The
Turnover could have been stronger still had it not been for the current political situation in Ukraine, with its knock-on effect for Russia. Both countries have been important markets for the Wirtgen Group, so sales to the Ukraine and Russia have been badly affected and will remain so until a political solution is found.
Research and development remains highly important to the company, which continues it flow of new products. The groups is launching two new Wirtgen mills and a new version of a Wirtgen reclaimer/recycler, new
However a key development for the firm in recent months has been the acquisition of the
This purchase will see the firm reorganising and he explained, “Internally we’ve defined two business structures; road technology with Wirtgen, Hamm and Vögele and mineral technology with Wirtgen Mining,
Jürgen said, “In the field of road technology we are the clear world market leader. In the area of mineral technology new see potential. We want to transfer our success in road technology to mineral technology.”
Having successfully integrated the Vögele and Hamm paving and compaction operations in the past and more recently, the Kleemann crushing and screening business, Wirtgen is confident that it will be able to integrate Benninghoven as well.
Wirtgen says that export sales are crucial to its operations, accounting for some 89% of turnover and the revival of the US market has been a very important factor in the growth in turnover. Emergent markets are important to the company, responsible for around half of its total machine sales. The firm’s 55 wholly-owned sales operations located strategically around the world are a key tool in achieving this performance, accounting for around 70% of total unit sales. These operations will benefit from new investment into sales and service capabilities, as well as training facilities. Meanwhile the firm also relies on its 150 dealers worldwide for additional sales support. Jürgen Wirtgen said, “One important factor for our group is after sales service. We have a mobile service concept to deliver support at the jobsite.”
He added that developing the workshop facilities at its own support operations around the world has been important, as many contractors have closed their own workshops and outsourced machine servicing. Meanwhile operator training facilities have also been improved at the company’s worldwide support operations. He added, “We have seen an expansion in the last four years. We benefit the customer and we benefit ourselves. The more we train, the less problems we run into with our machines.”
Manufacturing capability and quality are core values for Wirtgen and Stefan Wirtgen said, “Since several hundred million Euros were invested in our German factories, we are now developing our overseas factories. Outside of Germany, the company has facilities in China, Brazil and India.
Emergent markets are important for the equipment sector as a whole and Stefan Wirtgen said, “That’s a huge change for European manufacturers and we want to address it head on. We have a completely new factory in China,” and he added that the Chinese facility has seen €45 million in investment
Meanwhile the factory in India has seen €11 million of investment and Stefan Wirtgen said, “In India we have had our second expansion after a successful entry into the market. This production facility builds machines for the Indian market, around 500 rollers/year and we are now starting with the small paver market in India.” Meanwhile plans are in hand also for additional manufacturing capabilities for Kleemann crushers, also for the local market.
