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FACTS & FIGURES 2017
Innovations for a better world.
DRIVING THE FUTURE
SteeringcolumnEcoline 84
WE DRIVE THE FUTURE
BÜHLER IN AUTOMOTIVE
Most people are aware of Bühler’s position in the food and feed industry. But did you know that over the years, our Advanced Materials (AM) segment has become a relevant partner of the automotive industry? Around 60% of the AM business is associated with this industry. 2017 has been a very successful year for AM – which is why we’ve made it the focus of this Annual Report.
Steering columnEcoline 84 die-casting machine
LED and laser light systemsSYRUSpro vacuum coater
Shock towerCarat 280 Compactdie-casting machine
Engine blockCarat 350 Compactdie-casting machine
LubricantsTriasthree-roll mill
Rearview cameraSYRUSprovacuum coater
CapacitorLeybold Optics CAP vacuum coater
Head-up displaySYRUSpro 1500 vacuum coater
Taillight refl ectorAluMet metallizer
These are just a few examples of Bühler’s AM solutions for the automotive industry.
2
SteeringcolumnEcoline 84
WE DRIVE THE FUTURE
BÜHLER IN AUTOMOTIVE
Most people are aware of Bühler’s position in the food and feed industry. But did you know that over the years, our Advanced Materials (AM) segment has become a relevant partner of the automotive industry? Around 60% of the AM business is associated with this industry. 2017 has been a very successful year for AM – which is why we’ve made it the focus of this Annual Report.
Steering columnEcoline 84 die-casting machine
LED and laser light systemsSYRUSpro vacuum coater
Shock towerCarat 280 Compactdie-casting machine
Engine blockCarat 350 Compactdie-casting machine
LubricantsTriasthree-roll mill
Rearview cameraSYRUSprovacuum coater
CapacitorLeybold Optics CAP vacuum coater
Head-up displaySYRUSpro 1500 vacuum coater
Taillight refl ectorAluMet metallizer
These are just a few examples of Bühler’s AM solutions for the automotive industry.
GRAINS & FOOD
Bühler is an industrial process and technologies pro-vider for the food and feed manufacturing industries. We significantly contribute to safely feeding the world’s population as a front-runner in the global production and processing of wheat, maize, rice, pasta, cereals, cocoa, and coffee. Our Grains & Food (GF) solutions and technologies help manufacturers make safe and healthy finished products for human and animal nutri-tion. Learn more about where you will find our GF technologies on pages 6−9.
THE BÜHLER GROUP
Every day, billions of people come into contact with Bühler process technologies to cover their basic needs for food and mobility. We develop innovations for a bet-ter world with a focus on sustainability, health, safety, and energy efficiency.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
Bühler is a solution provider of die-casting, wet- grinding, and thin-film technologies for high-volume application areas, including the automotive industry, precision optics, opthalmics, electronics, paints, packaging, and inks. Our Advanced Materials (AM) solutions and technologies help manufacturers pro-duce higher-efficiency vehicles, keep foods safe, give prescription-glasses wearers improved eyesight, advance telecommunications, and make buildings more economical. Learn more about where you will find our AM technologies on pages 10−13.
Facts & Figures 2017
3
INTRO
VALUE THROUGH PROFITABLE GROWTH How sustainability contributes to our corporate success.
2017 was a successful year for Bühler. We succeeded in creating sustainable value for customers, employees, and the environment, in growing organically in almost all regions and business areas, and in making a strategically significant acquisition. Commissioning our newest production plant in China has helped us further expand our global production network. We also began modernizing our sites in Switzer-land. Significant progress was made in the implementation of our sustainability goals through the market launch of new technologies and process solutions, such as manufacturing battery slurry and the industrial processing of insects. Our collaboration with partners in industry, science, and business start-ups has played a key role in developing such innovative solutions. We therefore plan to continue our Net-working Days and have started building the CUBIC inno-vation campus in Uzwil − a networking venue. This effort
includes remodeling our application centers. Digitalization is increasingly the focus of our innovations – not as an end in itself, but rather as a key technology in order to arrive at new, sustainable solutions in food manufacturing and materials processing. We are looking into the future with optimism and are confident that we will be able to further solidify our business development as we continue to work on improving profitability.
Double-digit organic growthThe most important indicator of growth for Bühler is order in-take. We were able to raise these by 10% to CHF 2.80 billion compared to the previous year. Turnover increased by 9% to CHF 2.67 billion, which resulted in an order backlog of CHF 1.73 billion (+9%). All three figures are at record lev-els. We have succeeded in setting a new, clear course of growth – benefited by the overall positive world economy.
