An optimistic view of the future

"In Europe, especially in Germany, business is very difficult due to the economic situation," reports Rainer Wegener, Managing Director at Stöber Antriebstechnik in Pforzheim. "We expect a decline of up to 15 percent." However, Stöber has set the bar very high with the record year 2023. Many customers are unsettled by the geopolitical situation and the tense global market. In contrast, business in the USA is stable and there is even growth in the UK.

The trough has currently been reached. Experts expect an upturn in 2025, which will begin slowly in the second half of the year and should continue in 2026. For the automation and robotics sector, they expect average growth of 6.6% by 2030. Companies are bringing their production back to Europe or the USA from Asia. They need automation to operate economically. "We will be part of this because we supply the perfect products for this industry," says Rainer Wegener. "This puts us in a good position for the medium and long term. We just need to find the right balance between stepping on the gas in the current situation and slowing down when necessary. Then we will get through the coming months well." Despite the crisis, Stöber has retained all its employees and is therefore well prepared for the coming upturn in order to secure the company's future.

2024 was a strong year of innovation for the drive specialist. Among other things, the new generation of a bevel gearbox and the particularly powerful SB6 drive controller for flexible customer requirements were presented at SPS last November. The further development of the product portfolio remains the focus for 2025. This will allow Stöber to position itself even better and support customers more intensively. The topic of security is also becoming increasingly important as part of the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) in order to significantly improve the cyber security of products that are connected to each other or to the internet.