Beckhoff Automation continued its powerful growth trajectory in 2023, increasing global revenue to 1.75 billion euros. This represents a 16% increase compared with the previous year’s sales. The company’s more than 5,500 employees worldwide (as of March 2024), including over 2,000 engineers, contributed to this international success.
In the U.S., revenue topped $163.13 million in 2023–a 21.6% increase over 2022–and accounted for roughly 10% of Beckhoff global revenue. Beckhoff USA expanded its workforce by 20% as the subsidiary forged new paths, with substantial growth in all areas of operations, technology and sales.
Beckhoff’s success comes largely from its breakthrough technologies. The company, long known as a leader in PC-based control and real-time industrial networking, continues to redefine what’s possible through its development of cabinet-free automation, adaptive manufacturing and integration of AI into industrial applications.
Challenging economic trends in 2023 and 2024
Despite the strong finish, 2023 was a challenging financial year. “The intense growth of incoming orders from 2022 continued in the first few months of 2023 and led to records in order backlog and sales,” explained Hans Beckhoff (pictured above), managing director at Beckhoff. “However, incoming orders declined significantly as the year progressed. We can primarily attribute this to the fact that our customers built up large stockpiles of automation products and placed mass orders in 2022 and at the beginning of 2023 to compensate for fluctuations in deliveries during the global supply chain crisis. They balanced this by ordering smaller quantities as 2023 progressed. In addition, cyclical declines had an impact on some regions and industries.”
In the first quarter of 2024, Beckhoff observed a stabilization in incoming orders with a slightly positive trend. “We anticipate a significant increase in demand in the second half of the year,” Hans Beckhoff added. “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. However, that doesn’t worry us. It will be the fifth sharp downturn that we will experience over our 44-year history. As a solid family business, we are well prepared for this and will make the most of the resulting opportunities together with our customers.”
Beckhoff USA invested heavily in people and infrastructure while championing new organizational goals to return to rapid growth. “We took all necessary steps to deliver in the face of extraordinary demand last year,” said Kevin Barker, President of Beckhoff USA. “In 2024, we continue to focus on providing world-class customer experiences, building high-performing teams and maintaining a culture of continuous improvement.”
All Beckhoff products available in-stock again
Over the past two years, Beckhoff has made extensive investments in production, warehousing and infrastructure, including increasing production capacity by more than 100%. In the U.S., order fulfillment returned to pre-pandemic lead times through strategic warehousing and supply chain initiatives. The subsidiary completed an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) at its headquarters in the Minneapolis area. The AS/RS increased warehouse storage capacity by 60% with room to grow.
“Implementing the AS/RS was a major undertaking. It was complicated by the fact that we continued to receive product and ship in high volumes from the warehouse during the ambitious two-phase project,” Barker said. “But the positive impact has been huge. We’ve transformed processes for faster turnaround times and provide a more engaging, tech-enabled work experience for our growing warehouse staff.”
In addition, the global supply chain for components has improved significantly across the market. Beckhoff currently supplies almost all products from stock. “Our goal was to do everything we could to assure reliable standard delivery times for our customers again by the end of 2023,” Hans Beckhoff stated.
A positive outlook in the long term
Overall, Hans Beckhoff remains very positive about the future. The company is engaging with engineers in Germany, the U.S. and around the globe in countless category-defining applications using breakthrough automation tech.
“Automation is a foundational technology used in all areas of society worldwide, and it is a driver behind digital and environmental transformation. Constantly growing demand and the introduction of new categories of products and technology should enable us to return to strong, steady growth from 2025 onward,” Hans Beckhoff said. “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 – provide an excellent foundation for many successful customer applications. We are looking forward to taking on these challenges.”
Source: automation.com
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