KUKA, a global automation corporation with sales of around 3.9 billion euros and about 14,000 employees worldwide, is headquartered in Augsburg, Germany, and offers — from a single source — production equipment ranging from robots and cells to fully automated systems and their networking in markets such as automotive, electronics, metal and plastic, consumer goods, e-commerce/retail, and healthcare.
In 2022, KUKA achieved the highest order intake in the company’s history, the sum of 4,459.5 million euros representing an increase of 25.1% over the previous year (2021: 3,563.3 million euros). KUKA said all divisions contributed to this good result, with demand from China particularly high and customers in the USA also investing in KUKA systems, especially for the production of e-vehicles. Sales in 2022 were 18.6% higher than in the previous year (2021: 3,286.2 million euros); and the book-to-bill ratio (the ratio of orders received to units shipped and invoiced for the period) of 1.14 was above the previous year’s level (2021: 1.08).
Peter Mohnen, KUKA Group’s CEO, said: “It is impossible to imagine industry and business without automation; it is more in demand than ever throughout all industries and countries — especially because of the Covid crisis and the increasing labour shortage. China, in particular, is an important growth market for KUKA, as we generate about a quarter of the Group’s sales revenues there. This shows that our global orientation is an important success factor for KUKA.
“Thanks to efficiency measures and high sales, KUKA improved EBIT significantly — by 91.6% (2021: 61.8 million). This was achieved despite a sharp rise in energy and logistics costs and higher procurement prices. However, constraints in the supply chain not only led to higher inventories with more stocks of components and raw materials, but also to delays in delivery and payment — factors that strongly impacted the free cash flow, which amounted to -188.3 million euros in 2022.”
That said, in the first three months of the current financial year, KUKA again exceeded the results of the same period last year in all divisions. Mr Mohnen added: “Even though high prices, a strained supply chain and fierce competition will continue to accompany us in 2023, we have started the new financial year with a very good first quarter. We owe this to the commitment of KUKA employees worldwide.”
“The world is changing, and new technologies and automation solutions are providing answers to pressing questions in our society. How can affordable housing be created? How can small and medium-size businesses remain competitive even with fewer skilled workers? Also, how can industry produce more resource efficiently and sustainably? With KUKA and our innovations, we are part of the solution to many pressing issues.”