What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2026-08-19 compared with 2025-08-22 · 59 added, 30 removed, 202 unchanged (31% of the section changed)

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They should not be construed as a guarantee that such results or events will, in fact, occur or be realized as actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements.

The statements may be identified by the use of words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “estimates,” “forecasts,” “seeks,” “likely,” “future,” “may,” “might,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “will,” “potentially,” “can,” “goal,” “predict,” and similar expressions.

It is not possible to foresee or identify all factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected or historical results.

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The risk factors discussed in Item 1A - Risk Factors of this report could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements.

Among those factors are the risks related to (i) our recently announced acquisition of Helvoet, (ii) the ongoing impact of tariffs, sanctions, and other trade policy changes, (iii) our development and use of artificial intelligence, (iv) the volume, mix, and cadence of orders from our largest customers, (v) evolving sustainability, cybersecurity, AI, and privacy laws and regulations, (vi) shifts in U.S.

political, tax, and regulatory policy and (vii) supply chain disruptions.

There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business.

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Kimball Electronics was founded in 1961 and incorporated in 1998.

We deliver a package of value that includes durable, high-reliability electronics, higher level and final assemblies, and contract manufacturing organization (“CMO”) solutions.

Our CMO solutions support the production of medical disposables and drug delivery devices, from precision molded plastics and cold chain management to drug integration.

Customers and industry trade publications regularly award us for our design and manufacturing expertise that, coupled with robust processes and procedures, help us ensure that we deliver the highest levels of quality, reliability, and innovative service throughout the entire life cycle of our customers’ products.

We deliver a package of value that includes durable, high-reliability electronics, higher level and final assemblies, and contract development and manufacturing organization (“CDMO”) solutions.

Through our Kimball Solutions platform, we provide integrated manufacturing solutions that combine electronics manufacturing services, medical disposables, drug delivery solutions, precision molded plastics, and end-to-end product lifecycle support.

Our CDMO solutions support the production of medical disposables and drug delivery devices, from precision molded plastics and cold chain management to drug integration.

The acquisition of Helvoet Polymer Technologies B.V.

(“Helvoet”) on July 1, 2026, which occurred after our fiscal year end and is therefore reported as a subsequent event in Note 22 - Sub sequent Event of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, expanded our capabilities in precision molded plastics, complex tooling, and medical device component manufacturing, enhancing our ability to provide comprehensive solutions to customers across the medical and pharmaceutical markets.

Customers and industry trade publications regularly award us for our design, engineering, and manufacturing expertise that, coupled with robust processes and procedures, help us ensure that we deliver the highest levels of quality, reliability, and innovative service throughout the entire life cycle of our customers’ products.

Our Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) model is key to providing our customers convenient access to our highly integrated global footprint, enabled by our largely standardized operating system and procedures.

In 2026, we introduced the Kimball Solutions brand to represent our expanded portfolio of non-electronic manufacturing solutions, including medical disposables, drug delivery systems, precision molded plastics, clean room assembly, micro fluidics, sterilization management, and related CDMO capabilities.

The Kimball Solutions brand complements our long-standing electronics manufacturing services business and reflects our strategy to provide customers with a broader package of value through integrated manufacturing solutions.

We intend to change our name to Kimball Solutions, Inc., subject to Share Owners’ approval at our 2026 Annual Meeting of Share Owners scheduled for November 13, 2026.

If approved, we expect that

our common stock will continue to trade on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC and that our current ticker symbol (KE) would change to KMBL.

Unless and until any name change becomes effective, we will continue to operate as Kimball Electronics, Inc.

under our current ticker symbol.

Our corporate headquarters is located at 1205 Kimball Boulevard, Jasper, Indiana.

We manufacture products for our customers at facilities located in the United States, China, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

We manufacture products for our customers at facilities located in the United States, China, India, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

As discussed above, we completed the acquisition of Helvoet Polymer Technologies B.V.

