Keba AG (Germany) - The company is the German market leader for transfer solutions.

With effect from 31 May 2016, KEBA AG took over KEMAS GmbH, a German company based in Oberlungwitz near Chemnitz.

KEMAS, which was founded in 1991 by Hans-Jürgen Grämer, specializes in self-service solutions related to the transfer of material resources such as keys, post, equipment, tools, textiles, weapons, etc. The transfer solutions facilitate the safe and clear registration, administration, storage, disposition and delivery of objects to various users, which are thus protected against unauthorized access, loss, manipulation and abuse.

The name KEMAS, which bears an accidental resemblance to that of KEBA, has been in use since the foundation of the company and is an acronym derived from “Key Management Systems”.

KEBA has taken an 80 per cent interest in the company, which has a workforce of 75, while the remaining 20 per cent remain in the possession of the company founder and his son. The company is a business success and in the last financial year achieved sales revenues of EUR 7.7 million. The KEMAS name is to be retained and operate under the umbrella KEBA brand. The operative management of the new KEBA subsidiary will also remain in the hands of the established managerial team.

The transfer solutions provided by KEMAS focus on the areas of security, mobility and logistics:

• Security – the secure access control and administration of sensitive objects such as keys, electronic equipment, medicines, car keys, equipment, tools, weapons and documents, etc.
• Mobility – the organization of rented cars and fleets, e.g. the issue and return of vehicle keys, as well as the optimum disposition and automated transfer of vehicles, up to automated electronic licence checks.
• Logistics – the demand-oriented allocation of material resources, e.g. textiles in hospitals, tools and equipment.

KEMAS customers come from branches such as the automotive industry and vehicle retail, the health, justice and police sectors, as well as public offices and authorities. Development work and production take place at the company location in Oberlungwitz (Saxony) and at present KEMAS is largely active in Germany, where it is the market leader in the field of transfer terminals. KEBA sees potential emanating from the internationalization of KEMAS’ proven, top quality solutions, which will take place via KEBA’s numerous branches.

Synergies strengthen KEBA’s position in the parcel automat market:
There are strong similarities between KEMAS’ transfer terminals and KEBA’s parcel automats. The latter are backed by complete solutions for the automation of the first and last mile of parcel delivery, consisting of hard- and software, services, installation and rollout management.

Both national and international postal and logistics companies number among the Linz-based company’s clientele. Indeed, with more than 15 years of experience and over 5,000 parcel locker systems sold, KEBA is the global market leader in this field. KEBA parcel automats are suitable for both in- and outdoor use and for example are in operation with both the Austrian Post and the German DHL.

Owing to the shared features of the products, the competence and business areas of KEBA and KEMAS are perfectly complementary and offer a range of synergy effects. Consequently, the market opportunities for complete solutions for the receipt and transfer of all types of goods will be greatly enhanced. KEBA anticipates that fresh growth potential will emanate from the takeover, as with the systems from KEMAS new markets and applications will open up and KEBA can offer its numerous customers an extended portfolio of comprehensive solutions.

Gerhard Luftensteiner, the KEBA CEO, sees the recent acquisition of the German self-service specialist KEMAS as follows: “We are delighted to be able to augment our competences in the logistics automation segment with KEMAS. Using new joint solutions, we will be able to provide our customers with an even more extensive portfolio and without doubt will move into additional branch areas.”