Arburg expects to top 2014 sales

Friedrichshafen, Germany — Arburg GmbH + Co KG this year will surpass the 548 million euro  ($623.8 million) mark for sales that the company posted in 2014, officials said at a Fakuma 2015 press conference Oct. 13 in Friedrichshafen.

“I think that we'll exceed, and be able to top the results of 2014,” said Michael Hehl, managing partner and spokesman for the Arburg management team.

Business is “going very well” this year in Germany, Arburg's home market, Hehl said. In the rest of Europe, business is at a high level in Central and Eastern Europe.

The United Kingdom is particularly strong in Western Europe. “We are experiencing good growth rates there, as production is being brought back into the country,” Hehl said.

The United States remains Arburg's biggest export market. Earlier this year, the company opened a new U.S. headquarters in Rocky Hill, Conn.

Helmut Heinson, managing director of sales, said the U.S. market is growing at a double-digit annual rate.

Hehl said Arburg has expanded its activity in Asia in recent years, which will continue. Business in China “is progressing satisfactorily,” he said.

The solid business means Arburg has added about 150 employees this year, bringing the total to 2,050 in the headquarters in Lossburg, Germany, and another 450 around the world.

The German machinery manufacturer is very active in apprenticeship training.

Fifty-six new trainees and university students began their training at Arburg in September. And at Fakuma, Arburg — for the first time — has set up a recruiting stand next to its exhibition.

Hehl said Arburg is well-positioned for Industry 4.0. At Fakuma, Arburg booth visitors can see two examples — both involving the company's Freeformer additive manufacturing machines. One Freeformer, making personalized scissors, is linked to an injection molding machine and — for the first time — is automated, using a seven-axis robot. The second example is the production of rocker-type light switches.

In Industry 4.0 fashion, visitors will be able to personalize the parts, and the entire process will be recorded by Arburg's ALS host computer system, and archived to the cloud.