(“Helvoet”) on July 1, 2026, and these subsidiaries manufacture products in India and The Netherlands.

Reporting Segment

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We intend to achieve sustained, profitable growth in the markets we serve by supporting the global growth initiatives of our customers as a multifaceted manufacturing solutions company through:

• Leveraging Our Global Footprint – responding to customer demand through our presence in key regions with existing facilities, which we focus on expanding, and our consideration of potential new geographic regions;

• Expanding Our Package of Value – enhancing our core contract manufacturing services strengths and expanding our package of value in areas such as complex system assembly, specialized processes, and precision molded plastics with particular emphasis on Kimball medical solutions;

• Leveraging Our Global Footprint – responding to increasing customer demand for geographic diversification, supply chain resiliency, and manufacturing optionality through our facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia, while evaluating opportunities to expand into additional strategic regions;

• Expanding Our Package of Value – enhancing our core contract manufacturing services capabilities while expanding our offerings in complex system assembly, medical disposables, drug delivery systems, specialized manufacturing processes, precision molded plastics, and integrated CDMO solutions with particular emphasis on medical and pharmaceutical applications;

• Expanding Our Markets – exploring opportunities and making investments that will broaden existing or establish new markets.

Through Kimball Solutions, we have expanded beyond our traditional EMS foundation to offer an integrated portfolio of EMS and CDMO solutions.

W e are increasingly positioning the Company as a strategic manufacturing partner capable of supporting customers across both electronic and non-electronic product categories.

By combining our global EMS expertise with medical disposables, precision molded plastics, clean room assembly, sterilization management, and drug delivery capabilities, we provide customers with a broader range of solutions throughout the product lifecycle.

Our Business Offerings

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We leverage key supply chain advantages and our streamlined operations to cost-effectively manufacture both electronic and non-electronic products, from high volume-low mix to high mix-low volume, within a single production facility for customers from all three of our end market verticals.

Our robust new product introduction process and our extensive manufacturing capabilities give us the ability to execute to the various quality and reliability expectations of each of our customers.

Our robust new product introduction process and our extensive manufacturing capabilities, including precision

molded plastics, specialized medical manufacturing, clean room assembly, and drug delivery solutions give us the ability to execute to the various quality and reliability expectations of each of our customers.

Our CRM model and our strategic approach to expanding our global footprint aligns with our customers’ preferences in our three end market verticals allowing us to support their global growth initiatives.

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• Complete product life cycle management.

These services are delivered through a combination of our electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) offerings, enabling customers to consolidate multiple manufacturing and supply chain requirements with a single strategic supplier.

We take pride in our attentive approach to understanding and adapting to our customers’ ever-changing needs and preferences.

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The proliferation of electronic components in today’s advanced products and the continuing trend by original equipment manufacturers in the electronics industry to subcontract the assembly process to companies with a core competency in this area drive growth in our industry.

The nature of the EMS industry is such that the start-up of new customers and new programs to replace expiring programs occurs frequently.

The nature of the EMS/CDMO industries is such that the start-up of new customers and new programs to replace expiring programs occurs frequently.

New customers and program start-ups generally cause margin dilution early in the life of a program, which is often recovered as the program becomes established and matures.

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Our Competitive Strengths

We derive our competitive strengths from our experience in producing safety critical electronic assemblies for automotive customers for 40 years and leveraging this experience to create valuable and innovative solutions for customers in different industries.

Our evolution from a traditional EMS provider into an integrated manufacturing solutions company expands our competitive strengths.

We leverage our experience in producing safety critical electronic assemblies for automotive customers for 40 years to create valuable and innovative solutions for customers in different industries.

