Pilz Overcomes a Difficult Environment in the 2024 Financial Year
May 21, 2025
By Susanne Kunschert, Managing Partner Pilz GmbH & Co. KG
In the last financial year, the Pilz Group had to contend with the generally difficult economic situation. In 2024, our company achieved a turnover of 341 million Euro. That corresponds to a fall of 21 per cent over the previous year. After 3 very good years, 2024 was weak, particularly in Germany. The export share rose to 79 per cent (up 4.6 percentage points over 2023).
A look at the regions: Shaped by political and economical frameworks
After the overheated market development in 2022 and 2023, the slowdown in Europe in 2024 was clearly noticeable. The structural crisis in the automotive industry added to overstocking issues. Some of our focus industries, such as mechanical engineering, packaging and intralogistics, are part of the automotive supply chain and so were also affected.
For Pilz, the decline in orders in mechanical engineering meant a fall in product and solution sales, but at the same time a rise in the service business with consulting, engineering and training. Instead of investing in new machinery, the industry is investing in maintenance and retrofit projects or in further training for its employees.
In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the picture is mixed: the economic outlook in emerging countries such as India, Vietnam and Indonesia was positive, but economic instability prevailed in other APAC countries, not least due to political tensions. Overall, Pilz recorded a decline in sales in the Asia-Pacific region compared to 2023.
In the largest Asian market, China, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of our production site in Jintan in 2024. In the autumn, we commissioned two new production lines there for safety light curtains and our small controllers PNOZmulti 2. Our aim is to continue growing in Asia. And we are ready to meet the requirements of the Asian market in terms of price and delivery speed, while maintaining the outstanding quality for which we are known.
Overall, Asia-Pacific is enacting more and more safety regulations, and often follows European and international standards. The new European Machinery Regulation is worth highlighting. Many manufacturers in Asia recognise its importance for the export and use of electronic devices developed in Europe. We can say that we enjoy a leading position in Asia when it comes to Machinery Safety. We are the automation company with the most comprehensive range of services and products on the Asian market.
The markets in the Americas barely grew at all in 2024. Here too, the uncertain political framework has led to a decline in investments in the market. In this region too, the issue of Machinery Safety is becoming increasingly important. In North America, the reshoring of production in order to strengthen domestic manufacturing is increasing the need for automation and therefore Machinery Safety. However, at the moment the market is only moving slowly due to the US government’s policy on tariffs.
Sustainability: governance, social and environmental
As a family business, we think and act across generations and are therefore sustainable in the best sense of the word. We are working with a strong external partner for the sustainability report, which in future will be mandatory. But we want to do more than just meet our reporting obligations. We want to use the data we collect to become even better, more efficient and therefore more sustainable. Sustainability is based on three pillars: governance, social and environmental.
What have we achieved here at Pilz in 2024?
When it comes to governance, it’s about acting responsibly with regard to the company’s success and dealing with people inside and outside the organisation. Integrity, honesty and business ethics are our focus. In everything we do, transparent and open communication is in keeping with our values – both within the company and also with customers, suppliers and other business partners. We have had a compliance system in place since 2018, which we live and breathe, and are continually expanding.
When it comes to social, I’d like to take a look at the number of employees and our training activities. In line with market requirements, the number of employees at Pilz increased slightly in 2024, particularly in the areas of sales and services: as at 31 December 2024, the company employed 2,504 people worldwide (+ 1.1 per cent over 2023). In Germany too, the number of employees rose slightly to 1,032 (+ 1.6 per cent over 2023).
At our headquarters in Ostfildern, we have been providing training for over four decades and can therefore cover much of our demand for skilled labour. There are several examples of the career paths of these “home-grown” employees. One example is our Vice President of Global Sales Operations, who joined Pilz as an intern, trained initially as a mechatronics engineer and then completed a part-time degree program at Pilz. After various management roles, he has been in charge of the Global Sales Operations department here at head office since July 2024.
As at 31 December 2024, we employed 26 apprentices in Ostfildern in five apprenticeship programmes, covering industrial and, for the first time, commercial areas, as well as 20 students from the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW), in six different fields of study. 20 apprentices and DHBW students started during the 2024 training year; 28 were planned. We are planning 25 new apprenticeships and DHBW study places for the 2025 training year.
Environmental: We have always been committed to working, developing and manufacturing in a way that’s energy-saving and environmentally-aware – across the entire supply chain, at our locations around the world. I’d like to present two current examples: the sustainability warehouse in Ostfildern and the water treatment plant in Jintan.
Pilz established its Repair Centre as early as 2002, where defective Pilz devices can be properly repaired and then reused at the same quality. Around 6 000 devices per year are restored to their full functionality there. We are continuing this idea with a sustainability warehouse: in the past, if the value was below 250 Euro, we would have disposed of products with damaged packaging, small scratches on the housing, or returns due to incorrect orders. In the interests of sustainability, we now accept the additional costs for testing and repackaging and give devices a second life. A true win-win-win situation – for Pilz, the customer and the environment!
