Moderate increase in turnover and rise in employee numbers for Pilz in 2018 - "Growth in a difficult environment"

The Pilz group of companies remains on course for growth, despite the economic downturn: in the last financial year, 2018, the automation company had a turnover of 345 million Euro (+2.1 %). The number of employees rose above 2,500 for the first time.

"The economic slowdown and the uncertain global economy were major factors in our remaining below budget for our 2018 turnover. Nevertheless, overall we are still satisfied with how our company is developing. We are continuously investing in research and development as well as expanding our production capacities. That way we are well equipped for the future requirements of the market", explains Susanne Kunschert, Managing Partner of Pilz GmbH & Co.KG.

Moderate growth in turnover
In the 2018 financial year, the Pilz Group increased its turnover to 345 million Euro. So turnover has grown by 2.1 per cent in comparison with the previous year. For the first time, the family business employs more than 2,500 employees: on 31.12.2018 there were 2,515 employees in 42 subsidiaries worldwide. That represents a 7 per cent rise in the number of employees over the previous year. At the end of last year, 1,122 people were employed at the head office in Ostfildern. That’s 55 more employees than at the same point in the previous year.

International focus strengthened
Pilz continues to forge ahead with its focus as an international solution supplier for safe automation: in 2018 for example, Pilz strengthened its support for emerging markets in South East Asia by founding its own subsidiaries in Thailand and Malaysia. An expression of internationality is the export share, which rose in comparison with 2017 to 73 per cent (+ 1.1 percentage points).

Growth market "Rail 4.0"
Engineering and manufacturing companies continue to be the most important markets for the automation company. In addition, Pilz solutions are increasingly being used in other areas, such as railway technology for example. The current trend there is towards digitisation and Pilz is helping to shape this trend, tailoring industry-proven automation technology to the rail network. In order to meet the special requirements of industries such as railway technology, in future Pilz will be pooling its worldwide expertise into "Competence Centres". Here experts will develop industry-specific solution packages, which are then implemented locally by the Pilz subsidiaries.

An eye still on innovations
Innovation remains a key feature of this medium-sized enterprise: for years Pilz has invested 20 % of its turnover into research & development; so too in 2018. "Innovation is in our company's DNA", says Kunschert.

That's why Pilz remains optimistic for 2019: "Of course we can't isolate ourselves from the fall in engineering orders and the difficult international environment. But with innovative products, first-class services and intensive, local customer care we intend to stay on course in 2019", says Susanne Kunschert, looking forward.