+ 87%-2.2 pp
20172014 2015 20162013
+ 10% + 9%
863*
44.8
2.80 2.67
2.362.58 2.47 2.54
20172014 2015 20162013
20172014 2015 20162013 20172014 2015 20162013
44.6 45.2 45.7 47.0
377464
392462
2.32 2.33 2.41 2.45
Equity ratio
(in %)
Net liquidity
(in million CHF)
Turnover
(in CHF billion)
Order intake
(in CHF billion)
* Includes corporate bond of CHF 420 m.
4
It is also gratifying to note that both businesses of Bühler have grown. Grains & Food (GF) increased its received order intake by 7% to CHF 2.1 billion and Advanced Materials (AM) by 21% to CHF 672 million.
GF turnover grew by 7% to CHF 2 billion, and AM by 19% to CHF 640 million. In terms of regions, Asia (+20%) and the Middle East & Africa (+12%) showed the strongest turn- over growth. Even Europe saw a reasonable increase of 4%. In terms of turnover, our geographic range is thus broad and well-balanced: Europe 29%, Asia 28%, North America 16%, Middle East & Africa 15%, South Asia 6%, and South America 6%.
Structurally, our portfolio mix showed progress as well. In 2017 we decided to independently capture and strengthen the single machines business sector in addition to projects and plants and services. Since then, we have shown strong growth of 32% in this area. Our growth in turnover for proj-ects and plants is 8%, and for services 4%. ProfitabilityOur increase in profitability shows that we have established solid, profitable growth despite a challenging cost situa-tion. EBIT increased in absolute terms by 18% to CHF 205 million, which represents an EBIT margin of 7.7% (previous
year: 7.1%). Supported by a good financial result of CHF 13 million (previous year: CHF 6 million), the net profit was CHF 174 million (+22%).
Already at a solid level, Bühler’s financial situation continued to strengthen. We had a strong increase in investment into the asset base of CHF 100 million (+41%). The operating cash flow dropped slightly to CHF 158 million. Net liquidity jumped to CHF 863 million (+87%) as a result of the cash inflow from the corporate bond of CHF 420 million. Despite this gain from external financing, the equity ratio remained high at 44.8% (previous year: 47.0%). The capital perfor- mance indicator RONOA (return on net operating assets) grew from 19.5% to 21.0%, indicating the efficient use of given resources and an ongoing high financial flexibility.
Corporate bond successfully launchedIn order to finance our many strategic initiatives long- term, we decided to obtain capital from the financial mar- ket for the first time. The company bond of CHF 420 million is divided into two tranches with terms of five and nine years – CHF 180 million (Tranche A), and CHF 240 million (Tranche B). The bond gives us the needed company flexi- bility at favorable conditions to invest in modernizing our locations, our innovation centers, and the digital trans- formation of our company, in addition to acquisitions.
174
21.0
205
100
+41% +1.5 pp
20172014 2015 20162013 20172014 2015 20162013
20172014 2015 20162013 20172014 2015 20162013
139 145
177 174
17.6 18.122.0
19.5
58
0
88
54
71
123 121143 143
Net profit
(in CHF million)
Return on net operating assets (RONOA)
(in %)
EBIT
(in CHF million)
Investments into asset base
(in CHF million)
+ 18% + 22%
Facts & Figures 2017
5
GROUP REPORT
We want everyone to have access to healthy food. Although the technolo-gies, process solutions, and applica-tions of Grains & Food may be diverse, they share the same focus − quality and safety. We provide solutions for the processing of grains, pulses, rice, corn, cocoa, nuts, and coffee beans, to name but a few. Bühler’s custom-ers supply foods to more than 2 billion people every day. We want there to be enough food for everyone, and we want to reduce food waste. We want to conserve energy and water, and we want to help reduce the need for sugar and fat in food to address overnutrition and obesity.
Grain Quality & Supply offers safe cleaning, storage, and transport solu-tions for raw materials and solutions for the processing of grains into malt for beer. Milling Solutions combines the optimum grinding and processing of grains and pulses with the highest hygienic standards. Consumer Foods enables confectionery manufacturers to effi ciently produce high-quality end products. Value Nutrition allows energy-effi cient and safe production of pasta, breakfast cereals, and animal feed via extrusion, drying, and feed mills. The newly established Digital Technologies business area uses optical sorting and cloud-based monitoring solutions to ensure that contaminants are removed during processing and the safety of food and feed is documented.
All business areas offer integrated pro-cess solutions for value-added chains from a single source: from green coffee or cocoa beans and harvest-ed grain to roast and ground coffee, chocolate bars, pralines, fl our, noodles, dough, or animal feed. This portfolio is complemented by a global network of service, training, and application centers for our customers around the world. Our training offering helps cus-tomers to operate Bühler systems op-timally to achieve maximum yield and reduced downtime.
GRAINS & FOODAt a glance
75%of global malt processing is covered by Bühler solutions.
