-Bremse Local Value Day we selected an activity that all our employees could work on together and with some challenges to show our passion,” explained Sadia Liu, head of human resources, Hong Kong. To mark Knorr-Bremse’s Local Value Day, staff from the Asia Pacific Hong Kong office recorded a video in which they talk about the importance of passion and what passion means to them. Staff in Korea visited a museum specializing in digitalization and then went on a mountain hike. Meanwhile, the events organized by New York Air Brake sites across the USA featured various team building activities including an employee band that took to the stage at the company’s Watertown headquarters in New York. At a total of eight locations of Bendix, the North America commercial vehicle brake technology leader, the day was celebrated with a mix of activities that ranged from an allemployee scavenger hunt to a speech by COO Carlos Hungria. Among the activities in Mexico City, employees were invited to visit a truck manufacturer. “The tour gave the team a chance to see for themselves exactly who it is that they go the extra mile for every day and how their hard work contributes to the combined success of Bendix and our customers,” says Maria Gutierrez, Director Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Bendix.