The TRUMPF Group has exceeded its own best financials in 2017/2018, recording its largest sales figure since it was founded in 1923, when it started as a machine shop in Stuttgart.
Sales reached €3.57 billion, up 14.6% on 2016/2017's €3.11 billion. Orders received increased 12.5% to €3.8 billion (2016/2017: €3.4 billion). Operating income before taxes rose by 52.3% to €514 million (2016/17: €337 million). Net operating margin amounted to 14.4% compared to 10.8% one year earlier.
Aided by an "ongoing strong global economy", TRUMPF beat its own expectations with the Machine Tools division (its largest) up 11.3% in terms of sales. The Laser Technology division achieved sales growth of 21.5%. EUV lithography for the exposure of microchips became more strategically important, growing 57.3%.
Germany leads the way; Italian market grows
Once again, Germany was the largest single market for TRUMPF, with sales up 15.6% to €719 million, followed by China (up 13% to €457 million), and the United States (up 5.4% to €444 million) in second and third place respectively.
Year-on-year sales in Italy grew 31.8% to €173 million, making the country the fourth-strongest single market for the first time. In addition to these markets, TRUMPF intends to intensify its business activities in Mexico, Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam in an effort to achieve average annual growth of 10%.
In the current fiscal year, despite the general slowdown of the global economy, TRUMPF expects to generate business with a similar level of profitability.
Staff and training
The Group-wide workforce grew 12.9% in the reporting period to 13,420 employees as of the June 30, 2018 balance sheet date and has since exceeded the 13,500 mark. In Germany, there were 6,778 employees, around 3,900 of whom were employed at the company HQ in Ditzingen (up 12.5%).
During the year under review, 450 young people completed a training course at TRUMPF or a co-op work-study program. The training quota in the Group stood at 3.5 percent.
Emerging tech
In the past fiscal year, TRUMPF invested in emerging technologies such as EUV lithography or metal 3D printing (additive manufacturing), as well as driving forward the AXOOM digital business platform. Expenditure on R&D rose 5.9% to €337 million. The company’s R&D ratio in relation to sales amounted to 9.5%. The number of employees worldwide working on new products for TRUMPF increased 13.2% to 2,087.
The company’s capital expenditure largely went towards the new HQ building in Ditzingen, and the remaining one third to the expansion of the German manufacturing sites in Teningen and Schramberg. The smart factory demonstration centre in Chicago saw an investment of €26 million. Another major investment project was the creation of the TRUMPF Group’s largest-ever production site, operated by the Chinese joint venture JFY. The total cost of this investment was €14 million.
Earlier this year, TRUMPF UK announced a new management team.
PICTURED: TRUMPF's president and chairwoman of the board Nicola Leibinger Kammueller, who owns more than a quarter of the company.
