Intralogistics expert Witron has generated a group revenue of €515 million in fiscal year 2017.
This is a record and corresponds to a growth of 6.2%, compared to the previous year. In addition, the company has hired 300 additional staff members, so that Witron currently employs more than 3,100 people worldwide – with more than half of them located at the company headquarters in the Upper Palatinate.
The company headquarters, in Parkstein, Germany, which includes additional production facilities, storage and offices, was also enlarged from its initial 10,000 square metres to 89,300 square metres.
'We remain true to ourselves because we go even further' is one of the credos of company founder Walter Winkler, which has rung true again in 2017.
Positive Development
Witron credits its positive development to its high implementation quality.
“Our innovative solutions optimally map the requirements of our customers in the store, online, and in the Omni-Channel business,” said Witron CEO Helmut Prieschenk. This is also underlined by numerous new orders from existing and new customers from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia and North America.
Witron’s CEO gets right to the point: “Innovations, competences and commitment are, undoubtedly, very important prerequisites for success. However, it is crucial that we complete projects successfully – that we keep our promise – then we will also be rewarded with customer loyalty.
"This explains why some customers have already collaborated on ten system solutions or more with us. On average, for example, in the food retail sector, the repeat rate is more than four systems per customer – a number we are extremely proud of, and which, in our opinion, may be unique.”
Strong Growth In Witron’s Service Department
“Witron also recorded strong growth in the area of services,” said Christian Dietl, CEO of Witron Service GmbH + Co.
“In the fiscal year 2017, the company employed 20% more people in the service area, compared to the previous year. Service revenue also increased by 20%, to some €155 million.”
The services offered by Witron, as an end-to-end service provider, range from the expert helpdesk to the complete functional responsibility as a system operator and logistics service provider. These services, combined, are called the Witron Logistics Operation Service.
Well Positioned For The Future
In terms of permanently growing the E-Commerce business and the increasing digitalisation and linking of all processes throughout the entire supply chain, Witron also sees itself as well positioned for the future, with its holistic systems across all industry sectors.
“Witron solutions are designed to flexibly meet constantly changing market needs, including the latest OPM generation 4.0, the modules AIO (All-in-One Order Fulfilment), the swarm-intelligent EMP (Efficient Mobile Picking), as well as the OFP (Optimal Fresh Picking), for highly dynamic logistics processes within the fresh-food area,” explained Martin Stich, Technical CEO at Witron.
In 2017, the Witron Portal, as well as the Digital Twin, were also presented to the experts for the first time. The Witron Portal is an intelligent gateway that seamlessly connects Witron’s logistics modules to the customer’s system environment and other ecosystems through state-of-the-art web, app or cloud technologies – a crucial step in the era of Big Data and self-learning systems for the generation of real-time logistics networks.
WiTwin is the digital twin of customised system solutions and applications, which is already successfully used for the design, realisation and operation of distribution centres.
“The Witron team will not rest after the gains they have achieved,” said company founder Winkler, regarding the future of the company. While they are proud of what was achieved in 2017, Winkler said, “We are very much looking forward to the upcoming tasks, which we will master together with our customers.”
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