Altensteig. In the 2012 financial year, the Boysen Group posted record figures for the third successive year. At the same time, the past year marked the start of the largest and fastest growth spurt in the history of the medium-sized automotive supplier to date. CEO Rolf Geisel said: "In mid-2012 we won crucial major contracts. To handle them, we needed to increase our number of sites worldwide from ten to 17 within just two years."
The exhaust technology specialist's turnover in 2012 was 984 million Euro - compared to 969 million Euro the previous year. In percentage terms, the rise is a small one but Rolf Geisel takes a slightly different view of the figures. "The results show that Boysen has bucked the industry trend and has successfully overcome the sharp declines in the European automotive market and the global commercial vehicle market." Once again, the company's customer profile played a big role. "Our main customers in the automotive sector are Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz. Their models are enjoying continued success in the USA and China, which has enabled us to partially compensate for the falls in Europe."
At the end of 2012, the number of employees was 1,980 compared to 1,900 in 2011. Investments ran to 82 million Euro, maintaining the previous year's level. The foundation company has not revealed any other figures. But Geisel assured the public: "Even though the high cost pressure in the supplier sector makes it hard to achieve a good return, Boysen's profits are once again firmly at the upper end in our industry. This shows that we are right to make consistent investments in making our production more automated and flexible. Our plants are operating profitably."
Looking back, Geisel emphasised the importance of the future and growth strategy pursued by the group of companies since mid-2012. This has included five new production sites. From 2014 onwards, Boysen will produce complete exhaust systems at the new plant just completed in Achim near Bremen, as well as the new production sites in Tuscaloosa (USA), East London (South Africa) and Langfang (China), which are at different stages of construction. They will supply BMW and Mercedes. The just-in-sequence production and delivery that Boysen has been operating successfully since 1994 will be launched for the successor to the Audi A4 at the new Ingolstadt site from 2015. Geisel believes that constant adaptation to customers' production volumes and processes is the key to the company's success: "The fact that we were the first to introduce the just-in-sequence principle for exhaust systems and have been consistently optimising it ever since has made a major contribution to us winning the major contracts behind the new production sites."
Despite the expansion of production capacities, the CEO is convinced that "we can only achieve a long-term increase in our turnover and our market share by continuing to improve our innovation and development performance". In line with this conviction, the Boysen Group's growth strategy includes the construction of a second development site. Work on the Boysen Innovation Centre began in June of this year at Nagold in Baden-Württemberg, just a few kilometres from the development and administration centre in Altensteig. Up to 120 new employees at the site will take on some of the development work for automotive customers, as well as all new developments for commercial vehicle customers.
The acquisition of MHG Fahrzeugtechnik GmbH at Heubach in Swabia complements the other elements of the growth strategy. "MHG is an established specialist in small series and prototype parts in the exhaust sector. We have been working very closely with the family company for many years and have built up a huge amount of trust", Geisel says.
In 2012 Boysen had ten sites worldwide. By 2014 the number will be 17 - resulting in an increase in the number of employees to around 2,500. The CEO puts the total investment in the expansion at around 280 million Euro. "Doing all this in just 24 months is a massive challenge. It is only feasible with a huge effort and unconditional commitment. At the same time, we will be pushing ahead with the expansion of existing sites and continuously working on new and improved production methods."
Looking at the current and future order situation, Rolf Geisel's forecasts for the ongoing development of the group of companies are extremely positive. "In the current financial year 2013, with our major construction projects, Boysen will achieve a turnover of one billion Euro for the first time. This will be done with just 2,000 employees. 2014 and 2015 will then be the years of major personnel expansion at the new sites. From 2015, we will see the full impact of the contracts for the new plants. By 2016, we will be well on the way towards 1.5 billion Euro."
The forecast figures do not yet include the "huge potential" that the 57-year old believes still exists in the exhaust technology sector. Geisel, who does not consider pure electric cars to have a sustainable future, is thinking partly of new hybrid technologies involving conventional combustion engines and electric drives. "In addition, worldwide legislation on exhaust standards is far less strict than in Europe and, to some extent, in America. We will soon see Asia and South America catch up in this area."
The European Union in Brussels also recognises the potential for reducing emissions and noise, and is putting its faith in the exhaust technology specialist Boysen's reputation for innovation. A few weeks ago, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced that it will be supporting one of the company's research projects with a loan of 45 million Euro.
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The Boysen Group develops and produces sheet metal manifolds, catalytic converters, diesel particulate filters, silencers and complete exhaust systems for cars, commercial vehicles and off-highway applications. Major customers include the German vehicle manufacturers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and VW, the English brands Bentley and Rolls Royce and the commercial vehicle manufacturer MAN.
The group of companies currently employs around 2,000 people at 13 domestic and international sites. In addition to the development and administration centre and the production plant in Altensteig, Boysen has production sites in Simmersfeld, Heubach, Salching, Achim and Plauen, and also in France, Egypt, India, China and the USA.
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In case of any queries, please contact:
Christian Grimm
Marketing Team Leader
BIN Boysen Innovationszentrum Nagold GmbH & Co. KG
Lise-Meitner-Straße 21
72202 Nagold
Tel. 07452/83988-20
Fax 07452/83988-99
E-mail christian.grimm(at)bin.boysen-online.de
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