Our company
The world’s leading system provider for fire protection
Rosenbauer is the world’s leading system provider for preventive firefighting and disaster protection technology. The international group of companies develops and produces vehicles; fire extinguishing systems; fire and safety equipment and digital solutions for professional, industrial, plant, and volunteer fire services; and systems for preventive fire protection.
The listed company Rosenbauer International AG based in Leonding, Austria, functions as the parent company of the Rosenbauer Group. It is also the largest production company, the research and development center, and is responsible for the management of the Group.
In 2022, the Rosenbauer Group generated revenues of € 972.2 million. The individual product groups contributed to this as follows: Vehicles 74%, Fire & Safety Equipment 10%, Preventive Fire Protection 3%, Customer Service 10%, and Other Revenues 3%. With a most recent global market share of 11.6%1, Rosenbauer is a leading manufacturer of firefighting vehicles.
Revenues by product segment 2022
Objectives, strategy and controlling
As an industry trendsetter, Rosenbauer helps shape fire and disaster prevention with pioneering innovations and outstanding products. Looking ahead as well, the company aims to break new ground in the development of firefighting technology. Rosenbauer strives to be the best in all areas. Its primary business goal is to achieve sustainable, profitable growth and to continuously increase the enterprise value of the company.
Rosenbauer benefits from a number of strengths in implementing this claim to leadership:
- its global presence and comprehensive service offering as the only system provider for preventive firefighting and disaster protection technology,
- its role as an innovation and technology leader,
- its strong, vertical integration and industrial production methods,
- the international reputation of the Rosenbauer brand, and
- its skilled and dedicated employees.
The starting point for business decisions and the controlling of the Group is strategic multi-year planning, which includes market, portfolio, product, and production planning. A detailed budget will be adopted for each of the next financial years for all companies, the areas, and the Group. During the year, these annual budgets will be monitored for target achievement using tools including comparisons between target and actual performance, comparisons with the previous year, variance analyses, and forecasts.
Rosenbauer is conscious of its particular social responsibility as a provider of equipment to fire services whose members show a high level of social commitment. The group of companies therefore also takes non-financial factors including the environment, human resources, and compliance into account in its business activities; places great emphasis on sustainability; and maintains continuous dialog with its stakeholders.
Unique, global network
The Rosenbauer Group operates 15 production locations in ten countries on three continents and meets all major world standards with products manufactured in Europe, the US, and Asia. It also has its own sales and service companies in 15 countries as well as approximately 236 independent trading partners around the world.
Overall, Rosenbauer is represented in around 120 countries and therefore has an international network that is unique in the firefighting industry.
Number one for innovations
With its innovative products, Rosenbauer wants to define state-of-theart technology in its industry and actively develop customer demand. As such, research and development are of central importance to the Group. The Rosenbauer innovation process systematically integrates industry- relevant megatrends, findings from market observation, customers’ requirements, and employees’ suggestions. The Rosenbauer Group holds around 228 patents in the various product areas.
In 2022, the Group invested € 31.6 million in research and development (2021: € 24.3 million). This equates to 4.9% of the relevant net proceeds of in-house production (2021: 3.8%). The capitalization rate was 19.9% (2021: 36.7%) and related to developments in Austria and Germany. A total of 41% (2021: 50%) of the company’s development costs amounting to € 13.1million (2021: € 12.2 million) were incurred by Rosenbauer International AG, the Group-wide center of expertise for municipal and specialty vehicles, firefighting systems, and fire and safety equipment.
Research and development/R&D ratio
Research and development
In 2022, research and development activities were focused on further developing the existing product range and expanding the electric vehicle fleet. New products were presented at Interschutz. After a seven-year hiatus on account of the pandemic, the leading international trade show for the firefighting industry took place in June 2022 in Hanover.
In addition to unveiling the complete municipal electric line-up, the most important innovations of the reporting year were the PANTHER electric, the RTE PS 2 Power Station, the new payload module for the RTE robot, the RFC CAFS Cube S, and digital solutions designed for early detection and fighting of wildfires.
Fully electric line-up for municipalities
At Interschutz, Rosenbauer demonstrated what a zero-emission fire service vehicle fleet could look like. Alongside the RT, the range of electric vehicles on display included the first AT electric, which uses tried-andtrusted AT technology; the first L32A-XS electric, which combines all the functions of a standard aerial ladder with the benefits of a fully electric series-production chassis; and the GW-L electric, a logistics truck boasting an ultra-flexible superstructure.
