Schunk starts off on the right foot

The 2022 financial year was - despite all the challenges - very successful for the Schunk Group. For 2023, the technology company expects a significant increase in sales to more than 1.5 billion euros.

"The 2022 financial year was characterized by a large number of crises. The war in Ukraine and the embargo against Russia weighed heavily on the global economy," says Dr. Arno Roth, CEO of the Schunk Group, looking back. There were enormous cost increases for energy and materials, and supply bottlenecks remained for a long time, especially for electronic components, Dr. Roth continues. "Nevertheless, 2022 was a very successful year for Schunk overall."

Compared to the previous year, Schunk's 2022 sales increased by ten percent to 1.4 billion euros. "Schunk continues to be profitable and financially very stable thanks to a high equity ratio," Dr. Roth emphasized.

Employees benefit additionally

Schunk's employees will benefit directly from the good financial year 2022, because they will additionally participate in Schunk's profits - above and beyond the collectively agreed remuneration. The technology company is spending a total of 20 million euros on this profit sharing. "Schunk's success is based on the commitment of our employees, and it speaks volumes for our corporate culture and for Schunk as an employer when this commitment is also recognized in the form of an additional share in the company's profits," Dr. Roth emphasized.

Schunk's workforce has grown to around 9,200 in 2022, with the acquisitions of Ascott, Hyprostatik Schönfeld and iDA also contributing to this growth. Schunk's investments remain high, averaging around €100 in recent years and even exceeding €130 million in 2022.

2023 good so far

Even though the economic outlook for 2023 remains rather bleak, the current year has been good for Schunk so far. The order backlog is higher than ever, and incoming orders continue at a high level. However, at the same time, costs have risen significantly, particularly for energy, materials and personnel. Overall, Dr. Roth is optimistic about the future: "Schunk is very well positioned for long-term growth, and this year we will exceed the €1.5 billion mark in sales."

To ensure that this positioning continues to enable growth in the future, Schunk has committed itself to the motto "Global Market Success." "In recent years in particular, we have seen how decidedly volatile the global economy can be and how crises, wars and location factors such as energy costs can have a negative impact on companies," explains Dr. Roth. "We are therefore taking precautions and already systematically identifying the markets in which we can grow in the future and defining initiatives for our market success."

The success of the future is also the result of today's investments, he says, which is why Schunk is investing at a very high level for 2023. This relates, for example, to future products such as the bipolar plate, which is used as the heart of fuel cells in the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier. Or new manufacturing capacities for future industries such as the semiconductor industry at the Georgetown site in Texas and Suzhou in China, Dr. Roth continued.

3D printing of ceramics enables completely new applications

"The core of our success as a technology company is our innovations," Dr. Roth continued. He added that their high share of total sales, which will be around one-third as early as 2025, is very gratifying. "Here we also benefit greatly from the fact that we aim for long-term success and, as a foundation company, have staying power."

A good example of this is the development of 3D printing of ceramics. IntrinSiC, Schunk's patented manufacturing process, combines the material properties of the high-performance material silicon carbide with the manufacturing process of 3D printing. This makes it possible to produce large and complex structures from one of the hardest and most heat-resistant materials of all. This enables completely new applications. These include precision mechanical engineering, metrology and aerospace. In other words, wherever minimized weight, increased precision, increased load-bearing capacity, high thermal conductivity combined with low thermal expansion and outstanding corrosion and oxidation resistance are required. Compared with conventional approaches, the process has the advantage of being more flexible, more cost-effective and, not least, conserves resources and saves CO2.

Accelerating digitalization

Another core topic for Schunk is digitalization, which is being driven forward at all levels in the company and for many products, and which lays the foundation for Schunk's digital future. In addition to the standardization and digitalization of the process landscape in the technology company, this also includes the development of intelligent products and digital business models.

Change in the company management

There will also be news at the top of Schunk in 2023: Peter R. Manolopoulos (54) will become the new CEO on Nov. 1, 2023. He will succeed Dr. Arno Roth (61), who will not extend his position as CEO beyond the expiration of his contract in October 2023 at his own request and for personal reasons.

Dr. Arno Roth has been with the Schunk Group since 1998, initially as general representative for strategic special tasks and from 2001 as managing director of Weiss Technik. He has been a Member of the Executive Board of Schunk since 2007, and in 2013 Dr. Arno Roth took over as CEO of the Schunk Group.

Under the leadership of Dr. Arno Roth, the sales of the Schunk Group exceeded the mark of one billion euros for the first time in history, and financial stability increased continuously. This was accompanied by high investments, especially in innovations.

The future CEO, Peter R. Manolopoulos, has already been a Member of the Executive Board of the Schunk Group for ten years and thus represents continuity at the top of the technology company. As Chief Operation Officer, he was previously responsible for the Machinery & Equipment Division. This includes the Business Units Environmental Simulations, Air Solutions, Sonosystems and OptoTech. Under the leadership of Peter R. Manolopoulos, the machinery business within the Schunk Group has grown strongly and is now the largest of the technology company's three divisions in terms of sales and number of employees.