ENGEL Austria reports Record Turnover 14/15

ENGEL has grown by 14 percent : Engel Austria, Schwertberg, Austria – June 2015

ENGEL achieved a new record turnover of 1.07 billion euros in the 2014/15 financial year that closed end of March. In comparison to the previous year, the injection moulding machine manufacturer and system provider based in Schwertberg, Austria, achieved an increase of 14 percent. For the new fiscal year, it is planned to make further investments in the company sites worldwide, in the distribution and service structures and also in the apprentice workshop.

“Almost all regions have made a contribution to this success,” emphasizes Dr Peter Neumann, CEO of the ENGEL Group, at a press conference in mid-June in St. Valentin, Austria during the 2015 ENGEL Symposium. “We have also continued to grow in Europe where ENGEL has already achieved a high level of market penetration.”

The particularly dynamic regions also include North America and China. The spring events there – the NPE in March in Orlando, Florida, and the Chinaplas in May in Guangzhou – have already confirmed the positive investment climate.

In North America, ENGEL is expecting sustained growth after two severe recessions. Many companies have brought their production back to the US and are modernising their machine parks. Low energy costs are also boosting the willingness to invest.

A growth rate of about 7 percent still makes China one of the most dynamic national economies, even if the growth is slowing.

“We view this ‘new normal’ positively,” says Dr Christoph Steger, CSO at ENGEL. “The markets have reached a certain maturity. Quality is increasingly coming into focus. As an injection moulding machine manufacturer with particularly extensive expertise in technology, automation and system solutions, we have a competitive advantage compared to local suppliers and benefit from this development.”

Worldwide, the proportion of system solutions that ENGEL delivers including automation, additional peripherals and sometimes also mould technology as a single-source provider is rising. In order to be able to provide even more individualised customer service on location, ENGEL has established its own automation centres at its production plants in York, Pennsylvania, USA, and Shanghai, China. There are currently five automation experts in Shanghai and ten in York that work together in close collaboration with the ENGEL Automation divi-sions in Austria and Germany. It is planned to add more staff this year at both locations.

Tailor–made solutions – cost-optimised and with short delivery times
The applications presented at the ENGEL Symposium clearly demonstrate how integrated and highly automated manufacturing cells can help to make optimal use of reserves for more efficiency. As an integrated part of the process, automation not only increases efficiency and process reliability, but also makes it possible to realise completely new processes, compo-nent functions and qualities. Thus automation also helps strengthen the competitiveness of the plastics processor in the long term. This is one reason why robots are also increasingly becoming an integral part of injection moulding machines in China.

“Individually adapting the manufacturing cell to the requirements of the product and keeping the spotlight on the added value for the customer is a constant challenge that involves opti-mizing costs while also minimizing delivery times,” says Christoph Steger. “ENGEL is re-nowned for mastering this balancing act worldwide. Contributing factors are its great innova-tive strength and industry expertise as well as its strong global presence.”

With nine production locations on three continents, 29 sales and service subsidiaries and 60 representatives, the ENGEL Group ensures customer proximity worldwide and guarantees short delivery times, flexible adaptability of its products and system solutions to meet regional requirements, and fast service on site. ENGEL is continually investing to modernize its locations worldwide, adapt capacities, and also further expand its sales and service network.

“Our goal is to be able to react quickly and make spare parts available even in remote are-as,” says Christoph Steger. “To this end, we are adding more service technicians at decentralised locations and expanding our line of intelligent remote solutions.”

Investments in customer service and education
One focus for investments in the current 2015/16 fiscal year is on the headquarters in Schwertberg, Austria. In the summer of this year, ENGEL will start the construction of a new building to the south of the factory site, thus expanding the Technology Centre that was built in 2009. The development, distribution and customer service departments will be strengthened with more personnel.

“With that we are laying the foundation to solidify our very strong presence in the European market and to continue to grow in America and Asia,” says Peter Neumann.

The experiences made in international customer projects are bundled together in the five business units at the headquarters and flow as feedback into the development work. Additionally, ENGEL is also stocking up its specialized personnel globally. Since the past year, specialists for each business unit are now employed at the North American headquarters in York, and in Shanghai experts for the individual business units have also been added.

With the construction project in Schwertberg, ENGEL is also modernizing its education program. A larger apprentice workshop will also be located in the new building and furnished with state-of-the-art equipment. ENGEL will be providing its staff with optimal working condi-tions already as trainees with lots of daylight, ergonomic workplaces and an open atmosphere.

Around 150 of the more than 170 ENGEL trainees worldwide are in Austria. Young men and women are given training there for nine technical professions. The special thing about it: They are integrated into the assembly of the machines from the very beginning. The machine components that are prepared by the apprentices are used for the ongoing production.

“For those just starting in the profession, that is a huge motivational factor. We will be intensifying this integration with the newly designed apprentice workshop,” says Neumann.

Since 98 per-cent of the apprentices are retained, the company’s own training program makes a significant contribution to help secure skilled professionals and thus also to the competitiveness of the business. Besides Austria, ENGEL has training programs for technical professions in Germany and in China.

More staff than ever before
As of the beginning of the 2015/16 fiscal year, ENGEL employs more than 4,800 staff world-wide – and that is also a new record.

“The enthusiasm of our staff is a significant factor for our success,” emphasizes Peter Neumann.

Thus it has already become a tradition for ENGEL to invite all its staff and their families to a staff day and to the open house at the facilities in St. Valentin on the two days after the symposium.
ENGEL has been 100 percent family-owned and independent of external investors since it was founded in 1945. This guarantees stability and a long-term perspective for customers and employees worldwide. Along with Dr Peter Neumann (CEO), a third-generation member of the family ownership, the fourth generation is also bearing responsibility with Dr Christoph Steger (CSO) and Dr Stefan Engleder (CTO) as members of the Board of Directors.

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