"That's a really good result that we're very proud of," says the managing director, Hans Beckhoff. His company registered incoming orders at an unprecedented level: "We could certainly have increased even further last year, but the lack of components and also our own capacities set limits in some areas," says Hans Beckhoff, explaining the tense situation in many areas of industry .

Very good economic developments in Germany, Europe and the world

For the German market, Beckhoff achieved an increase in sales of around 27%, while incoming orders more than doubled. The company also noted similar tendencies in many other countries in which it sells its products. "With one or two exceptions, in 2021 we saw significant growth in almost all countries with our own sales offices - often in the double-digit percentage range," summarizes the managing owner. He explains: "Our two largest subsidiaries in China and the USA have also grown strongly in double digits." As in Germany, incoming orders abroad were usually well above the actual sales growth.

Automation technology is currently experiencing a veritable boom all over the world and across all sectors. However, the demand exceeds the production capacities of the suppliers, which are additionally weakened by the global pandemic. For Beckhoff, this is particularly evident in the lack of semiconductors and the lack of other electronic components. "This bottleneck will probably continue beyond 2022," predicts Hans Beckhoff, adding: "Nevertheless, we have to prepare for better raw material availability in order to be able to fulfill customer orders as quickly as possible. For this reason, we are working intensively on the expansion and optimization of our entire company - from administration to development and production."

Expansion of the corporate infrastructure at the main site in Verl

The rapid and dynamic company growth presents the technology company with major challenges. Production capacities have already been expanded and human resources increased. By the middle of the year, Beckhoff will expand its production capacities in Verl and the surrounding area by more than 50 percent compared to the beginning of 2020. "To do this, we are activating our last space reserves and acquiring additional areas," reports Hans Beckhoff. Beckhoff recently acquired a 15-hectare site in the immediate vicinity of existing properties in a newly planned, inter-municipal commercial area in the cities of Rietberg and Verl. “An industrial park is to be created here that will offer both Beckhoff Automation and our wholly-owned subsidiaries Smyczek and Schirmer, who are also growing dynamically with us, space for further expansion in the future. At least 1,000 additional jobs will be created here over the next ten years,” continues Hans Beckhoff.

Expansion also outside of Verl

At the same time as the expansions in Verl, Beckhoff is expanding nationally and internationally. The company has its own subsidiaries in 40 countries. This close-knit network to support Beckhoff customers is constantly being expanded. In Balingen, Baden-Württemberg, a new building is currently being built for the local sales office. A completely energy self-sufficient building is being built here, which will be occupied at the beginning of 2023. In Marktheidenfeld in Lower Franconia, the local engine production of the subsidiary Fertig Motors is expanded.

The automation technology specialist also opened an office in Kaunas, Lithuania, in the 2021 financial year to serve the local market. The subsidiary Beckhoff Austria is building a new headquarters in Bürs. At the same time, Beckhoff Sweden is building a new headquarters and the first production facility outside of Germany is to be set up in China near Shanghai. The main reason for this is that the Chinese market, which with a share of more than 22% is one of the strongest sales for Beckhoff Automation, can be better served from within the country.

The number of employees continues to grow consistently

In the past fiscal year, Beckhoff hired more than 500 new employees worldwide. As of March 2022, the family company had 5,000 employees (previous year: 4,500): 3,400 of them in and around Verl, 3,850 in Germany as a whole and 1,450 abroad. “Having the expertise in-house is an important success factor for us. Beckhoff manufactures complex high-tech products that are developed jointly by many bright minds in our company,” says Hans Beckhoff, explaining the comparatively high number of currently 1,900 engineers among his employees. He continues: “We at Beckhoff say: The engineers have to save the world! It is our job to develop products and automate production processes in such a way that they use less raw material and energy than before. Effectiveness and productivity must be increased every year so that the global desire for greater prosperity can be met in an ecologically compatible manner.”

In order to be able to count on valuable specialists in the future, Beckhoff has been training young people in eight different industrial and commercial occupations since the 1980s. Since 2010, the high-tech producer has also relied on academic training in practice-integrated studies in cooperation with the Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences on the Gütersloh campus.