The Weidmüller Group can look back on a mixed 2019 financial year. In a difficult market environment, for which the ZVEI reported a decline in sales of 1.8%, the company generated sales of EUR 830 million - compared to EUR 823 million in the previous year. This corresponds to sales growth of just under 1 percent. "In view of the economic slowdown in the second half of the year and the general economic conditions, we are nevertheless satisfied with the result," explains CEO and Chief Technology Officer Volker Bibelhausen. While the first half of 2019 was still characterized by a stable economic situation, the second half of the year saw a significant global downturn. "We are facing huge challenges, but we are confident that we will not only overcome them, but also grow from them," Bibelhausen explains. "Entering future markets such as electromobility, but also further automation and business with IIoT solutions will help us in the future."

As a replacement for the trade fair stand at the Hannover Messe, Weidmüller has created a digital trade fair experience for its customers following its cancellation. "Here we will continue to show product highlights, offer online training and gradually activate further technical features for our customers until the summer of this year, even beyond the actual trade fair period," says Chief Sales Officer Dr. Timo Berger.

Growth in core business and digitalization solutions

The growth of just under 1 percent is primarily attributable to mounting rail components, markers, printers, assembly and consulting. Growth in the area of intelligent components and solutions even amounted to 6%. "Business here was driven by strong demand for our latest terminal block family as well as our automation products around u-remote and our power supplies," explains Bibelhausen. "Only the device and field wiring segment and the OEM business were down 3% on the previous year. "The decline here is primarily due to the high sensitivity and rapid reaction of customers in the power electronics sector to economic fluctuations," Bibelhausen explains. In contrast, growth was recorded in the field wiring segment, which is benefiting significantly from the unbroken trend towards decentralization in automation and electrification.

Investment in research and development as well as modernization and expansion of the global production network

Weidmüller invested more than 6 percent of its turnover, namely EUR 53 million, in research and development in 2019. Within the company, 408 employees are currently working on the development of new solutions and products. The total number of employees rose from 4886 to 4974 in 2019. At the same time, Weidmüller invested almost 60 million euros in the modernization and expansion of its global production network. "The focus here was on completing the third wing of our customer and technology center as well as our production sites in China, Thuringia and Romania," explains CFO André Sombecki. In China, Weidmüller opened a 14,000 square meter production building in June after a construction period of just eight months. And in Germany, a new production hall was also opened in June at the site in Wutha-Farnroda, Thuringia. "The new production facility is a further step in the expansion of TWG as Weidmüller's high-tech location for industrial connector and cabling solutions," explains Sombecki. "Further expansions of the plant are planned in order to gradually dissolve the complex extended workbench structures and create a process-optimized, highly automated production," Bibelhausen continues.

Digitalization and automation in the core business of terminal blocks

In Weidmüller's core terminal block business, the company is strengthening its position by establishing digital services and further solutions and components for automatic assembly and marking. The aim here is to make workflows and processes more efficient for panel builders and fitters through coordinated production processes. "With our RailAssembler, terminal blocks can be automatically assembled on a mounting rail," explains Bibelhausen. "It complements our existing Workplace Solutions offering for greater efficiency in enclosure construction." Weidmüller is also pursuing its vision of shaping the control cabinet construction of the future together with other companies in the "Smart Cabinet Building" initiative. "This means that our customers benefit from integrated, coordinated solutions from the respective specialists in the field," explains Berger.

Expansion of the IIoT portfolio for the digitalization of processes

The number of employees at the Weidmüller Group rose slightly in 2019 - and not just at the headquarters in Detmold. At the end of the year, the company employed a total of 4,974 people.

© Weidmüller

At the same time, Weidmüller is further expanding its portfolio in the Industrial Internet of Things sector - with solutions for the acquisition, forwarding, processing and visualization of data. The company had already announced last year that it would be investing more heavily in the IIoT sector. "At the SPS automation trade fair in Nuremberg in November, we presented our first products such as the IoT terminal, which enables efficient and cost-effective status monitoring of decentralized machines and systems as well as simple automation controls," says Bibelhausen. "We are expanding our range with sensors for recording data. The portfolio is rounded off by the Industrial Analytics offering and the Automated Machine Learning tool for data evaluation. Based on seamless recordings of sensor, status and process data, customers can make reliable predictions about the quality of their products."

Investment in charging infrastructure for electromobility

The topic of electromobility will also continue to gain momentum over the next few years. "We presented our AC charging station for the first time at eMove360 in October and received a lot of positive feedback," explains Bibelhausen. "When developing our charging infrastructure solutions, the experts also pay close attention to factors that play a role in daily use: Installation, availability, reliability and acceptance of charging stations - and, of course, their cost-effectiveness." The company attaches particular importance to simple installation and a high level of user-friendliness - for example, how the plug is attached to the charging station and how the cable is wound up. To this end, Weidmüller acquired a 25.1 percent stake in Paderborn-based wallbe GmbH in 2019 in order to jointly develop innovative charging infrastructure solutions in Europe.

Cautiously positive outlook for 2020

The outlook for 2020 is difficult due to the current situation. "Even at the beginning of the year, there were many uncertainties that made us cautious about the future," says Sombecki. In the first quarter, Weidmüller recorded an order situation at the previous year's level. However, the order situation weakened significantly in April. "We are therefore satisfied that, despite all the uncertainties, we have been able to get through the crisis reasonably well so far. We are aware of the slowdown and must continue to act as cautious merchants. We are therefore continuing to consider all options in order to be able to react to a changed situation at short notice." To this end, there will also be short-time working in the administrative area for the month of May. The company is taking a 'cautious approach' here and is carefully weighing up all further steps. "In China, we were already confronted with the effects of the coronavirus crisis at the beginning of the year," adds Berger. "However, the situation here recovered relatively quickly in March. So we can see that the economy can recover quickly after a crisis situation and pick up speed again. Something that we are also currently assuming for the second half of 2020." The company is therefore setting the course to really get going again in 2021. "In any case, our plans and investments in locations and technologies are geared towards the long term," concludes Bibelhausen. "We are taking this path together with our shareholders and employees. We are therefore confident that we will emerge from this crisis stronger as a company and as a society."