SICK achieves record high performance!

In the challenging fiscal year 2022, SICK set a new performance record!

With orders of 2.511 billion euros and turnover of 2.19 billion euros, this record further proves the strong demand for intelligent sensor solutions for industrial digitalization. EBIT of 165 million euros, overall strong financial situation and stable earnings. The number of employees worldwide increased by 8% to 11,909. The company continues to invest in improving its innovation capabilities, and more than 100 new patents were applied for in 2022, of which more than 50% were software- and artificial intelligence-assisted sensor solutions.

SICK AG regards stable delivery capabilities as a top priority and actively promotes business development. Turnover increased by 11.5% to 2.19 billion euros, not only breaking the 2 billion mark for the first time, but also far exceeding expectations. In addition, the order volume also increased by 8.2% to 2.511 billion euros. The group profit was 120 million euros.

The global economic instability caused by the war in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, inflation, rising energy and raw material prices, and COVID-related restrictions made the 2022 fiscal year challenging.

Dr. Mats Gökstorp, Chairman of the Board of SICK AG, said: “The 2022 fiscal year was marked by numerous challenges to the socio-economic and company operations due to the tight procurement market, especially the impact of high costs on profit margins. On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank all SICK employees who work hard every day to overcome new challenges and find flexible and creative solutions for our customers. Our focus is on ensuring delivery capabilities and maintaining customer relationships while being cost-conscious. We will continue to implement this strategy in 2023 and meet new demands for sensors and digital solutions with ever-increasing innovation capabilities.”

Sensor industry development status

According to the German Association for Sensor and Measurement Technology (AMA), the sensor industry showed a positive development trend in the 2022 fiscal year.

Despite the economic and political uncertainties that affected the sensor industry, turnover in the third quarter of 2022 increased by 10% compared to the same period last year. The strong demand for sensor solutions for industrial applications is also reflected in SICK’s balance sheet.

The turnover growth was relatively balanced in the three business areas: factory automation (+12%), logistics automation (+12%) and process automation (+10%). The efforts made around the world to make better use of limited resources are reflected in the increasing level of industrial automation, and SICK has been committed to developing technical solutions since its founding in 1946.

SICK Industrial Digital Solutions

SICK adheres to its innovation strategy and spent 11% of its turnover (241 million euros) in research and development in the 2022 fiscal year. SICK focuses on sensor intelligence solutions and uses sensor technology to support the control of digital and automated industrial processes and the protection of humans and the environment. In 2022, SICK continued to develop and gradually became a complete solution provider with sensor products, systems, software, artificial intelligence and services.

SICK applied for 122 patents in the 2022 fiscal year (35% more than the previous year), more than half of which are in the fields of software and artificial intelligence. With the networking capabilities of sensor technology and data property rights, SICK has become an important technology partner in the field of industrial digitalization.

A standout product innovation in 2022 is the image-based code reader Lector85x, which integrates software and artificial intelligence support. With a 12.4-megapixel image chip and high computing power, codes can be recognized at speeds of up to 3.5 m/s. For example, the code reader can be used in logistics centers or for airline baggage sorting.

SICK uses the Augmented Reality solution for manufacturing in the SARA application released in 2022: The SICK Augmented Reality Assistant is the first solution in an industrial environment to combine sensor data and the real environment, thus enabling the visualization of process and diagnostic information directly in the workshop. The AR application helps field workers to parameterize and diagnose sensors.

In addition, SICK is also launching products in the energy transition market segment in 2022, including the FLOWSIC500: The ultrasonic gas flowmeter is now able to measure hydrogen mixtures reliably and safely. This allows existing plants to be upgraded for an important energy carrier (hydrogen) and to be future-proof.

An important part of SICK’s innovation strategy is the start-up community within the Group, which, after a “business idea pitch” and a screening process, will be joined by six more start-ups in 2022. The start-ups validate new market opportunities in a targeted manner based on rapid customer feedback. As a result, topics such as hyperspectral image processing and neural networks are no longer just dreams of the future, but are already being adopted by SICK start-ups and are influencing future product development.

Sustainability as a whole

In fiscal 2022, SICK adhered to its overall sustainability strategy in the area of ​​”Environment, Society and Governance (ESG)” and achieved the set targets. SICK’s understanding of sustainability encompasses corporate responsibility for its employees, the environment, economic success and society. In the area of ​​climate and environment, SICK wants to reduce energy consumption by 0.5% per year compared to the previous year, which it has already achieved in 2022 through various efficiency measures.

Green electricity has been used throughout the German plants for ten years and will be rolled out to all plants worldwide by 2025. As a supplier of digital sensor solutions, SICK analyzed the energy-saving potential of its IT infrastructure and developed a holistic approach in 2022.

The key to the company’s success lies in its employees, and SICK wants to be an attractive workplace now and in the future. In 2022, SICK signed the “Diversity Charter”, which clearly stated its willingness and importance to promote diversity in all areas.

In addition, a project was launched with “MentalHealth@SICK” to sustainably implement mental health measures in daily working life and to destigmatize the topic of “mental health”. In addition to employee health, training and lifelong learning have also been of great significance since the company was founded. More than 82,000 training courses were successfully held through the company’s in-house SICK Sensor Intelligence Academy (SIA), and last year 373 trainees obtained their industrial digitalization qualifications at SICK.

In 2022, SICK was named Germany’s “Great Place to Work”® for the 20th consecutive time in an anonymous survey. “All in all, it’s a very good place to work” – 91% of SICK employees surveyed agree with this statement. SICK’s companies in the United States, Sweden and India were also rated “Great Place to Work”® for their workplace culture.

In terms of corporate governance, SICK took preventive measures in 2022 to fulfil its obligations under the Act on Due Diligence Obligations of Companies in the Supply Chain. This includes, in particular, the establishment of a risk management system to ensure that SICK’s own business areas, direct component suppliers and indirect component suppliers fulfill their due diligence obligations in terms of human rights and the environment. In 2021, the “Integrity Line” was established to anonymously report compliance violations in order to protect the company from damage and increase the trust of employees and business partners in SICK’s values.
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