A second example: sustainability targets are derived from the corporate objectives for each plant. At each site, measures are being taken to monitor and reduce power consumption, for example. Various projects also contribute towards improving the waste balance at each site. At our Chinese plant, we recently commissioned a waste water treatment system on a cutting machine for aluminium profiles. This treats the water used for the cutting process so that it can be reused – and does not have to be fed into the external wastewater system.
New industries, new technologies: Pilz is changing and staying true to itself
Pilz has a broad base. In addition to classic engineering, the company is also addressing future industries such as railway technology and the hydrogen industry:
In September 2024, our modular railway control system PSSrail attracted a great deal of interest when we presented it at Innotrans, the largest trade fair for transport technology. PSSrail is a further development of our existing control platform. It now meets the highest safety requirements up to SIL 4, is compatible with the EULYNX standard, and is modular and therefore flexible to use in signalling technology and railway infrastructure. The innovative character of PSSrail lies in the combination of these functions. PSSrail is the result of our many years of experience in railway technology and has been successfully implemented in digitisation projects in many European countries. This includes a major order from an integrator that will use PSSrail to modernise level crossings in Eastern Europe.
The expansion and modernisation of the railway infrastructure also plays an important role in India. The Indian signalling technology company Deltron relies on Pilz. At Innotrans, we officially agreed to intensify our cooperation with Deltron: in addition to the quality, it was above all the flexibility of our control system that proved decisive for Deltron. Another advantage for use in India is EULYNX compatibility. Even though it is a European standard protocol, it facilitates manufacturer-independent communication worldwide, between the interlocking and the track, for example. In the meantime, our joint development based on PSSrail has received approval from the Indian railway authority “Research Design and Standards Organisation” (RDSO).
We successfully presented our offer for the hydrogen industry at the Hannover Messe. All safety-related parameters such as pressure, temperature, current, voltage and gas leaks can be monitored safely using our controllers and sensors. Traditionally, safety in the industry is based on mechanics (such as the function of a valve) and a static state test. Automation solutions such as those from Pilz can perform overarching monitoring functions for components and the entire process chain. This concept paves the way for the widespread use of hydrogen as an energy carrier of the future. We will present the benefits of our solutions for the production and transport of hydrogen in the second part of the event.
Which products and issues will Pilz be focussing on in the next few months?
In the sensor technology product group, Pilz is launching new products in 2025, which will not only make machine processes safe, but also more efficient. At the same time, we are also trialling the use of Artificial Intelligence, which presents a particular challenge for Machinery Safety applications. We will report on the status of the research project in a live demo following the presentations.
Pilz is also expanding its range of services and training. Industrial Security is one area of focus. Pilz trains its customers in the implementation of the new legal requirements for Industrial Security, which industry will face at EU level due to the Machinery Regulation, Cyber Resilience Act or NIS 2. We will also learn more about this later.
In future our automation company will also use new digital cloud services to help its customers operate their machines safely, securely, efficiently and in compliance with the standards. We are just starting to roll out our Myzel Lifecycle Platform. We will officially present Myzel to the public in November 2025 at the SPS trade fair in Nuremberg.
From these examples it is clear: we are embracing the necessary structural change. The world is changing. We remain true to ourselves and likewise are changing; the customer is always the focus.
- We are identifying new, promising industries such as hydrogen.
- We are addressing future markets and gaining a foothold there, such as in India.
- We are helping our customers to master the new challenges to the safety of human and machine.
- And we are working on new technologies such as cloud or AI solutions, to shape the future.
In all the discussions about structural change, digitisation strategies or excessive bureaucracy, our industry must be careful not to lose sight of customers and their needs. They must be the focus. For Pilz, customer orientation means not only having good technical solutions, but also being on-site locally to provide advice and training. We are at the service of our customers.
Outlook for 2025: “Good future prospects for Safety and Security”
So far, 2025 has seen a slight increase in turnover – albeit from a low base. It is difficult to forecast how demand will grow due to the overall economic and political situation. However, particularly in Asia and the Americas, we see good future prospects for our innovative solutions that ensure the safety of human, machine and the environment.
Related Story
Automation Company Sees a Decline in Sales in 2024 – “Industry Must Put the Focus Back on Customers” – Pilz Overcomes a Difficult Environment in the 2024 Financial Year
In the last financial year, the Pilz Group had to contend with the generally difficult economic situation. In 2024, the automation company achieved a turnover of 341 million Euro. That corresponds to a fall of 21 per cent over the previous year. The family business remains focussed on the future, even if the outlook for 2025 remains cautious. Prospects are emerging particularly in markets such as China, India or South America, in the railway technology and hydrogen sectors, as well as the service business.
