Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2022
Annual Report 2022 Annual Report 2022
Financial Report 2022 Financial Report 2022
Strategy and Sustainability

Strategy and Sustainability

Strategy and Sustainability

Focus on sustainable growth

Strengthening resilience in challenging market conditions

Bystronic offers energy-efficient solutions for the sheet metal processing of tomorrow. Our strategy is designed to further advance our market position and make Bystronic more resilient in volatile times. We have strengthened our position in our individual regions by further developing local supply chains and customized product solutions and significantly enhancing our service capabilities. Last year saw the launch of the BySoft Suite, a comprehensive software solution for the sheet metal industry that enables our customers to digitalize their business – from the incoming order right through to the shipping of the finished product. In October 2022, following successful trials resulting in very satisfied test customers, Bystronic launched the software at EuroBLECH, the leading trade fair for the sheet metal industry, in Hanover (Germany). Automating the entire workflow is a critical factor that allows our customers to increase their efficiency and productivity. Automation enables reshoring efforts while ensuring competitiveness. A strong focus of our R&D has been on advancing cleantech solutions by boosting the energy and resource efficiency of our systems and solutions and the entire customer workflow.

Sheet metal is a material of the future

From agriculture and construction to automotive and food, virtually every sector relies on sheet metal. The material is tried and tested and offers numerous advantages: metals such as steel or aluminum are robust, easy to handle, durable, and recyclable. Sheet metal will undoubtedly remain one of the key building blocks of future industry. New coal- and fossil-free processes will make steel production much more sustainable and substantially reduce its carbon footprint. At Bystronic, we are already testing hydrogen-produced steel, for which we now include the necessary parameters in our cutting systems. This means that once sustainable steel enters the broader market, our customers are one step closer to net-zero production.

Our strategy: growth across systems, service, and software

We have defined ambitious mid-term targets: We aim to achieve annual organic sales growth of more than 5%, industry-leading profitability with an EBIT margin in excess of 12%, and a return on net operating assets (RONOA) above 25%.

We rely on our innovative portfolio as one of the main drivers of our future growth. 35 years after its founding, Bystronic’s innovative drive remains steadfast. Today, we generate almost half of our sales with products that have been on the market for less than three years. We consistently place our customers’ needs at the center of our innovation process.

In addition, we will achieve these targets by increasing our focus on regionalization. We are committed to being as close as possible to our customers everywhere around the globe in order to provide them with local support. Within our strategy framework, we are further strengthening our position in the regional markets to respond even more effectively to the requirements of the individual regions.

Furthermore, we are investing in the service business and expanding our teams in this field. In 2022, it generated sales of CHF 227 million and will grow overproportionally by 2025. One way to achieve this is our modular and globally standardized service program, that will significantly increase our customers' productivity. Since the program's launch in early 2021, we have been selling more than 90% of our new machines in the premium and mid-range segments in combination with a service contract.

We are a market leader for automation and can thus help our customers stay one step ahead in an increasingly fierce competitive environment of more competitors, smaller batch sizes, shorter lead times, and faster production – all while delivering the highest quality.

Digitalization and software will be a game changer for the sheet metal industry. This is why Bystronic acquired the Spanish software specialist Kurago in 2021. In January 2022, our Chief Digital Officer Alberto Martinez was appointed to the Executive Committee, further strengthening our focus on software solutions and digitalization.

Mid-term targets

Focus on sustainability

Sustainability is an integral part of our strategy at Bystronic. With our legacy in innovation, we are passionate about creating an impact for a sustainable future with sheet metal and beyond. We are committed to advancing the sustainability and future viability of sheet metal as a material, and we encourage our customers and the industry as a whole to advocate for change. Bystronic actively drives change throughout its entire value chain, focusing on where we can achieve the greatest impact for our company, our customers, and the environment. We view sustainability as a collaborative effort to advance our industry towards zero carbon emissions in order to fulfill the commitments made under the Paris Agreement, but also to achieve a positive impact on society at large. Our collaboration with innovative startups helps us accelerate sustainable technologies, and we are confident that these partnerships will bring us closer to achieving our sustainability goals. Our sustainability strategy and material topics were developed in close alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

For our customers, we are accelerating our efforts to improve the energy and resource efficiency of our systems and solutions. We are also boosting the circularity of our own production by using less energy-intensive materials and engineering solutions that offer even longer service lives and require less energy to operate.

Our employees around the globe are at the heart of our sustainability efforts. Striving for sustainability is not just a strategy but an intrinsic motivation that each of us must embrace. At Bystronic, we are proud of the many initiatives our employees are putting forward and implementing to improve sustainability for us, for our customers, and for our entire industry.

Based on our material topics, we identified three important pillars upon which we are building our strategy:

Empowered people

Sustainable solutions

Responsive business

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Proof Points of Execution Key figures
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