WITRON presents good figures for the 2020 financial year

WITRON is celebrating its 50th anniversary and, despite the global Corona pandemic, has laid a solid foundation for 2021 in the 2020 financial year: new projects, 110 million euros more in revenue, 500 additional employees, 106 new apprentices, and a doubling of production space allow the Parkstein general contractor to remain optimistic about the future.

(Parkstein) Innovative solution and operating concepts from WITRON have maintained a very good reputation in the logistics market even in economically challenging times. This is reflected in the order intake, which exceeded the 1 billion euro mark in the past financial year. This was supported by contract signings with leading retail companies from Europe and North America, who trust WITRON’s omnichannel strategies across their food and non-food logistics centers. The decision to focus on crisis-proof and system-relevant industries has proven to be correct, as nearly 90 percent of the revenue is currently generated with customers from the retail and distribution sectors.

Award from the Bavarian State Ministry

The revenue increased from 600 million euros to 710 million euros, resulting in the hiring of 500 new employees. Currently, 4,500 employees work for the WITRON Group worldwide, with about 2,000 employees based at the company headquarters in northern Bavaria. Due to the continuously positive business development since the company’s founding, the family-owned company was awarded the “Bavaria’s Best 50” award by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy – awarded for above-average growth in the medium-sized sector. “This award is a positive signal not only for us as a company and employer but also for our region. We are very proud to be among Bavaria’s best medium-sized companies – this is a clear sign that hard work and years of commitment are rewarded,” says company founder Walter Winkler.

Over 100 new apprentices start their professional careers

WITRON continues to place a high value on the training of its employees. This is reflected in the hiring of over 100 apprentices for the second consecutive year, allowing them to start their professional careers in one of the 17 different technical and commercial training programs. Currently, WITRON employs nearly 300 apprentices, with a nearly 100 percent retention rate after training. The high commitment of the apprentices and trainers is evidenced year after year by numerous chamber and state winners.

Johannes Schweiger strengthens the management team

A significant growth market continues to be the ever-increasing service business, as more and more customers entrust WITRON with the responsibility for their logistics systems as a lifetime partner. This business area now encompasses more than half of the WITRON workforce. To optimally cover the associated diversity of topics and internationality both in personnel, functionally, and culturally, Johannes Schweiger has been strengthening the WITRON service management team since May 2020. He shares tasks and responsibilities with managing director Christian Dietl. The 33-year-old business graduate J. Schweiger has been with WITRON since 2013 and has successfully implemented various projects in the field of national and international human resources. Additionally, Helmut Prieschenk, Johannes Meißner, and Martin Stich are part of the five-member management team:

Next evolutionary step: Retail platform Omni Channel Machinery

After the OPM solution has developed into a standard in automated food logistics in its fourth generation, the Parkstein team is taking a step further. Although the lion’s share of the volume in food retail is still handled through stores, nearly all retailers in Europe and North America are looking for reasonable omnichannel solutions – with varying approaches. The goal is clear: to successfully serve all customer channels such as store business, click & collect, home delivery, drives, and convenience stores – while also successfully integrating all links in the supply chain such as suppliers, logistics centers, and transport. Success particularly refers to four core themes: maximum end-customer service, optimal overall economy, operational and strategic flexibility, and sustainability. These four dimensions are precisely what the Parkstein team has in mind. With nearly two decades of practical OPM deployment and supplying approximately 35,000 stores or 100 million end customers daily from over 80 OPM distribution centers, WITRON has enormous experience and know-how regarding networks in the food retail sector. Based on this, the Omni Channel Machinery (OCM) was developed, which consistently addresses the topic of multichannel distribution as a logistics platform. In particular, the following fundamental principles have been implemented regarding network economy: • Integration instead of parallel worlds and complex atomization • Utilizing synergies instead of multiplying the same processes for different channels • Focus on overall network economy instead of silo optimization. Projects with the OCM solution are already in the realization phase, such as at Axfood (Sweden) and Migros (Switzerland) – and are in concrete planning with other customers

New building for conveyor technology production on schedule

Significant progress has been reported from the construction site in Parkstein. The new building, which began in late 2019 and spans 120,000 m², will not only provide additional production capacity for WITRON’s mechanical manufacturing but also numerous offices for software developers and engineers, is progressing on schedule. The investment for this amounts to approximately 160 million euros. Upon planned completion – in time for the 50th anniversary of the company this year – the total WITRON production area will then exceed 212,000 m².
Photo: © WITRON / Caption: To be opened in the anniversary year: a 120,000 m² new production building in Parkstein (far right)