The Festo Group recorded an economically solid year in 2023 "with a satisfactory result". Turnover fell to 3.65 billion euros compared to the previous year (3.81 billion euros). According to the company, uncertainty in the global economy put the brakes on higher investments by customers in the mechanical and plant engineering sector in almost all industries and regions, particularly in Asia and North America. The electronics industry, a strong growth driver for the global economy and also for Festo, also temporarily stuttered after a long boom phase in 2023. The digital business and the technical education sector with the Didactic division developed positively.

Festo invested 7.7% of its turnover in research and development last year. The number of employees at the end of 2023 was around 20,600 (previous year: 20,800) - of which 8,400 were employed in Germany and around 12,200 abroad.

Resilient supply chains

The realignment of the global footprint 'Local for local' is Festo's response to new global conditions. To ensure optimum supply to customers with short delivery times and high product availability, the company is focusing on increasing the localization of its production and customer-specific development close to the markets. This also involves shortening transport routes and value chains, making them more resilient and minimizing emissions.

With the expansion of the business regions in North and South America and India, the growth potential in these markets is to be tapped even faster. "We are focusing on increasing regionalization. In addition to China, India and North and South America are becoming increasingly important to us as growth markets. However, we also want to remain strong for our customers in Europe," said CEO Thomas Böck at a press conference at the Hannover Messe.

A new plant in India, close to the main Indian site in Bangalore, will create the conditions for further local growth in the Indian market over the next few years and help to secure the supply chain and supply for the entire Asian market. Festo is further expanding its regional supply for the European markets with a new production site in Manisa, Turkey. In Germany, a new logistics building is being built for the Global Production Center Rohrbach in Saarland.