The AT electric offers the same range of functions and familiar operating environment of a “classic” AT – just with the addition of an electric drive system on a Volvo FE Electric series-production chassis. Tried-and-tested design elements like the integrated twin cabin with rotating steps and Rosenbauer’s COMFORT stowage system have been reproduced as is in the AT electric. Both the driveline and the firefighting pump in the AT electric are operated electrically. During firefighting operations, the pump is driven by an electric motor (an electric power take-off) supplied as standard with the chassis and fed from the chassis’ high-voltage system. An energy backup system (EBS) in addition to two lithium-ion batteries carry on supplying the vehicle with energy during prolonged operations.
Schutz & Rettung Zürich, the largest civil rescue organization in Switzerland, is acting as innovation partner for the L32A-XS electric. The Zurich Fire Department has been testing the vehicle’s suitability for operational use since December 2022 in three different urban environments in the course of a one-year pilot project with Rosenbauer. The insights from the project will be used as a basis for series development. Rosenbauer focused on functionality during development of the electric aerial ladder. It needed to be just as functional, powerful, and reliable as the established standard aerial ladders while also being equally easy to use and maintain. The aerial ladder therefore has an entirely identical design, apart from the interface to the electric drive system (ePTO). The L32AXS electric is powered by three electric lithium-ion batteries and is built on a Volvo FE Electric chassis.
Positive feedback and award for the RT
Following a 13-month trial phase, the Berlin Fire Department has taken the Revolutionary Technology (RT) into regular operation. During this period, the all-electric vehicle completed approximately 1,400 operations without failing once. On highly active operation days, the RT was called out as many as 16 times in 24 hours, and generally did not require charging in between. Over the trial phase, 95 % of all operations were electric- only, serving as confirmation that the design of the battery capacity is just right.
In 2022, the first NFPA-compliant RTX (US version of the RT) was delivered to the Los Angeles Fire Department and the vehicle was showcased at FDIC. Following a short trial phase, the RTX became part of the regular vehicle fleet in Los Angeles in September 2022. In the first 20 weeks, the RTX responded to around 1,300 emergency calls, over 99 % of which were handled using electricity.
The RT’s innovative concept is helping emergency services to achieve their sustainability targets. This won the RT the Austrian State Prize for Mobility in the “Climate-friendly technologies – sustainable value creation” category. This category recognizes innovations that promote industrial trends that help to achieve climate neutrality in the key fields of mobility, and which demonstrate new climate-friendly approaches to sustainable mobility. The prize is awarded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.
Near-series concept vehicle: the PANTHER electric
As one of the highlights at Interschutz, Rosenbauer presented the first PANTHER 6×6 with an electric driveline. Its development began around two years ago when drivelines, on-board power supplies, and electric components became available that would also be capable of meeting the high performance requirements of an ARFF vehicle. Airport operators and fire departments from all over the world were involved in the design of the PANTHER 6×6 electric right from the start.
As with the RT, Rosenbauer relies on its own e-drive platform for the PANTHER electric, which was developed jointly with Magna. The high-voltage batteries on board provide sufficient energy for the journey to the operational scene, the deployment of the entire supply of extinguishing agent, and the return journey in accordance with ICAO specifications. An energy backup system offers the possibility of providing additional electrical energy in the system, for example to increase performance in the short term or to extend the operating time. In boost mode, for example, acceleration from 0 to 80 km/h can be pushed to under 21 seconds or just below, and even in normal mode the PANTHER electric accelerates faster than a classic 6×6.
The transition of the concept vehicle to series development began in the reporting year. For the pre-series, too, Rosenbauer will cooperate with innovation partners, as it has done with the RT, and will incorporate the findings from the test operations under real conditions into the development work and the set-up of series production.
Digital products and services
Rosenbauer has been cooperating with OroraTech since the start of 2022 on a way of detecting wildfires early using satellite systems. OroraTech provides up-to-date wildfire information taken from public satellites with thermal imaging cameras. However, the current intervals (up to 6 hours) are still too great to ensure a rapid response in the case of imminent danger.
That is why Rosenbauer and OroraTech are planning to expand this system into a wildfire monitoring and fighting system that works with intervals of up to 30 minutes. To this end, OroraTech will launch up to 100 satellites the size of a shoebox, each equipped with a high-resolution thermal imaging camera and artificial intelligence, into space over the next few years. A prototype has been in orbit since January.
The aim of the strategic partnership is to digitalize the process of fighting wildfires to provide actionable insights to emergency services on the ground. OroraTech’s satellite system will be linked to RDS Connected (software product portfolio allowing emergency responders to stay connected) and all parties involved will have access to current and historic satellite data. Drone images will also be displayed and distributed via RDS Connected Command. Drones are a highly effective technology and are able, for example, to distinguish a hotspot from a larger campfire, a factory chimney, or reflective solar panels, and can provide firefighters with a combination of RGB images and thermal imaging for situational awareness before they arrive on scene.
1 Last available market data from 2021. Own calculation based on World Bank and UN figures as well as annual reports and expert estimates.