German injection moulding machine manufacturer Arburg (Lossburg; www.arburg.com) is feeling the effects of the crisis – at the Fakuma trade fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, CFO Jürgen Boll reported that, as things stand today, sales of only around EUR 750 mn are expected for 2023. In 2022, the company had achieved a “grandiose” EUR 875 mn. According to him, the reason for the slump in turnover is the significant decline in incoming orders. 

These had already been noticeable in the second half of 2022 and continued this year. Arburg’s head of sales Gerhard Böhm did not want to specify the exact amount of the drop in orders. Instead, he referred to the 30% slump in orders for the industry as a whole, as quantified by the German engineering association VDMA (KuG, Frankfurt; http://kug.vdma.org). The injection moulding sector was even more severely affected, Böhm emphasised.

As a consequence of the “tense situation”, Arburg plans to introduce short-time work throughout the company in January 2024. “We are moving to a four-day week,” said the CFO. Only the research and development division would be exempt from this measure, added technology managing director Guido Frohnhaus. The number of employees at Arburg has increased significantly in recent months. The company currently employs around 3,800 worldwide. This is an increase of 6% compared to a year ago. Of the approximately 3,200 employees in Germany, around 3,000 work at the Lossburg site.

There have also been some changes in the company’s management. As the managing partner and spokesperson for the Arburg management, Michael Hehl, reported at Fakuma, a corporate advisory board is to be set up in the near future. Who will sit on this board and what its exact task will be, however, still seems unclear. Hehl himself spoke of “unlaid eggs”. Apparently, the only thing that is certain is that the advisory board will also take care of succession arrangements among the shareholders. Hehl reported that his cousin Renate Keinath would be leaving Arburg “in the near future”. He himself and his sister Juliane Hehl, however, are to remain in the company.