65%of the world’s grain is pro-
cessed on Bühler machinery.
30%of global rice and pulse pro-duction is covered by Bühler
solutions. Rice is a staple food for 3 billion people.
About
30%of all breakfast cereals are processed with Bühler technologies.
70%of all chocolate is produced in Bühler plants. 4 million tons of cocoa beans are harvested every year.
40%of industrially-made pasta is produced using Bühler technology.
Grain Quality & Supply
Bühler Grain Quality & Supply provides high-quality and safe solutions for grains, malting and brewery, and rice. Its aim is to increase effi ciency, improve traceability, and reduce food loss.
MillingSolutions
Bühler Milling Solutions delivers state-of-the-art process technology for transforming raw materials such as soft wheat, durum, rye, and maize into high-grade fl our and semolina products.
Value Nutrition
Bühler Value Nutrition is the global solution and technology partner for producers of animal feed, pasta and noodles, vegetable oil, cereals and snacks, and pet food.
Digital Technologies
Bühler Digital Technologies offers sort-ing machines, industrial measuring ma-chines, sensors, control systems, and service-driven products for the food and non-food processing industries.
Consumer Foods
Bühler Consumer Foods provides innovative solutions for the processing of cocoa, nuts, and coffee as well as the manufacturing of chocolate, bakery products, and various bars.
26
GRAINS & FOODAt a glance
We want everyone to have access to healthy food. Although the technolo-gies, process solutions, and applica-tions of Grains & Food may be diverse, they share the same focus − quality and safety. We provide solutions for the processing of grains, pulses, rice, corn, cocoa, nuts, and coffee beans, to name but a few. Bühler’s custom-ers supply foods to more than 2 billion people every day. We want there to be enough food for everyone, and we want to reduce food waste. We want to conserve energy and water, and we want to help reduce the need for sugar and fat in food to address overnutrition and obesity.
Grain Quality & Supply offers safe cleaning, storage, and transport solu-tions for raw materials and solutions for the processing of grains into malt for beer. Milling Solutions combines the optimum grinding and processing of grains and pulses with the highest hygienic standards. Consumer Foods enables confectionery manufacturers to effi ciently produce high-quality end products. Value Nutrition allows energy-effi cient and safe production of pasta, breakfast cereals, and animal feed via extrusion, drying, and feed mills. The newly established Digital Technologies business area uses optical sorting and cloud-based monitoring solutions to ensure that contaminants are removed during processing and the safety of food and feed is documented.
All business areas offer integrated pro-cess solutions for value-added chains from a single source: from green coffee or cocoa beans and harvest-ed grain to roast and ground coffee, chocolate bars, pralines, fl our, noodles, dough, or animal feed. This portfolio is complemented by a global network of service, training, and application centers for our customers around the world. Our training offering helps cus-tomers to operate Bühler systems op-timally to achieve maximum yield and reduced downtime.
GRAINS & FOODAt a glance
75%of global malt processing is covered by Bühler solutions.
65%of the world’s grain is pro-
cessed on Bühler machinery.
30%of global rice and pulse pro-duction is covered by Bühler
solutions. Rice is a staple food for 3 billion people.
About
30%of all breakfast cereals are processed with Bühler technologies.
70%of all chocolate is produced in Bühler plants. 4 million tons of cocoa beans are harvested every year.
40%of industrially-made pasta is produced using Bühler technology.
Grain Quality & Supply
Bühler Grain Quality & Supply provides high-quality and safe solutions for grains, malting and brewery, and rice. Its aim is to increase effi ciency, improve traceability, and reduce food loss.
MillingSolutions
Bühler Milling Solutions delivers state-of-the-art process technology for transforming raw materials such as soft wheat, durum, rye, and maize into high-grade fl our and semolina products.
Value Nutrition
Bühler Value Nutrition is the global solution and technology partner for producers of animal feed, pasta and noodles, vegetable oil, cereals and snacks, and pet food.
Digital Technologies
Bühler Digital Technologies offers sort-ing machines, industrial measuring ma-chines, sensors, control systems, and service-driven products for the food and non-food processing industries.
Consumer Foods
Bühler Consumer Foods provides innovative solutions for the processing of cocoa, nuts, and coffee as well as the manufacturing of chocolate, bakery products, and various bars.
