Despite facing challenges along the way, the 2021 financial year was a successful one for Beckhoff Automation. For the first time in its almost 42-year history, the automation technology specialist based in Verl, Germany, exceeded the 1 billion Euro mark in sales. With a total worldwide result of 1,182 billion Euros, the company increased its sales by around 28% in comparison to 2020.
“This is a great result that we are incredibly proud of,” reported a delighted managing owner, Hans Beckhoff, whose company recorded an unprecedented level of incoming orders. “We could definitely have seen even more growth last year, but the shortage of components along with the limits on our own capacities has held us back in some areas.”
For the German market, Beckhoff achieved a sales increase of around 27%, while the number of incoming orders more than doubled. The company also recorded similar trends in many other countries where it sells its products. “With one or two exceptions, we made significant gains in 2021 in almost all countries with our own sales branches – often in the double-digit percentage range,” he added. “Our two largest subsidiaries (in China and the US) also reported double-digit growth.” Similar to Germany, incoming orders abroad were mostly significantly higher than actual sales growth.
Automation technology is currently experiencing a boom across all industries all over the world; however, demand is exceeding the production capacities of suppliers, who have been weakened further still by the effects of the global pandemic. For Beckhoff, this is particularly evident in the shortage of semiconductors and other electronic components. “This bottleneck is likely to continue throughout 2022,” predicts Beckhoff, adding, “nevertheless, we need to prepare for better raw material availability so that we can fulfil customer orders as quickly as possible. This is why we are working tirelessly to expand and optimise our entire company – from administration and development through to production.”
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