The maxon motor group achieved a new revenue record in 2017. The company has increased its revenues to CHF459m with growth in all markets and expansion of production capacity at all sites.

Revenues rose by 8.6% to CHF459m from CHF422.5m in the previous year. All markets contributed to the growth, cash flow increased to just under CHF50m from 41.7m and the number of employees in the group rose to 2,577 by the end of the year.

At a 40% revenue share, medical technology continues to be maxon motor’s strongest sector, followed by industrial automation at 28%. With research and development (R&D) investments of CHF34m and more than 360 employees in its R&D sites worldwide, maxon has succeeded in bringing more than 20 new motors and gearheads to market and expand the company’s position as a leading manufacturer of high-quality drive components and system. Based on the good order situation, maxon looks to the future with confidence

The drivers of growth at maxon are mainly the innovative precision drives with high-efficiency and the matching electronics for controlling complex motion sequences. The company produces in Sachseln/CH, Sexau/GER, Veszprém/HU, Cheonan/South Korea, and soon at its new factory in Taunton near Boston. In addition to the sites above, R&D facilities are also located in China, France and the Netherlands.

Growth in all markets worldwide

maxon motor’s biggest market in Europe is Germany, followed by Switzerland and the UK. Italy and the Iberian peninsula also grew markedly.

After some years of stagnation, a strong growth has also picked up in the US.

In Asia, maxon achieved new records in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In China, maxon has seen double-digit growth over the past years.

Majority shareholder Karl-Walter Braun said: “The revenue increase by 100 million over four years has posed a great challenge to us as a company in regard to quality and service. Owing to our highly trained employees, we have been able to master this challenge successfully.”

Unbroken innovative power

One in seven of maxon motor’s employees works in R&D. As a result of these steadily expanding capabilities, maxon launched more than 20 new electric motors, gearheads, encoders and controllers in the past year.

In aerospace, the motors work at temperatures as low as -130°C, while the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mercury Planetary Orbiter space probe has to withstand temperatures of more than 350°C on its flight toward the sun. In 2020, high-performance maxon motors will be used in two rover missions by ESA and Nasa, after having run for more than 15 years in the hostile Mars environment despite a scheduled service life of only a few weeks.

CEO of maxon motor group Eugen Elmiger said: “Our Mission 2020 strategy for growth, which we launched years ago with the goal of achieving forward integration of drive systems, is showing some initial success.

“For example, we’ve been able to secure a large order for pump systems to reduce nitrous gas emissions in Diesel cars in the highly competitive automotive market. We also drove forward the development of complete surgical power tools, as well as micro-pump systems used in minimal invasive cardiac surgery.”

Eugen Elmiger also expects healthy growth for the user-friendly and efficient high-performance multi-axis controllers made by zub, a company acquired by maxon last year.

Strong start into the new year

The first months of the New Year were characterised by strong growth across the group. Pending orders and revenues exceed the figures of the previous year. Due to the overall economic development, the company expects growth to slow down somewhat in the second half of the year.

Karl-Walter Braun says: “We will approach further expansion with the necessary caution.”