Annual Report
FOREWORD BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
DEAR SHAREHOLDERS, BUSINESS ASSOCIATES, EMPLOYEES, AND FRIENDS OF SICK,
What makes a successful company? Above all, a feeling for future developments and trends. And, without doubt, the ability to create the conditions in the present that will make it possible to exploit the opportunities of the future. How is this progressing here at SICK?
As far as the figures are concerned, it is clear: We have completed another successful year. We grew worldwide and were again able to book record values. Orders received exceeded those of the previous year by more than ten percent. Group sales rose by more than eight percent, with continuing high profitability. And this despite the challenging economic and political environment in which we are currently operating.
The world, particularly the world of automation, is going through a period of upheaval. Being successful in this environment, and above all remaining successful, requires farsightedness. Our thinking and actions are long-term and future-oriented. We consistently exploit our strong market position in classic industrial automation to shape the world of Industry 4.0. Which is why we continue to invest heavily in research and development. With evident success: Industry 4.0 is not just a marketing term for us, but lived reality. SICK ensures that many potentials of Industry 4.0 can already be tapped – with innovative solutions and services based on sensor data. Our customers and business associates profit from this, and so do we. While the factory of the future is merely discussed elsewhere, we are already using intelligent and digitally networked control systems for highly flexible and efficient production. The product solutions emerging from the start-up initiatives that we set up in the Group a year ago are on the way to market entry – and considerably quicker than originally planned. Our path, the interdisciplinary consolidation of the company’s mature technological expertise and its combination with agile methods, is bearing fruit. We thus create more space for innovations at SICK. Innovations that open up new markets.
It is our innovative strength that provides continuous impetus for corporate growth. We believe that successful innovation requires far more than investment and corporate farsightedness. It needs visionary ideas. It needs the courage to try out new approaches, think laterally, and think ahead. And the courage to make mistakes, to fail, and to start again from the beginning. In short: It requires human creative thinking with all its strengths and weaknesses. Innovations are made by people. We therefore consider our employees to be the pillars of our future sustainability. Their great technological competence, combined with an inventive spirit, are principally responsible for SICK’s lasting positive development. This has always been the case: Our company founder, Dr. h. c. Erwin Sick, recognized the potential of linking optics and electronics earlier than anyone else and thus laid the foundation for the worldwide success of the SICK Group. All his inventions were also intended to increase the well-being of mankind and society.
Innovation has tradition at SICK. A tradition that we maintain every day in our work. For us, there is no conflict between humans, machines, and data. On the contrary, it is their interactions that actually create the basis for marketable innovations. We combine these worlds and thus generate added value for our customers, our business associates, our employees, and the company. We believe that innovation and success go hand in hand. This has been the case for more than 70 years and will remain so in the future.
Sincerely yours,
