Navigation due to economic downturn and changes to heating law

Professional training for recruiting skilled workers

In the medium term, ebm-papst will concentrate exclusively on ventilation and heating technology. © ebm-papst/Philipp Reinhard

One focus is on giving young talents full responsibility for important projects at an early stage as "ebm-papst heroes of the future". The most recent and successful examples were the complete organization and implementation of the Hannover Messe 2023 and the Climate Protection Day 2024 in Heilbronn. Against the backdrop of a low birth rate and declining interest in mint professions, the integration of skilled workers from abroad is becoming increasingly important for ebm-papst - even this year, not all positions in the industrial and technical sector could be filled. It is therefore crucial for companies like ebm-papst that the hurdles for qualified career starters from abroad and for temporary assignments are significantly lowered.

Global growth through investment

Extensive investments reflect the clear commitment of the shareholders and management to take ebm-papst to a new level of growth. The innovation leader's investments remain at a high level, totaling 187 million euros. ebm-papst is also investing heavily in the growth markets of Asia: around 25 million euros are being invested in the expansion of the plant in Xi'an, China. A total of 27,000 square meters of production space is to be created here. The company had already opened its new China headquarters ONE Shanghai in the spring, and a further location in southern China is already being planned. The fan specialist is consistently pursuing its "local-for-local" strategy, through which it strengthens the Europe, Asia-Pacific and America regions, maps supply routes locally and sets up locations independently in line with market requirements.

State-of-the-art IT hub in India

A state-of-the-art IT hub has been established in India, where more than 200 additional IT specialists will be working over the next few years. There are also plans to expand local production capacities in order to supply the Asian region outside China from India in the future. Singapore was recently expanded as the new Asia-Pacific headquarters. In the USA, ebm-papst is planning to further expand its production in Telford, Tennessee, and is preparing additional production facilities. The company is also planning a new air technology plant in Oradea, Romania. The 56,000 square meters of land for this construction project has already been acquired. Construction work will begin at the end of 2024.

Closer to the customer in all regions

Hans Peter Fuchs, Chief Financial Officer and CFO of the ebm-papst Group, emphasizes: "With these enormous investments in our global presence and innovative strength, we are laying the foundation for the growth course of the coming years with an excellent liquidity position. As a leading developer of energy-efficient air and heating technology solutions, we are expanding our position as global market leader and also moving closer to our customers in all regions."

Drive Technology division: planned sale to Siemens

As part of the investment program, the focusing process that has been ongoing for two years and is anchored in the corporate strategy also meant a necessary strengthening of the IDT drive technology division. The planned sale of this business unit to Siemens will give it the necessary international market access. The effects of this sale, the proceeds of which are to be used for future growth, will become apparent in the coming year, meaning that the one-off effects are not yet reflected in the current figures. Klaus Geißdörfer, CEO of ebm-papst, emphasizes: "This sale is a win-win situation for everyone involved: for Siemens, for ebm-papst, for our customers and not least for the employees of the division."

In the medium term, ebm-papst will therefore focus exclusively on air technology and heating technology. "With our corporate strategy "Building the future together", we have laid the foundation for future growth," says Geißdörfer. "Within five years, we want to almost double our turnover in the core business of ventilation and heating technology to over 3.5 billion euros. We are convinced that we can achieve this goal."

At high speed towards AI

Innovation, digitalization and sustainability play a central role in this. "We are opening up completely new areas of business," says Chief Technology Officer Prof. Tomas Smetana, CTO of the ebm-papst Group. "Our fans make the overall system even more efficient, but above all more intelligent. Predictive fan monitoring and system control allow additional energy to be saved and maintenance intervals to be optimally defined." In addition to the new system business, ebm-papst also focuses on modernizing and replacing existing systems, which enables savings to be made. Retrofitting at the company's own sites also results in energy savings of at least ten percent, and the investment pays for itself within a few years. The fan specialist is able to achieve further enormous savings potential through data-supported, demand-driven operation of the systems, which has a positive effect on the_{CO2 balance}.

An important prerequisite for accelerating innovation will be created this year with the opening of the so-called "Solution Labs" with a focus on electronics and software development as well as sustainability at the headquarters in Mulfingen. In addition, there is intensive collaboration with partners such as the Schwarz Group in the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI) in Heilbronn, of which ebm-papst has been a member since last year. In total, expenditure on research and development remains at a high level of 137.4 million euros, which corresponds to a ratio of 5.7 percent. In the area of sustainability, the company continues to pursue the ambitious goal of being climate-neutral in Scope 1 and 2 by the 2025/26 financial year.
"We recently successfully concluded a Purchasing Power Agreement that will enable us to purchase green electricity from next year," says ebm-papst CFO Fuchs.

Generational change in the Management Board is complete

Hans Peter Fuchs (62) made his last appearance in his role at the annual press conference. He will retire in a few weeks after 16 successful years. His successor as CFO is Harald Klaiber (46), previously Commercial Director at Esslingen-based machine tool manufacturer Index. "This completes the generational change in the Executive Board," says CEO Dr. Klaus Geißdörfer.