Our strengths include:

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• Body of knowledge in the design and manufacture of products that require high levels of quality control, reliability, and durability;

• Highly integrated, global footprint;

• Fully integrated engineering, manufacturing and supply chain services as the contract manufacturing organization (“CMO”) for our customers’ non-electronic components, medical disposables, and precision molded plastics;

• Highly integrated, global footprint supporting electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) offerings;

• Fully integrated engineering, manufacturing and supply chain services as the contract development and manufacturing organization (“CDMO”) including medical disposables, drug delivery systems, precision molded plastics clean room assembly, sterilization management, micro fluidics, and other non-electronic products;

• CRM model and our customer scorecard process;

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• Integrated supply chain solutions and competitive bid processes that result in competitive raw material pricing;

• Unique ability to combine high-reliability electronics manufacturing with precision molded plastics and medical CDMO capabilities under a single global operation model;

• Expanded precision molded plastics expertise and manufacturing capabilities through the acquisition of Helvoet;

• Complete product life cycle management.

Numerous manufacturers in the EMS industry compete for business from existing and potential customers.

Our competition includes EMS companies such as Benchmark Electronics, Inc., Flex Ltd., Jabil Inc., Plexus Corp., and Sanmina Corporation.

We do not have a significant share of the EMS market and were ranked the 24th largest global EMS provider for calendar year 2024 by Manufacturing Market Insider in the March 2025 edition published by New Venture Research.

As of August 22, 2025, we have eight manufacturing facilities with two located in Indiana, two in Mexico, and one located in each of China, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

We continually assess our capacity needs and evaluate our operations to optimize our service levels for supporting our customers’ needs around the globe, and we have recently executed a lease for a third manufacturing facility in Indiana to expand our medical CMO footprint.

When the leased facility is fully operational, it will replace the existing Indianapolis, Indiana facility.

Our competition includes EMS companies such as Benchmark Electronics, Inc., Flex Ltd., Jabil Inc., Plexus Corp., and Sanmina Corporation as well as specialized providers of medical device manufacturing, drug delivery solutions, and precision molded plastics.

As of August 19, 2026, we have eleven manufacturing facilities with three located in Indiana (two of which are fully operational), two in Mexico, and one located in each of China, India, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.

We continually assess our capacity needs and evaluate our operations to optimize our service levels for supporting our customers’ needs around the globe.

In 2025, we executed a lease for a third manufacturing facility in Indiana to expand our medical CDMO footprint.

When the leased facility is fully operational, it will replace the existing Indianapolis, Indiana facility, reducing our number of manufacturing facilities by one.

See Item 1A - Risk Factors for information regarding financial and operational risks related to our international operations.

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Intellectual Property

Our primary intellectual property is our proprietary manufacturing technology and processes that allow us to provide competitive contract manufacturing and design services to our customers.

As such, this intellectual property is complex and normally contained within our facilities.

To protect our trade secrets, our manufacturing technology and processes, and other proprietary rights, we rely primarily on a combination of intellectual property laws pertaining to trade secrets and copyrights;

non-disclosure agreements with our customers, employees, and suppliers;

and our internal security procedures and systems.

We feel that relying on trade secret or copyright protections is a superior strategy because there is no disclosure of the information to outside parties, and protections do not expire after a length of time.

We also maintain trademark rights (including registrations) for “Kimball Electronics,” and other wordmarks and trademarks that we use in our business in the United States and around the world.

We have policies and procedures to identify and protect our own intellectual property and that of our customers and suppliers.

Our primary intellectual property consists of proprietary manufacturing technology and processes, including manufacturing know-how, process methods, quality and testing methodologies, systems, tools, and related confidential information used to deliver our manufacturing services.

We protect these assets primarily through trade secret, copyright, trademark, contractual, internal policy, information security, and cybersecurity measures rather than patents.

In the ordinary course of providing services to our customers, we receive and use their specifications, designs, data, and other confidential or proprietary information.

We use this customer-owned or customer-licensed intellectual property only as permitted under applicable agreements and solely to provide services to those customers.

We maintain policies, nondisclosure agreements and other contractual safeguards, and internal procedures designed to protect our intellectual property and the intellectual property and confidential information of our customers and suppliers.