2
OUR BUSINESS
How various raw materials become high-quality food products: Seven examples of Bühler Grains & Food process technologies
= Where Bühler technologies are involved
Grain Coffee beans
Cleaning, sorting
Cleaning
Grinding
Dosing
Weighing
Mixing
Dough preparation
Extrusion
Baking
Cooling
Enrobing
Decorating,sprinkling
Storage, handling,conveying
Blending
Dosing, mixing
Roasting
Refi ning,conching
Grinding
Forming
Cutting
Tempering
Enrobing
Cooling
Tempering
Depositing
Cooling
Demoulding
HandlingStorage,degassing
Paddyrice
Rice cleaning
Intake, precleaning and storage
Drying
Rice milling
Grading
Supporting element
Bagging andload out
Cooling
Pelleting
Hygienizing
Mixing
Storing
Cooling
Drying
Extrusion
Dough preparation
Cocoa beans
Cleaning, alkalization, debacterizing, roasting
Liquor grinding,pressing
Biscuitproducts
Pasta Feed Roast and ground coffee
Whiterice
Chocolateproducts
Chocolateproducts
Bühler Annual Report 2017
3
Facts & Figures 2017
7
GRAINS & FOOD
STRONG OPERATING BUSINESSBoth Bühler businesses contributed to the positive result for the year, and Advanced Materials once again stood out with strong growth rates and record results. Both businesses were able to gain additional market share despite somewhat saturated markets.
The food processing business increased order in- take by 7% to CHF 2.1 billion and, with that, its turnover by 7% to CHF 2 billion. An important factor in our success is the ability of Grains & Food to offer sustainable, integrated, complete solutions, which we demonstrated at our booth at Interpack, in Düsseldorf, Germany where we held our Networking Days @ Interpack event. To continue promoting this approach of providing integrated solutions, we decid-ed in 2017 to refocus Grains & Food. This involves the renaming and further development of the business areas. These changes took effect at the beginning of 2018. The business areas and results shown in this report reflect the structures from 2017.
Grain Logistics (in 2018: Grain Quality & Supply)Grain Logistics continued to expand its leading position in the beer market and was able to win globally significant malt-ing projects. Five of the newest plants in Holland, the US, Australia, China, and Vietnam were put into operation. The rice business was equally successful. Bühler secured its position as the global market leader with large orders, pri-marily from Nigeria and Angola. To achieve this, the close collaboration with the individual business areas was crucial. The conveying system TUBO, launched in 2016, was very well received on the market and was launched for other raw materials such as coffee and rice. In contrast, challenging conditions in the grain storage market led to postponement of large investments in Asia.
Turnover by business area
(in %)
4Grinding & Dispersing
8Leybold Optics
12Die Casting
8Grain Logistics
9Sortex & Rice
10Consumer Foods
21Value Nutrition
27 Grain Milling
GRAINS & FOOD
8
Order intake
CHF 2.1 billion + 7 %Turnover
CHF 2.0 billion + 7%
Grain Milling (in 2018: Milling Solutions) With multiple large projects, Grain Milling is again on a course of growth and was able to further expand its lead-ing position in saturated markets. In Switzerland, the high-ly acclaimed Kornhaus in Zurich was completed through a close partnership between Swissmill and Bühler. In the US, we successfully put a new process for manufacturing corn flour into operation for our customer Plant Good Harvest. The Prime Masa reduces wastewater by about 90% using steam and increases yields at the same time.
In Rwanda, a plant for manufacturing fortified foods for expectant mothers and babies started operation with the goal of reducing malnutrition in the country. It was a community project within Bühler Milling Solutions and Value Nutrition and partner DSM. Bühler also received a large order to supply over 1,000 microdosing units in Pa-kistan. These have been placed with local milling operations as part of the British Food Fortification Programme and will have a positive effect on millions of people in this region.
Value NutritionValue Nutrition recorded an excellent business year. The stra-tegic focus on the feed business led to strong increases in market share in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and Asia. After the delivery of the first five plants for the Philippine food group San Miguel, Bühler and the company reached an agreement on further expansions.
The close partnership with the pasta maker Barilla resulted in a new project in Russia and an expansion of the Bühler pasta business. Value Nutrition opened application centers in China to adapt end products even more to market demands: in Wuxi, it opened Pasta & Noodles, and in Changzhou, a center for the production of machinery and plants for ani-mal feed, aquafeed, and pet food. With an order for the first industrial insect processing plant in Europe, Bühler proved
that it is possible to scale protein production from insects. The plant will serve as a blueprint.
Sortex & Rice (in 2018: Digital Technologies)Sortex & Rice recorded above-average growth in optical sorters as well as in rice processing. The newly introduced sorting technology for frozen vegetables and fruits grew faster than the market; at the same time, Bühler was able to reinforce its position in the recycling market. Sorting PET waste using the Bühler Sortex E PolyVision and Sortex A ColorVision machines creates bottle-grade recycled PET flakes at the highest yield in the market. The business area has now put the same technical capabilities to use for de-veloping the first completely digital quality service for rice: TotalSense. This app allows processors to subscribe to a cloud solution that can reliably collect and document the quality of a rice sample in just a few seconds.
