ZF Continues to Create New Jobs
ZF Friedrichshafen AG has once again proven itself to be a driving force for jobs in 2013. The technology company based in Friedrichshafen created approximately 4 200 jobs globally; with 2 000 positions, about half of the jobs were created in Germany. During the same period, sales increased by 8 % from €15.5 billion to €16.8 billion. “ZF once again experienced above-average growth last year”, announced ZF’s CEO Dr. Stefan Sommer on Wednesday at the presentation of the balance sheet in Stuttgart, Germany. “Whether in Europe, the U.S. or China, we were only able to manage this development with additional qualified and dedicated employees.” Thanks to the new recruitments, ZF now employs about 72 600 people around the world; 41 900 of which are based at the German locations. Overall, this corresponds to a 6-percent increase.
Consequently, the workforce almost grew as strongly as Group sales which amounted to €16.8 billion. “With a 15-percent sales increase, the Region of Asia-Pacific in particular gave us a special impetus”, said Sommer. He mentioned that ZF opened new axle assembly plants in China and Malaysia and secured new orders.
With sales of about €3 billion respectively, North America and Asia-Pacific are the most important foreign markets for the technology company after Europe, even though the sales increase in Europe and North America was lower than in the Far East. In July 2013, ZF opened a new transmission plant for 8- and 9-speed automatic transmissions in Gray Court, South Carolina (USA), which is already being expanded as a result of the high demand for these products.
Sommer announced that it is anticipated that ZF will also produce the new 9-speed automatic transmission in China for the Asian market from 2017 onwards. By this wide localization of production, the company wants to avoid becoming too dependent upon one market region.
At 15 % and 11 % respectively, Car Driveline Technology and Car Chassis Technology experienced the strongest growth when looking at the sales increase according to product segments. Sales at Commercial Vehicle Technology increased by 7 %; Electronic Systems and ZF Services enjoyed an increase of 4 % and 6 % respectively. These areas profited from a stronger worldwide demand while Industrial Technology was confronted with weaker and, in some cases, extremely volatile market developments and consequently recorded a 9-percent decline in sales.
As in previous years, ZF once again spent approximately 5 % of its sales on research and development in 2013 by investing €836 million in this area. In contrast, the €954 million used for investments in property, plant, and equipment was 7 % below the prior year value.
ZF not only increased sales last year; it also improved the profit situation. Operating profit increased from €597 million to €756 million, an increase of 27 %; the return on sales increased from 3.8 % to 4.5 %. “We worked very hard on our cost structures and further improved them”, said Dr. Konstantin Sauer, Member of the Board of Management of ZF Friedrichshafen AG responsible for Corporate Finance.
Credits: Oneshift News Team
Convenient and Hassle-Free- Consumer Protection
Transparent Process
With No Obligation
Get the Best Price for your used car
from 500+ dealers in 24 hours
