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Beckhoff’s sales soar by 28% to exceed €1bn for first time
Beckhoff Automation’s global sales climbed by 28% last year to exceed €1bn for the first time in its 42-year history, despite the challenges of component shortages and the Covid-19 pandemic. Owner Hans Beckhoff describes the 2021 sales figure of €1.18bn as “a great result that we are incredibly proud of. We could definitely have seen even more growth last year, but the shortage of components, along with the limits on our own capacities, held us back in some areas.”
Beckhoff has also taken on more than 500 new employees worldwide over the past year, taking its global workforce from 4,500 to 5,000 – 3,850 of them being based in Germany. Around 1,900 of the company’s staff are engineers.
“At least an additional 1,000 jobs will be created over the next ten years,” Hans Beckhoff predicts.
Automation technology is experiencing a global boom in most sectors, the company reports, but demand is exceeding suppliers’ production capacities. Hans Beckhoff expects the shortage of semiconductors and other electronic components to continue throughout 2022. “Nevertheless,” he says, “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.”
By the middle of this year, Beckhoff expects to have expanded production capacities at its main plant in Verl, Germany, and the surrounding area, by more than 50% compared to the start of 2020. The company has recently acquired a 15-hectare site in the same area and is planning to create an industrial park that will provide space for further expansion of Beckhoff Automation and its subsidiaries, Smyczek and Schirmer. Beckhoff is also expanding the drive production capacity of its Fertig Motors subsidiary in Lower Franconia.
In China, Beckhoff is building its first production facility outside Germany near Shanghai with the aim of expanding its activities in the Chinese market from inside the country. China accounts for more than 22% of Beckhoff’s global sales.
In Germany, Beckhoff achieved a sales increase of around 27% during 2021, while doubling the number of incoming orders. The company recorded a similar trend, with orders outstripping sales, in many other countries.
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