Ziehl-Abegg, a motor and fan manufacturer based in Southern Germany, has reported a year of higher than average growth, with the company’s sales seeing an 8.1% growth to EUR 584 million; compared with EUR 540 million in the previous year.
The commencement of in-house composite material production in the Hohenlohe Business Park (Germany) is said to represent a milestone in the company’s history.
“This enables us to improve the way we transfer knowledge from the natural world to our products,” said CEO Peter Fenkl explaining the company’s bionic approach. According to Peter: “Bionics help us to further improve our products’ carbon footprint.”
One of the benefits for customers is that Ziehl-Abegg offers three technologies in-house – steel, aluminium and composite material. “This sets us apart from our competitors,“ said Peter.
“We are seeing two effects: in emerging countries, the impetus is coming from new building construction, whereas in countries like Germany, sales are shifting to the retrofitting and improvement of existing plants in old buildings,” said Peter.
This applies to both ventilation and drive technology. In drive technology, the sales driver is the ZAtop elevator drive. “Customers appreciate the reliability of the products as well as our quick and straightforward service,” emphasised Peter.
Growth in sales has also had an impact on employee numbers, rising from 2,000 to 2,359. Now employing 4,100 people worldwide, the company is up 200 from last year.