Consumer FoodsConsumer Foods developed very well over 2017. Japanese customer Meito decided to build a new plant in Seto, north of Nagoya, and chose Bühler as their preferred full-scope provider. The order consists of a complete cocoa processing line, from cocoa bean intake to cocoa liquor, and a choco-late mass production line from ingredient handling to liquid chocolate mass storage.
The coffee business was also successful in the past year. The new coffee roaster ordered by Chicco d’Oro in 2015 was successfully commissioned. Bühler also signed a contract with its Norwegian customer Joh. Johannson to build a carbon-neutral plant. We demonstrated our competence in integrated and sustainable complete solutions with our Networking Days @ Interpack where we launched 20 pro-duct innovations, including a robot-supported plant for lower volumes (ChocoBotic) and DoMiReCo, a digital, self-controlled process.
Facts & Figures 2017
9
GRAINS & FOOD
We want to contribute to protecting the climate through the use of energy-effi cient vehicles, machines, and build-ings – and this leitmotif plays an important role in the technologies, process solutions, and applications of Advanced Materials. Lightweight alu-minum or magnesium parts – manufac-tured on die-casting cells – reduce fuel consumption. Vacuum-coated archi-tectural glass for facades – produced on Leybold Optics equipment – makes buildings more energy-effi cient. Bat-tery slurry – manufactured on equip-ment from Grinding & Dispersing – in-creases the range of electric vehicles.
The range of applications the custom-ers of the three business areas serve is virtually endless: fi nely ground pig-ments for paints, printing inks, cos-metics, coatings for sensors, lenses, camera lenses, smartphone screens, precision optics, packaging, engine blocks, oil pans, gear housings, struc-tural parts, and more.
The markets are extremely diverse, but Advanced Materials has one constant factor: mobility. The segment gener-ates around 60% of its sales from the automotive industry.
There are also similarities between the business areas in terms of technology. It always comes down to the most pre-cise material processing with the high-est level of reliability and reproducibility under industrial conditions.
Bühler manufactures high-precision die-casting cells. Its vacuum-coating systems deposit thin fi lms on glass and plastic on a scale measured in nanometers. And wet milling produces dispersions of pigments and particles that are also on a nanometer scale. The business areas not only supply the machines and systems to do this, but also the process expertise – including a worldwide network for training, con-sulting, and services.
ADVANCED MATERIALSAt a glance
of all die-cast
components produced globally are made on Bühler systems.
50%of new cars worldwide have die-cast compo-nents produced with Bühler technology.
30 gigafactories will be running worldwide by 2030. Bühler technologyhas gained market share in the bat-tery segment beyond fi rst-reference installations.
About
60%of all offset inks worldwide are manufactured with Bühler technology.
Nearly
1,000die-casting foundries rely on Bühler day in, day out.
100%of the top 10 packaging ink producers use Bühler
solutions.
Over
60%of all banknote printing inks are made with Bühler machines.
50%of the world’s car taillights and head-lamps are metallized on Bühler machines.
DieCasting
Bühler Die Casting is the global technology partner for all die-casting needs and supports its customers through all phases of their investment.
LeyboldOptics
Bühler Leybold Optics is the special-ist for state-of-the-art development and manufacturing of vacuum deposi-tion equipment.
Some
25%
Grinding & Dispersing
Bühler Grinding & Dispersing offers future-oriented technology and tailor-made solutions for wet-grinding and dispersing processes.
2
STATEMENT
Aluminum to die-cast parts, pigments to cosmetics: Six examples of Bühler Advanced Materials process technologies
= Where Bühler technologies are involved
Aluminum,magnesium
Die-castcomponents
Dosing
Casting
Marking
Extracting
Active material, conductive additives,
binder, and solvent
Liquid and powder dosing
Material handling
Dissolving
Continuous mixing and dispersing
Filtering
Storage and degassing
Pigments and chemical
materials
Paint and inks,coatings, cosmetics,
agrochemicals
Dosing and weighing
Storage and conveying
Mixing and pre-grinding
Wet grinding
Conditioning, let- down, adjustments
Potting,packaging
Acrylic acid
Diapers
Polymerization
Purifying
Drying
Grinding
Surface crosslinking
Diapermaking
Resin
Eyeglasses
Lens design
Cleaning
Hardcoating
Framing
Edging
Polishing
Surfacing
Anti-refl ective coating
Electrode slurries for batteries
Film
Food packaging material
Film metallizing
Film manufacturing and primary slitting
Slitting
Top coating
Printing
Laminating
Bühler Annual Report 2017
310
ADVANCED MATERIALSAt a glance
STATEMENT
Aluminum to die-cast parts, pigments to cosmetics: Six examples of Bühler Advanced Materials process technologies
= Where Bühler technologies are involved
Aluminum,magnesium
Die-castcomponents
Dosing
Casting
Marking
Extracting
Active material, conductive additives,
binder, and solvent
Liquid and powder dosing
Material handling
Dissolving
Continuous mixing and dispersing
Filtering
Storage and degassing
Pigments and chemical
materials
Paint and inks,coatings, cosmetics,
agrochemicals
Dosing and weighing
Storage and conveying
Mixing and pre-grinding
Wet grinding
Conditioning, let- down, adjustments
Potting,packaging
Acrylic acid
Diapers
Polymerization
Purifying
Drying
Grinding
Surface crosslinking
Diapermaking
Resin
Eyeglasses
Lens design
Cleaning
Hardcoating
Framing
Edging
Polishing
Surfacing
Anti-refl ective coating
Electrode slurries for batteries
Film
Food packaging material
Film metallizing
Film manufacturing and primary slitting
Slitting
Top coating
Printing
Laminating
Bühler Annual Report 2017
3
Facts & Figures 2017
11
ADVANCED MATERIALS
ADVANCED MATERIALS
The Advanced Materials business developed excep-tionally and recorded a record year in 2017. Order intake increased substantially by 21% to CHF 672 mil-lion; and turnover rose strongly by 19% to CHF 640 million. This shows that Advanced Materials was the growth engine for the Bühler Group and, with the fo-cus on mobility over the past years, it has become the second pillar together with the food processing area. About 60% of revenues for Advanced Materials stem from the automotive industry.
