This year, automation specialist Pilz is celebrating its 75th anniversary and is able to announce a record figure: For the first time, the family-owned company generated a turnover of 403.3 million euros. This corresponds to sales growth of 15.8% compared to the previous year 2021. Germany remains the strongest market, but Pilz was also able to grow abroad. 76.3% (+1.1%) was the export share in 2022. The company grew particularly strongly in Asia.

Susanne Kunschert, Managing Partner of Pilz, is particularly pleased that turnover has grown faster than the industry average compared to the figures of the VDMA and ZVEI industry associations. Despite supply chain and component problems, the company has succeeded in producing and delivering more devices than ever before, for which she is very grateful.

However, the supply chain problem will continue to affect the company. Although the availability of components and the stability of the supply chain have generally improved, individual components are still only temporarily available from one day to the next. Escalation management is therefore still the main task of purchasing.

Happy birthday: Pilz invited the journalists present to a slice of cake to mark its 75th anniversary. © WFM

The number of employees also increased. As at December 31, 2022, Pilz employed 2,399 people (+2.7%) worldwide. In Germany, the number of employees on the reporting date was 1,010. The number of employees fell slightly during the coronavirus pandemic. However, Kunschert emphasized that this was not due to employees being made redundant. During the crisis, however, the decision was made not to necessarily fill some positions immediately, including those of employees who had retired.

The company reported an equity ratio of around 48% and a current order intake of EUR 145 million as at May.

Global investments planned

The company plans to invest a total of 38 million euros at its production sites in Ostfildern, Betschdorf, France, Bad Ragaz, Switzerland and Jintan, China. Among other things, the SMD production facilities are to be modernized or expanded and investments are to be made in relay production and intralogistics. Expenditure of 23.8 million euros is planned at the headquarters in Ostfildern.

Industrial security and services offering to be expanded

"Industry 4.0 does not work if there is no security," emphasized Thomas Pilz, Managing Partner. This is why the range of products and services in the field of industrial security is being expanded. In addition to technical solutions, the security specialist also offers services and training. "When it comes to security, the entire industry will face major challenges in the coming years. To ensure productivity, machines must be protected against manipulation and unauthorized access. Companies must also adapt in good time to changing legal requirements such as the new Machinery Directive or NIS II. This is where we support our customers," says Thomas Pilz, explaining the motivation for expanding the portfolio.

NIS II is the successor to the Network and Information Security Directive and came into force at the beginning of 2023. The member states now have until fall 2024 to transpose the EU directive into national law. The new Machinery Directive will come into force on January 1, 2027. The company expects the service business to be particularly affected in 2026, when everyone will have to implement the regulation.