Pilz to invest in HQ R&D after successful 2016

Jul. 30, 2017 – The Pilz GmbH & Co. KG group of companies says it has increased its turnover to 306 million euro while increasing its workforce to around 2,200 employees in 40 subsidiaries. As a result of this success, Pilz plans to invest around seven million euro in research & development at its Ostfildern, Germany, headquarters.

Having starting production in the new Peter Pilz Production and Logistics Centre, the enterprise is now working to convert its previous production area into a “state-of-the-art” research and development centre. Once the building work is completed, around 330 engineers will occupy the facility to develop new technologies and products “for the automation of the future,” says the company.

“Industry is going through a transformation process. Networking and digitization of business processes are changing not only production but also the way in which we work together. We are well positioned to drive this change,” said Renate Pilz, chair of the Pilz GmbH & Co. KG board.

In 2016, Pilz increased its export share by 0.3 percentage points to 71.2 per cent. To help boost international growth, the company expanded its sales and service network by opening Pilz South East Asia last year.

Pilz achieved around 75 per cent of its turnover in Europe, around 15 per cent in Asia and just under 10 per cent in America, last year. Among the subsidiaries showing the greatest growth in 2016 were the Asian countries, plus the subsidiaries in India, Brazil and southern Europe.

The control and drive technology product area remained the most important revenue contributor for Pilz in 2016 (66 per cent), but the areas of sensor technology and services are now also in double figures (15 and 13 per cent respectively). A particular segment for ongoing development is the area of safe robotics, says Pilz, noting that the rise of robots in an industrial environment is increasingly linked with the closest possible collaboration between human and machine.

At the end of the year, Renate will leave the operational side of the business and hand the management of the family business over to daughter Susanne Kunschert and son Thomas Pilz. “My children will be in complete charge of running the company in future: building on our corporate values and our strategy, they will continue to lead the company in tried and trusted fashion.”