Machine tool manufacturer releases preliminary figures for the 2016/17 fiscal year: sales rise by almost 11 percent from 2.8 to 3.1 billion euros / Orders received increase from 2.8 to 3.4 billion euros / Germany, South Korea and the U.S. all top performers

The TRUMPF Group was able to generate a significant 10.8 percent upturn in sales in the 2016/17 fiscal year ending June 30, 2017. According to preliminary calculations, sales for 2016/17 amounted to 3.1 billion euros (up from 2.8 billion euros in 2015/16). Orders received rose to 3.4 billion euros (up from 2.8 billion euros in 2015/16) – an increase of 21.1 percent.

Once again, Germany was the biggest single market (sales of 642 million euros), followed by the U.S. (416 million euros) and China (398 million euros). Sales in South Korea – where many of TRUMPF’s customers from the electronics industry have their base – were particularly encouraging, rising by 57 percent to reach 209 million euros. This made South Korea TRUMPF’s fourth-biggest market worldwide in the last fiscal year.

In Europe, Italy (up 34 percent on the last fiscal year) and the Netherlands (up 55 percent) were the top individual performers. In the Netherlands, sales were boosted by EUV business with chip manufacturer ASML. TRUMPF supplies ASML with lasers that use extreme ultraviolet radiation to process chip surfaces for the computer industry.

TRUMPF subsidiary HÜTTINGER in Freiburg had a good year, recording sales of 118 million euros – an increase of 52 percent on the previous fiscal year.

The number of employees in the Group rose by 6 percent to reach some 12,000.

TRUMPF attributes the Group’s upturn in sales to a strong global economy. “In many markets, we exceeded our targets, with an equal contribution from all our products,” said TRUMPF CEO Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller. “But we know that the current investment climate has been influenced by external factors such as the euro exchange rate and raw materials prices.”

She also pointed out that TRUMPF has used the last year to drive ahead with its investment in the digital business platform AXOOM as well as the expansion of locations in Germany and abroad. Examples include the completion of production and sales facilities in Warsaw, Poland and Neukirch, Germany, as well as the logistics center at headquarters in Ditzingen, built at a cost of 35 million euros and due to be unveiled to the public on October 19, 2017. TRUMPF has also constructed a 13-million-euro Industry 4.0 demonstration facility in Chicago, which will be opened on September 12, 2017 with TRUMPF Group Management in attendance.

“Clearly there are political differences between Germany and the U.S. at the moment, and that makes it all the more important that we give our American customers a clear signal that we see the U.S. as one of the main markets for digital production,” said Leibinger-Kammüller.

The TRUMPF Group has also embraced a new organizational structure with adapted personal emphasis, which it hopes will help it to power forward with future technologies such as EUV, additive manufacturing and digitalization. In April of this year, the company announced its intention to expand Group Management effective July 1, 2017, and to redistribute responsibilities (see press release of April 6, 2017: www.trumpf.info/quktev).

As far as political developments and their impact on the market is concerned, Leibinger-Kammüller was pleased to report that there has been hardly any impact so far on business in Europe and elsewhere. “In many cases, political uncertainties have simply not affected the economic situation. It’s clear that customers and suppliers have learned to respond to the increased volatility with a high degree of flexibility.”