At the press event on the evening prior to the opening of injection moulding machine manufacturer Arburg’s traditional annual Technology Days, Michael Hehl, managing partner and spokesman of the Arburg management board, called the current situation in the world ‘challenging’. Yet: “Such times offer opportunities to those who are prepared to seize them,” he said. “Over the past 102 years we have proven time and again that Arburg can do this.”
The market today, especially in Europe, is focussing on resilience, efficiency and economic success. In response, the company is organising and tailoring its portfolio accordingly. It offers a range running from high-end solutions and systems – complex, customised production cells for sophisticated applications – to efficient standard solutions designed to produce standard products in the most economically beneficial way possible. And, as the level of employee expertise continues to wane and finding new personnel becomes increasingly difficult, machine control systems are taking more and more of the thinking out of the job, said Guido Frohnhaus, managing director technology and engineering. “Simpler, role-based solutions are increasingly in demand.”
He went on to mention Arburg’s aim to expand its local presence in the growth markets of Asia and the Americas. The assembly site in China is being expanded, and by the second quarter of 2025, the company will have around 11,000 square meters of production and office space available there.
“Intensive analyses are underway for North America,” he added. He emphasised that these moves are not about relocating production but about expanding capacity.”
During last year’s Technology Days, Arburg announced it would for the first time start assembling machinery outside of Germany, marking a paradigm shift for the German manufacturer.
In terms of financial performance, the message this year was more sombre, said Steffen Kroner, managing director finance, controlling, IT and HR management.
“We were unable to achieve the original forecast of €620 million and ultimately generated consolidated sales of around €600 in 2024. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to a decline of 23%.”
As well, Arburg has steadily been using ‘socially responsible’ measures to sustainably reduce the workforce in combination with short time working throughout the company in Germany since January 2024 for cyclical capacity adjustments.
Against the backdrop of geopolitical instability and economic uncertainties, Arburg is nonetheless maintaining its position ‘in the individual regions’, said Tobias Bauer, managing director sales and after sales. He noted that Europe is likely to continue to struggle in the near future. The company is keeping a close eye on the ‘clear weaknesses in the market development in the Americas in recent years’ and is obviously very concerned about the looming threat of tariffs on European goods.
“Asia as a whole is and generally will remain a region with high momentum and growth opportunities,” he said.
There was one small ray of hope ,he added. Afters-sales are picking up and are on par with last year.
“This shows our customers’ production is running but that they are still cautious when it comes to investments. We see the situation in the after-sales business as a positive sign that there will be potential for an upturn and new investments as soon as national and international conditions change.”