Grinding & DispersingAfter multiple years of joint research and development with its Chinese customer Lishen, followed by a first pilot line in 2015, Grinding & Dispersing finally made a break-through in its new battery business in 2017. The busi-ness area successfully launched a new process for manufacturing electrode slurries. The process enables maximization of the energy density of the batteries and is also more economical. Lishen successfully started up a total of 10 production lines and honored Bühler with its Best Supplier Award.
In addition, the business area also won contracts from other customers, which made the battery business into a robust and quickly expanding market for Grinding & Dispersing. The business area also continued to grow in other application fields, such as digital printing for personalized applications and, especially, color printing for the packaging industry – also driven by innovative technologies such as Macro-
Media and MicroMedia, along with integrated plant construc-tion competences for efficient solutions in wet grinding.
Die CastingAfter several years of strong growth and moving up to be-come the global market leader, Die Casting increased its order intake to a high level and revenues rose considerably again. The Ecoline machine series was a particular growth driver, with more than 100 orders logged. Three factors are decisive in addition to leading technical solutions. First, Die Casting is the only supplier in all three relevant production regions of the automotive industry – Europe, America, and China – and has its own assembly plants, service and ap-plication centers. It can thus support internationally active processors globally.
Second, the business area has extensive application knowl-edge about structural aluminum components and can assist its customers in this step with this demanding application. Third, Die Casting is also benefiting from the rapid growth of e-mobility, because more and more parts are being made of light alloys to cut down on weight for these vehicles.
With more than 400 Carat machines installed for large and complex components as well as over 400 installed Eco-line machines, Bühler has the strongest global presence. To continue this growth curve and increase service quality for customers, Die Casting opened a global parts center in Alzenau, Germany. The business area also commissioned an application and technology center in China in order to
12
Order intake
CHF 672 million + 21 %Turnover
CHF 640 million +19%
offer training as well as customer-specific application devel- opment in the region. In the US, Die Casting installed the largest-ever die-casting machine built by Bühler with a lock-ing force of 4,500 tons for its customer Mercury Marine.
Leybold OpticsLeybold Optics was the most successful business area of the Group in 2017 in terms of growth. After its big turnaround and a very promising 2016, Leybold Optics was able to or-ganically increase its incoming orders by more than 50%. Plants for large-scale architectural glass coating, for which Leybold Optics now has a global market share of about 60%, decisively contributed to this.
More intense market cultivation and extensive service offers based on innovative technologies led to success. Solutions for precision coating of sensors, camera lenses, and screens for the automotive industry and entertainment electronics were also significant. The increasing emergence of driver- assisted systems, mobile devices, and devices equipped with sensors and IoT solutions is generating a demand that Bühler can exploit with its ultra precise and economical ma-chines for coatings on the nanometer scale. To further respond to current trends, Bühler opened an ap-plication center at Leybold Optics in Alzenau, Germany. It offers different vacuum-coating machines, ranging from small to large rigid substrates; to plastic films; to deposition, such as evaporation with various types of plasma assistance; to sputtering, including ion-beam sputtering.
Facts & Figures 2017
13
ADVANCED MATERIALS
26
26
13
4
19
7
5 5
15
1
1 1 1
14
15
2
12
2
8
8
66
3
22
5,205 (+3.1%)
3,535 (+3%)
590 (+3.7%) 470 (+4.4%) 399 (+1%) 773 (+3.6%)
29% 28%
6%
15%
6%
16%
REGIONAL PRESENCEBühler enjoyed growth in all regions, with Europe and Asia as front-runners.
