Solid start i 2021

Solid start in the 2021 fiscal year: Phoenix Contact sees double digit increase in incoming orders

(April 9, 2021) On the occasion of a digital Phoenix Contact press conference, CEO Frank Stührenberg was talking about the past fiscal year and giving an insight in first economic developments in 2021. Scoring an increase of 20 percent in incoming orders, he was optimistic that the company would be able to record a high single-digit sales growth in the ongoing year.

“Covid 19 left its mark on the past fiscal year. Protecting our employees was our top priority. With mobile working and safety precautions in production and logistics, we were able to prevent a chain of infections," Stührenberg explained. An in-house test center, where an average of 300 tests were performed every week, had also contributed to this, he said. Worldwide cooperation throughout the Group enabled compliance with delivery dates, however, transport costs increased due to the frequent change of transport routes. “Altogether," Stührenberg summarizes, “the fiscal year 2020 was closed with a moderate sales decline of 3.6 percent.” “On a global scale, we made inconsistent experiences.” While China closed the year with an increase in sales of 9.8 percent, the US recorded a sales decline of 10 percent. In 2020, a turnover of 2.4 billion was generated. The company had around 17,100 employees worldwide.

The investment volume amounted to 150 million euros. At the headquarters in Blomberg, the logistics unit was expanded; the Herrenberg site in southern Germany expanded both the production and the logistics unit. In Nanjing, China, a production and logistics center with 42,000 m² was built. At the beginning of this year, Phoenix Contact E-Mobility was already able to put its new location in Poland into operation. AC and DC charging cables are manufactured there on an area of 15,000 m². The subsidiary, currently employing 340 people, expects a turnover of more than €100 million for 2021. This year, investments of the Phoenix Contact Group will amount to 7 percent of sales.

From April 12th to 16th, the Hannover Messe ‘Digital Edition’ takes place, where the company is showing its latest products and technologies. For the new NearFi technology, Phoenix Contact was nominated for the Hermes Award 2021, the industrial award the Deutsche Messe AG awards to products or solutions with a high level of technological innovation. This technology makes it possible to transmit data and power without contact through the air – across distances of up to 10 mm – without latency and in real time. It is first used in the new NearFi couplers. These are used, for example, for industrial robots to facilitate tool changes. Here, the couplers replace wear-sensitive connections.

In addition to the Hannover Messe ‘Digital Edition’, Phoenix Contact is again hosting its own digital format, the “Dialog Days”, as a platform for exchanging with customers and interested parties, as well as presenting new technologies and products. “It goes without saying that personal contact cannot be replaced by anything,” Stührenberg emphasized. “Via guided tours and live chats, however, we want to provide the possibility for a direct dialog to our visitors.”