Unless otherwise agreed with a customer, we retain rights to independently developed and generally applicable manufacturing processes, process improvements, methods, systems, tools, know-how, and other proprietary information that are not specific to a customer’s product design or customer-owned technology.

We also use nondisclosure agreements and other contractual arrangements with customers, suppliers, employees, and third parties to protect confidential information and proprietary rights.

We own and use trademarks and trade names, including Kimball Electronics and Kimball Solutions, in connection with our business and protect them where appropriate.

Although our business is not principally dependent on consumer brand recognition, we protect our trademarks and trade names where appropriate.

We do not believe that any individual patent, trademark, license, or other intellectual property right is material to our business as a whole.

Sustainability Commitment

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To illustrate how our employees uphold these values in their daily work, we published our most recent annual Guiding Principles Report in March 2026.

The Report details our ESG priorities and performance, and highlights how our sustainability efforts support long-term stakeholder relationships and global business success.

The Report details our sustainability priorities and performance, and highlights how our sustainability efforts support long-term stakeholder relationships and global business success.

It reflects several long-standing Guiding Principles of the Company:

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Management believes capital expenditures for environmental control equipment will not represent a material portion of total capital expenditures.

Our operations require significant amounts of energy, primarily in the form of electricity.

Our management systems support our process for identifying, monitoring, and managing significant environmental aspects of our operations, including energy use, waste, water, emissions, and regulatory compliance.

Our operations use energy, primarily in the form of electricity, and we manage energy use as a significant environmental aspect under our environmental management systems.

Federal, foreign, and state regulations may control the allocation of energy sources available to us, but to date we have experienced no interruption of production due to such regulations.

We participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) climate change and water security questionnaires to quantify our environmental practices and demonstrate progress toward reducing our environmental impact.

We continue to work toward our goal to source 100% renewable electricity by 2030, subject to the availability of renewable electricity, energy attribute instruments, cost considerations, regulatory requirements, and operational needs.

We participate in CDP climate change and water security questionnaires to quantify our environmental practices and demonstrate progress toward reducing our environmental impact.

We also disclose environmental metrics and related sustainability information in our annual Guiding Principles Report, and certain quantitative environmental metrics disclosed in that report are subject to limited third-party assurance.

Our participation in CDP, our annual Guiding Principles Report, and other public sustainability communications reflect our commitment to transparency, continuous improvement, and environmental stewardship, consistent with our belief that “the environment is our home” and our dedication to excellence, leadership, and responsibility in the communities where we operate.

Additionally, our annual Guiding Principles report aligns with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, the United Nations (UN) Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) and Global Compact (UNGC), the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Electronic Manufacturing Services & Original Design Manufacturing Standard, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.

Additionally, our annual Guiding Principles Report is prepared with reference to, and/or aligned with, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Global Compact (UNGC), the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Electronic Manufacturing Services & Original Design Manufacturing Standard, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework.

We are members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative.

Where applicable, our environmental and responsible-sourcing programs also support customer and regulatory requirements relating to product content, responsible minerals, and other supply-chain environmental matters.

We publish our sustainability report and our responses to the CDP climate change and water security questionnaires annually on our website at kimballelectronics.com/sustainability.

Information in those reports may be prepared using standards, assumptions, methodologies, and materiality concepts that differ from those used in our SEC filings.

The contents of the sustainability reports and CDP questionnaire responses are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC.

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Our strategy is to achieve excellence in customer service, employee relations, and business objectives through creativity, responsiveness, and innovation as a result of increased well-being, sense of belonging, and meaningful work for our employees.

We actively promote DEI&B, and incorporate DEI&B into our culture, values, and strategies.

Consistent with our Guiding Principles, we hold ourselves accountable for continuously improving our people-focused policies and practices, in compliance with applicable laws in each jurisdiction where we operate.

We provide a report on the diversity of our employees to our Board and in our Guiding Principles Report.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business