CHURCHES. “I’ve been in the industry for a number of years, but I’ve never experienced such a need for adjustment and such challenges before,” says Gregor Dietachmayr, spokesman for the management at agricultural machinery manufacturer Pöttinger. Despite difficult circumstances (problems in the supply chain, sharp rise in gas and energy prices), the Grieskirchen-based company was able to achieve record sales of EUR 506 million in the past financial year (as of July 31). This is an increase of 25 percent compared to the previous year.
In the past few months, Pöttinger has only been able to maintain production operations with some disruptions: the reason for this was the fluctuating supply of components. Work was done according to the “stop-and-go” principle. If the parts were missing, the lines were shut down for a short time. According to Dietachmayr, “unconventional methods” were also used: “For example, we delivered machines to customers that were still missing parts, such as gears.” These were restocked as soon as they became available. “We’ve probably had thousands of discussions with customers,” says Dietachmayr, who cites the understanding and good performance of the employees (there are more than 2,000 worldwide) as the reason for the development.
Advance purchases due to inflation
In addition, farmers are currently willing to invest: “Although farmers are confronted with high prices for diesel, animal feed and fertilizer, they get reasonable prices for their products.” Due to the increase in prices, many would have made advance purchases and invested money in new machines. Some of the sharply increased prices (steel, gas, electricity) had to be passed on to customers. According to Dietachmayr, however, the proportion of quantitative growth was significantly larger. Grassland equipment (mowers, loader wagons, baling presses, rotors) accounts for the largest share of sales at 67 percent. Pöttinger does not provide any information on the operating result, the effects of the sharp rise in costs are “really severe”.
The export rate is 91 percent, Germany and France are the largest individual markets.
Source: Nachrichten
