The trade magazine for the packaging industry
The trade magazine for the packaging industry
Festo recorded sales growth of 18 per cent in the 2021 financial year. The company benefited from a high order intake and investment activities in the food industry, among other things. The company is now set to continue its strategic focus on digitalisation and sustainability.
The Festo Group had a record year in 2021. Order intake was up 26 per cent on the previous year and sales were around 18 per cent higher at EUR 3.36 billion. The number of employees in Germany and abroad remained roughly constant and, as in the previous year, stood at around 8,600 in Germany and around 12,100 abroad at the end of 2021. The mechanical engineering sector benefited greatly from the revitalised global economy and industrial production. The company achieved double-digit growth in all regions in 2021. China, India and other Asian countries in particular, such as South East Asia and the Pacific, fuelled global growth despite the ongoing supply chain problems and bottlenecks in electronic components.
Investments in the semiconductor/electronics industry, digitalisation, new mobility, the life tech and biotech/pharmaceutical industries as well as solid investment activity in the food industry were the basis for the high growth in automation technology. In 2021, the company has around 7 per cent invested in research and development.
"Our innovation pipeline is bursting with new products, which we are now presenting to our customers at Hannover Messe 2022. Over the past year, we have made great progress with important innovations such as digital and intelligent pneumatics, automation platforms and concepts for saving energy in pneumatics. We are also working on completely new fields of innovation, such as collaborative pneumatic robotics, which we will be showcasing for the first time in Hanover."
Dipl.-Ing. Dr h.c. Oliver Jung, Chief Executive Officer
In the first quarter of 2022, the company continues to report a double-digit record for sales and incoming orders. No conclusive statements can yet be made for the second quarter. Growing uncertainties due to the pandemic, particularly in Asiaand the effects of the war in Ukraine. High energy, material and transport costs are having a negative impact on business, as is the continued shortage of raw materials and electronic components.
"We are currently building Alternative supply chains We are also increasing our inventories of core products in all regions in order to decouple ourselves as far as possible from critical markets, particularly for energy-intensive materials. We are also increasing our inventories of core products in all regions," says Dr Oliver Jung. Festo has made its global production and logistics network even more robust. Overall, the Parallelisation of production close to the markets "in the region for the region" The importance of the new product range is also increasing in terms of sustainability and short transport routes.
"2022 will be another very challenging year - both from a human and economic perspective. Our order books are well filled, but the further development of the pandemic and the situation in war and crisis zones as well as the supply chain are difficult to predict. Overall, we expect further growth and are consistently investing in innovation, digitalisation and sustainability. We are also demonstrating this here at the Hannover Messe."
Dr Oliver Jung
Source: Festo
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