The siblings run the automation technology manufacturer Pilz.
(Photo: dpa)
Stuttgart The automation technology provider Pilz continues to grow and in 2022 it had the highest turnover in the company’s 75-year history at EUR 403.3 million. That is 15.8 percent more than in the previous year, a strong growth – but according to the managing directors, other things are more important: “We want to run our company in such a way that we can hand it over to our children with a clear conscience,” says Thomas Pilz.
He does not have the level of the equity ratio at hand right away. At 48 percent, it is quite presentable. The family entrepreneur says nothing about the amount of profit, only emphasizes: “We always work profitably.”
Thomas Pilz has been running the Swabian family business with his sister Susanne Kunschert for five years. You name Christian values as the foundation of cooperation and trusting interactions at Pilz. That helped even before the pandemic, when a hacker attack paralyzed several plants.
“It is important to us how well our company holds together, be it the cyber attack of 2019, the pandemic from 2020, supply chain problems, especially with semiconductors, or the consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine,” says Susanne Kunschert. She is visibly proud of the company’s 2,400 employees worldwide: “That was a very special achievement by our people over the past few years.”
Pilz invests 38 million euros in new production technology
But for the Swabian entrepreneur, the numbers are important elsewhere: Pilz wants to invest 38 million euros in new production technology and software, more than half at the headquarters in Ostfildern near Stuttgart. The investments from the record income should advance the medium-sized company, especially in security technologies for industrial production.
Pilz has specialized in technologies that use computer-aided and automated methods to increase safety in industrial production. Networked sensors ensure that safety measures are taken immediately and employees are warned in the event of a dangerous gas leak in a furnace. Pilz systems also ensure that only authorized employees have access to sensitive production systems in the pharmaceutical industry.
Security technologies for industry
According to Thomas Pilz, the industry will face major challenges in the coming years when it comes to cyber security: “In order to ensure productivity, machines must be protected against manipulation and unauthorized access.” The digitized factories must be protected against attacks on production and theft be protected by data. To do this, the companies need what is known as an industrial firewall, which Pilz calls “Security Bridge”.
An employee of the automation technician checks circuit boards.
(Photo: dpa)
Industrial companies would also have to adapt to new legal requirements in good time, such as the new Machinery Ordinance or the second Network and Information Directive of the European Union (NIS 2). “We support our customers in this,” says Thomas Pilz.
Pilz also wants to securely digitize railway signal boxes
Another growth area for Pilz is the safety of the railway infrastructure. On the one hand, Pilz is developing systems with its partner Pintsch, for example to securely digitize signal boxes. But the production of high-speed wheel tires for ICEs can also be monitored and secured with Pilz technologies.
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The management duo remains optimistic for the current year, although the supply chain problems have not yet been completely overcome. “In 75 years we have always adapted to the most diverse conditions and, despite all the adversities, we are optimistic about the future,” says Susanne Kunschert. “We live for innovations.”
In fact, the company has changed remarkably. Founded as a glass blowing workshop, Pilz became an electronics company, and finally an automatizer and digitizer.
In addition, company founder Peter Pilz died in a plane crash in 1975. His wife Renate Pilz first raised the children and then took over the management of the company for many years.
Regarding the adversities of entrepreneurial life, Susanne Kunschert quotes the motto of singer Tina Turner, who died on Wednesday: “Convert the poison in life into medicine”.
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