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Beckhoff Automation reports that it successfully continued its growth trajectory through 2023, achieving an increase in sales value of 16% compared to the previous year. The automation technology specialist currently employs 5 500 people worldwide (March 2024), including over 2 000 engineers, all of whom contribute to the company's global success. It also cites continuous innovation in all areas of automation and close cooperation with many global technology leaders as key factors in its success.

Hans Beckhoff founder and Managing Director Beckhoff Automation

Hans Beckhoff, founder and Managing Director, Beckhoff Automation. 

Challenging economic trends in 2023 and 2024

Managing Director, Hans Beckhoff says, "2023 was a challenging financial year. The strong growth in incoming orders from 2022 continued in the first few months of 2023 and led to a record order backlog and sales. However, incoming orders declined significantly as the year progressed. In the main, we can attribute this to the fact that our customers built up big stockpiles of products and placed mass orders in 2022 and at the beginning of 2023 to compensate for fluctuations in deliveries during the components crisis. They balanced this by ordering smaller quantities in the course of 2023. In addition, cyclical declines had an impact on some regions and industries."

In the first quarter of 2024, Beckhoff observed a stabilisation in incoming orders with a slightly positive trend. "We anticipate a significant increase in demand in the second half of the year," Hans Beckhoff states, although he adds: "In 2024, we will probably still see a significant decline in incoming orders and sales in comparison to 2023. We do not expect to see decent growth again until 2025.

“It will be the fifth sharp downturn that we experience in our 44-year history. However, as a solid family business, we are well-prepared for this and, together with our customers, we will make the most of the resulting opportunities."

All products available ex stock

Over the past two years Beckhoff has made extensive investments in production, warehousing, and infrastructure, including increasing production capacity by more than 100%. In addition, the supply situation for components has improved significantly in the market. Hans Beckhoff says, "Our goal was to do everything we could to ensure reliable standard delivery times for our customers again by the end of 2023." Beckhoff is currently able to supply almost all products ex-stock again.

Innovations for automation

The company will introduce more innovations at the upcoming Hannover Messe. These will include, among others, industrial PCs with more CPU power, powerful control software for Windows and Linux, expansion of the Beckhoff Bus Terminal System, the MX-System, which can replace the control cabinet, new drive amplifiers and motors, new software-based safety CPUs, and deep integration of AI into the control and engineering functions.

A positive outlook for long-term development

Overall, Hans Beckhoff is positive about the future: "Automation is a basic technology that is used in all areas of society worldwide and it is a driver behind digital and ecological transformation. Constantly growing demand and the introduction of new product ranges and forms of technology should enable us to return to good, steady growth from 2025. Our software and PC-based control technology in combination with our powerful hardware for I/O, motion, vision, and AI, along with the expertise and commitment of our employees, have laid an excellent foundation for many successful customer applications. We are looking forward to taking on new challenges.

He adds: "We remain dedicated to our mission: we seek to evolve our portfolio every year and introduce revolutionary new technology every five to seven years."

The sales curve at Beckhoff Automation continues to rise reflecting the company’s average annual growth of 15% since 2000.

For more information visit: www.beckhoff.com