TGW: Annual figures confirm business development

Business results for the 2015/2016 financial year - continued success

In the 2015/2016 financial year, the TGW Logistics Group generated sales of EUR 531.8 million as of June 30. This corresponds to growth of almost 12 percent compared to the 2014/2015 financial year. "The trend has continued in 2015/2016, both in terms of growth and profitability," says Georg Kirchmayr, CEO of the TGW Logistics Group. "Thanks to the booming e-commerce sector, we have a tailwind that is likely to continue in the coming years." The Group's EBIT amounted to EUR 40.9 million in the last financial year, an increase of 40 percent compared to the same period last year. The TGW Logistics Group currently employs a total of 2,600 people worldwide. "It is extremely pleasing that, despite our enormous international growth, we have always been profitable in recent years and have even been able to increase our profitability," says Georg Kirchmayr.

The TGW story

The TGW Group has made a name for itself worldwide as a full-service provider of intralogistics solutions for all industries. TGW's international subsidiaries specialize in the system integration of turnkey intralogistics solutions - from mechanics and mechatronics to control systems, software and robotics. Georg Kirchmayr is certain: "Our portfolio has high and far-reaching potential for all areas of the company. We develop, produce and implement our solutions ourselves; the customer receives everything from a single source. Our expansion on three continents helps us to reach our customers across the globe and work with them to develop the ideal solution. We now have several hundred employees who specialize solely in the control and software of our intelligent systems."

Whereas in 2000 the company still operated exclusively in Germany and Austria, today TGW processes global orders with branches in 14 countries and operates production facilities on three continents. The expansion was financed from cash flow. "We kept an eye on our core markets during the expansion: Textile and food retail as well as general merchandise and, of course, e-commerce. Online business is one of the most important drivers in our industry, which is why we are also researching this topic with various educational institutions and further developing our technologies for it," adds Georg Kirchmayr.

TGW will continue its growth course

Kirchmayr is also confident about the 2016/2017 financial year: "We are expecting further positive development. At the beginning of the financial year, we were already able to acquire a number of well-known customers, which will secure our capacity utilization in production and thus continue our growth trend. With incoming orders of more than 200 million euros in the first quarter, we were able to record the most successful start in the company's history. This naturally creates a solid basis for the coming financial year.

Shortage of skilled workers limits TGW's growth

Due to the growth course, TGW Logistics Group is still looking for qualified employees, especially in the fields of mathematics, (business) informatics, statistics, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, automation and control technology, software development as well as for assembly and commissioning with HTL, FH or university education. "The TGW Logistics Group could grow even more dynamically if we could find more specialists from technical fields of study, mathematics and computer science," explains Georg Kirchmayr. "Our field is very specialized, there are only very few branches of education that adequately prepare future employees for our industry. Of course, training is an important aspect of the skills shortage. Technicians are in great demand, as can be seen from the jobs advertised - over a third of the technical jobs advertised in Austria are in Upper Austria. The 'war of talents' is therefore particularly intense here." In general, Kirchmayr finds "that too few graduates in the STEM subjects, i.e. mathematics, information technology, natural sciences and technology, are graduating in the No. 1 industrial province with its enormous demand for technicians." By 2018, the TGW site in Wels will be looking for 250 experts in the fields of control technology, IT, mechatronics, project management, system design and image recognition/image processing - a STEM background is required for these areas.

TGW takes initiative in education

The TGW Logistics Group has therefore decided to take the initiative itself and support the training of potential future employees. Various cooperations with educational institutions are underway in Austria - great importance is attached to education even for the very youngest children. TGW initiated and runs the B.E.L. private school in Linz with the TGW Future Wings Private Foundation, which uses a completely new school concept to teach pupils to enjoy learning and thus provides the best basis for a successful future at school, at work and in life.

Since this fall, TGW has been offering a sponsorship program for aspiring experts in data analysis. At the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, TGW has launched a two-year scholarship program for master's students of statistics, mathematics and business informatics. The students receive a loan as a contribution to financial independence during their studies, are integrated into the company through flexible part-time employment and summer internships and are supervised by TGW specialists when writing their Master's thesis. After successfully completing their studies, the scholarship holders receive an offer of permanent employment. The future field of application of the prospective data analysts ranges from the analysis of material flows for the design of intralogistics solutions to software development and the use of robotics in automated warehouse and conveyor technology. "This project is now being realized for the first time at TGW in Upper Austria, but should certainly also be implemented at the international TGW locations in the future. We are already looking forward to the benefits that this initiative will bring for everyone involved," says Georg Kirchmayr.

TGW Logistics Group as an employer

TGW focuses on its employees, which is why more than one million euros will be invested in the area of "People's Development" in this financial year alone. "This not only includes training measures prior to the TGW career. The TGW Academy includes a complete internal training and development program for our existing employees. With our Leadership Excellence we strengthen our managers, our Talents Management promotes young talents and with our Expatriation Program we ensure that there is a permanent exchange between our international units," Kirchmayr continues.

"TGW offers its employees international development prospects. They are active worldwide, and we are currently recruiting mainly for German-speaking countries, the UK, Spain, France, the USA and China. More than 170 new employees are planned for Wels," says Georg Kirchmayr. Current vacancies and job advertisements can be found at http://www.tgw-group.com/Jobs."What is interesting for many employees is that they can work very internationally and internal exchange is strongly encouraged through expat programs," adds Kirchmayr. You can find out more about the international orientation of the TGW Logistics Group at http://www.tgw-group.com/TGW-Blog

François Hollande opens TGW logistics center at Sarenza, France

TGW realized a new intralogistics system for Sarenza near Paris with a contract value of 15 million euros. Sarenza is a French e-commerce retailer that focuses on the online sale of shoes and accessories. With a turnover of 200 million euros in 2015, Sarenza generates annual growth of around 20 percent. In the same year, the online giant sold 15 million products consisting of over 700 brands of shoes and accessories. The new automated warehouse, which is also fully controlled by TGW software, can store 2.7 million pairs of shoes. Only recently, French President François Hollande officially opened the new distribution center and was impressed by the design and technology: up to 40,000 parcels can be shipped to 29 countries per day.

Innovations from IT and robotics to augmented reality

The industry is developing rapidly, as are the market and customer requirements. This is why the numerous developers in the TGW Group work on new products, systems and solutions every day. New technologies are evaluated and tested for use in intralogistics. Georg Kirchmayr: "Our international teams are virtually always one step ahead of the times: Industry or sector experts work hand in hand with innovation managers, software developers and specialists in robotics, image recognition and image processing. Intralogistics is developing rapidly and we are at the forefront. For example, we already have data glasses that work with augmented reality in use at our existing customers as part of Lifetime Services packages. These technologies are of great importance for intralogistics and we are currently working on a number of development projects in the field of virtual and augmented reality."

New building in Marchtrenk

In order to meet the increased space requirements, TGW will build an office complex for more than 500 employees and a production facility with more than 10,000 m² in Marchtrenk by mid-2018. The groundbreaking ceremony in Marchtrenk will take place on November 16.