Following its strategy of “in the region, for the region”, Bühler has become a true global player with a balanced presence of production sites, servicestations, research and developmentfacilities, and application and training centers around the globe.
Networking Days @ Inter-pack Düsseldorf boosts Consumer Foods Europe
Well-performing markets for Advanced Materials
Strong growth of opti-cal sorting triggered by innovations for fruits and vegetables
Important strategic projects won: GoodMills Germany, Coffee Norway, Malteries Souffl et Bulgaria, Barilla Russia
Europe Asia
Employees 2017(10,972 compared to 10,641 in 2016)
Sales offi ces
Service stations
Manufacturing sites
Application centers
Highlights
Turnover share by region
Record order intake
Rapid growth with aqua-feed solutions
Started fi rst continuous mixing process for electrode slurry with more orders from other customers coming in
Established Bühler Insect Technology Solutions and signed fi rst full-plant contract
Strong growth of our Customer Service business, especially in China and Southeast Asia
214
26
26
13
4
19
7
5 5
15
1
1 1 1
14
15
2
12
2
8
8
66
3
22
5,205 (+3.1%)
3,535 (+3%)
590 (+3.7%) 470 (+4.4%) 399 (+1%) 773 (+3.6%)
29% 28%
6%
15%
6%
16%
Successful market entry in aqua feed
Speciality Milling continues to grow with new applica-tions in maize
Market leadership for optical sorting
Growth in the Advanced Materials business, with an exceptional year for Die Casting
Strong sales performance of Colombia, Peru, Ecua-dor, Chile, and Argentina
Good order intake in Cus-tomer Service with growth of nearly 20%
Successful sale of more than 50 oil-processing machines for Renova, and ship loaders and conveyors for port terminals AGD and Terminal 6 in Argentina
Sale of a 20 t/h rice mill to ORF in Colombia
ISO 9000 accreditation
Introduction of a new optical sorter for fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts
Successful commissioning of 120,000-tonne malting facility commissioned for Great Western Malting
Banco de México places largest order in the region for Grinding and Dispersing
Die Casting increased market share to 50% for new structural castings
Regional apprenticeship program enhanced
South Asia
Middle East & Africa
South America
North America
Strong order growth in plants and projects, sin-gle machines, and in Cus-tomer Service
Successful diversifi cation from Grain Milling to other business areas
Substantial growth in Rice and Grain Logistics
New orders for glass coaters from Turkey
Biggest single-machine order to improve nutrition in Pakistan with over 1,000 microdosing units
Bühler Annual Report 2017
3
STATEMENTFacts & Figures 2017
15
REGIONAL PRESENCE
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTSWe made considerable investments for the future in 2017, including the Haas acquisition, the development of new digital technologies and process solutions, the modernization and expansion of our production network, and breaking ground for our innovation campus.
Haas joins the Bühler GroupA high point of 2017 was the announcement of the take-over of the Austrian Haas Group. The transaction closed in Janu-ary 2018. The Haas family decided to put the company under the Bühler Group umbrella after long-term strategic consid-erations. Haas is a highly regarded manufacturer of plants for wafers, biscuits, and confectionery and a clear market leader. None of the machines or solutions of either company overlap, and they complement each other superbly. It also became clear that many customers use products from both Bühler and Haas at the same time.
This step has opened great perspectives for Bühler and Haas to jointly take a leading position in the consumer food market and also to offer customers integrated solutions along the entire value chain from a single source. For the
time being, Haas will be managed as an independent unit. Because of similar corporate cultures as family companies, and identical customer orientation and quality standards, the conditions for a successful integration are optimal.
Expansion of digital servicesBühler achieved a milestone in its digital transformation and development of new, service-oriented business mod-els. Digitalization creates new possibilities to control the quality of processes, enhance transparency along the value chain, and improve efficiency of machines and sys-tems worldwide, thereby achieving Bühler’s sustainability goals. Bühler developed a new global platform for digital services in collaboration with Microsoft, and also created a new business area, Digital Technologies, as part of the Grains & Food business refocus. The first digital services
The Bühler factory in Changzhou, China, specializes in processing equipment for animal and aqua feed and pet food.
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have already been launched, for example, TotalSense. For the first time, Bühler sold not only hardware, but also an app that is installed on a smartphone. TotalSense enables rice producers to determine quality online. Until now, especially with smaller processors, the rice was controlled manually. This approach is slow and prone to error.
The user takes an photo of the rice sample using an Android smartphone, uploads it to the Bühler cloud, and within a few minutes it has been analyzed according to the parameters the user has set. This low-cost solution gives rice processors peace of mind with consistent, reliable feed- back on the quality of their rice. Currently, there are about 50 such new digital services under development, and about 10 of them will be put on the market in early 2018. Bühler is investigating how to further expand its growing portfolio of digital services.
