INDUSTRY NEWS
Bright past - bright future T
he history of Trumpf Great Britain can be described, without exaggeration, as a
unique success story. Four decades ago we started out here very modestly – with a small office, just five employees, and an annual turnover of a few hundred thousand pounds. That has now been transformed into a subsidiary that is flourishing and successful in every sense. Today we have almost 100 employees here and generate an annual turnover of about 40 million pounds. That makes “TGB”, as we refer to it familiarly in-house, one of our Top Ten most important subsidiaries worldwide. For us, Great Britain is an important market not only in terms of quantity but also quality. Here, in practically all technological fields, we have very discerning customers – customers who challenge us, and inspire us to come up with outstanding technological solutions. That kind of thing is important for a company like ours. If we want to maintain our lead position in the markets and extend it wherever possible, we need precisely this kind of interplay with customers, because it helps us to become “that little bit better” all the time. I expect that all of you here who know a lot about the mechanical engineering sector, will want to know what we think of the current economic situation and how it will develop. Even a few months ago, I would still have had great difficulty answering that question. This is because over the past 18 or even 24 months, we’ve been unable to detect any clear trends – not at Trumpf itself, nor in the global machine-tool market. (In the laser sector, our company’s second major pillar, things are even more volatile due to strong project business, and it’s even harder
26 IMT April/May 2014
A recent press address by Dr. Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, President of Trumph GmbH + Co. KG, Ditzingen, who, recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the TGB in the UK
to make any precise statements there). Anyway, for a long time we didn’t trust ourselves to make any reliable statement as to where developments were headed. Today, as far as I can see, the fog seems to be lifting somewhat. Where orders received are concerned, we have now had four very good months in a row – and we may be looking at a trend here. Do forgive me for not mentioning any specific figures – but what I can tell you is that for fiscal 2013/14 we’re expecting a good, or even a very good, year for the company. Our fiscal year ends on June 30th, when we expect to be able to report an increase in turnover as well as an increase in our yield. All of that depending, naturally, on no external shocks having an adverse effect on the development of the world economy. These days we need look no further than the Crimea to see how quickly that
can happen. TGB will also develop positively. You’re all aware of the official forecasts based on sharp growth in the British economy. The UK will probably remain the fastest growing national economy in Europe. And based on everything I know about our own business here in Great Britain, and on what our customers are telling us, I’m assuming that this growth will not be taking place exclusively in the banking and services sector, nor will it be driven exclusively by consumer spending. No, there is clearly some investment in British industry, too. That is why we, as a classic company from the capital goods industry, are assuming that our British subsidiary is also going to see a sharp increase in turnover. Our objective is quite clear: we want to continue expanding our business here in Great Britain and gaining market share. “That enables our firm to
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spend between 8 and 10% of its turnover each year on research and development – that is more than double the average for our sector.” We believe we are well set to do just that. After all, with all our technologies, our aim is to be the leader and to set trends in the market. Our ‘Open House’ for our British customers begins tomorrow. In this anniversary year we have entitled it “Bright Past, Bright Future”. And I’m sure you’ve already noticed the reference there to our new “Brightline Fiber” technology. As far as I know you all got to know about this entirely new method this morning, but please let me emphasize: “Brightline Fiber” represents a true revolution in laser cutting. Solid-state laser machines are becoming far more versatile than they have been until now. These machines always had a reputation for being very productive – that
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