Modernization of the global production networkWith regard to investments in Bühler’s global production net-work, two projects stand out: the opening of the new factory in Changzhou, China, and the modernization of the Swiss sites. The new plant in Changzhou was put into operation in September and now serves as a global center for the man- ufacturing, research, and development of feed machines and plants. The focus is on process solutions and complete
systems for the processing of feed for farm animals, fish, and pets. In terms of production capacity, Changzhou is one of Bühler’s three largest production sites. In terms of production methods, manufacturing standards, and quality, the plant sets a new standard within the Bühler Group.
Work on the modernization of the Swiss sites is on schedule. The goal of the five-year project in Uzwil is to develop it into one of the world’s leading production sites using Industry 4.0 technologies. In this way, the competitiveness of Swit- zerland as a location should remain strong. The first phase, which is largely completed, was to refurbish production and logistics for mass-produced parts.
Construction of innovation campus beginsBühler broke ground for its new innovation campus in Uzwil (CUBIC) in 2017. The CUBIC comprises two elements: the modernized application development lab and the new inno-vation building. The building is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2019. The considerable investment of about CHF 50 million over a period of three years is a symbol of Bühler’s dedication to innovation, technology, and Switzer-land as its headquarters. This investment will strengthen the company’s market leadership, and it contributes to the goal of innovating to improve the world in collaboration with part-ners from industry, science, NGOs, and start-ups.
Bühler’s secure, Internet of Things technology solutions enable customers to remotely access production data.
Facts & Figures 2017
17
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS
Innovation In 2017, Bühler already achieved its 2020 sustainability target of running 50% of its research and development (R&D) proj-ects in collaboration with our business partners. We invested around 4.5% of turnover into R&D (CHF 119 million), and are expanding our collaboration network with customers, sup-pliers, start-ups, and leading academic institutions to drive innovation and help meet our ambitious sustainability goals.
Bühler partnered with UNITECH to invite young people to participate in the Carbon Footprint Challenge 2017. More than 100 proposals to reduce carbon footprint came in, and the teams behind the five best ideas were invited to Uzwil to develop them further and pitch them to attending com-panies. The winners, Counting Carbon, from Trinity College Dublin, have a solid plan to change consumer behavior
FACING THE FUTURE WITH OPTIMISMWith our collaborative innovation model, we are developing sustainable technologies and solutions – and are well posi-tioned for the future.
with transparent labeling that features carbon footprint infor-mation. They are now working in the Bühler-supported Mass- Challenge accelerator.
Sustainability This has been a landmark year for Bühler as we continue to play our part in creating a safe, healthy planet for future generations. In 2017, we already exceeded our target to ensure 20% of our R&D projects focus on improved nutri-tion, and the number of R&D projects that increase yield and reduce waste have also risen to 39%, showing good prog-ress toward our ultimate target of 50%.
The Bühler Supplier Code of Conduct, designed to help our suppliers as well as our manufacturing and logistics part-ners achieve greater sustainability, has been signed by 30%
ChocoBotic reinvents the traditional moulding line with robotics.
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of our primary suppliers from a standing start of zero in 2016, when it was rolled out. We are pleased with the progress being made toward the goal of 100% by 2020.
OutlookBühler is looking to the future with optimism. We are aware of the speed of change in the digital age and have kept the uncertainties of current world events in view − such as geopolitical, currency, and interest rate issues as well as trends contrary to free trade. However, in view of these fac-tors, we are convinced that for Bühler the opportunities are significantly greater than the risks. 2017 was an important milestone for Bühler, including the acquisition of Haas, and the financial means needed to expand investment and acqui-sition potential were secured. We will continue to focus more sharply on this as we work toward our vision of “innovations
for a better world” and achieve our ambitious sustainability goals. Supported by new opportunities that have opened up thanks to digitalization, unique integrated process solu-tions, leading technologies, and its global presence, Bühler is well-positioned for the future.
We will use this positioning in 2018 to present two more Net-working Days: in China, on the topic of “the future of mobility”, and in Milan as part of the Ipack-IMA trade fair under the theme “feeling good about food”. The official opening of the new factory in Changhzou, China, in the middle of this year will strengthen our position in Asia as well as in the global feed segment.
In fiscal 2018, Bühler is anticipating its growth course to con-tinue with further improved profitability.
Bühler’s process for manufacturing electrode slurries enables the maximization of the energy density of batteries.
Facts & Figures 2017
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OUR FUTURE
Bühler AGCH-9240 Uzwil, SwitzerlandT +41 71 955 11 11www.buhlergroup.comFebruary 8, 2018
