The WAGO Group has grown for the third year in a row, achieving 1.37 billion euros in revenue in 2023. This represents 2.2 percent year-on-year revenue growth for the leading manufacturer of electrical interconnection and automation technology.
1.37 billion € revenue
9,000 employees
157 million € investments
“In view of the challenging German economic situation and slow global growth, we are very satisfied with our company’s positive development,” says CEO Dr. Heiner Lang, commenting on the 2023 balance sheet. Despite a significant economic slowdown and the associated decrease in incoming orders, revenue continued to increase. With its products, systems and solutions for electrical interconnection technology and automation, WAGO covers a wide range of market segments and applications. “The energy and mobility transition, as well as investments in factories and capacity expansions, had a positive effect on the WAGO Group’s overall revenue in 2023,” says CFO Jürgen Koopsingraven. The German market’s share in the revenue rose to 29.3 percent; Germany thus remains WAGO’s largest market. The rest of the European market accounted for another 42.9 percent of revenue and the remaining world markets for 27.8 percent. As in previous years, the electrical interconnections business accounts for the largest proportion of revenue and continues to grow. The strongest relative growth is seen in the solutions business. With a dedicated team of around 9,000 employees, the WAGO Group’s workforce is the crucial success factor for its growth. Around 4,300 of these employees work in Germany – about 1,000 of them in Sondershausen in Thuringia. Training is and will remain key for securing the supply of qualified employees, so WAGO attaches great importance to promoting young talent. At the state-of-the-art training center at the headquarters in Minden, 224 trainees and students are currently starting their careers. At present, 47 trainees and students are employed at the production and logistics facility in Sondershausen.
WAGO CEO Dr. Heiner Lang
With 157 Million Euros, WAGO Is Investing More Than Ever Before
Apart from the financial resources devoted to training facilities, WAGO invested 157 million euros last year – a large portion in expanding its production and logistics facilities. This substantial sum underlines the company’s determination to invest in the future. “We are expanding our capacities and laying the foundation for sustainable international growth,” explains CFO Jürgen Koopsingraven. Last year, 60 percent of the investments went to the plants at Minden’s headquarters and in Thuringia; construction of the new “WAVE24” logistics center in Sondershausen, Thuringia, alone accounted for 22 million euros. “This will go into operation at the end of this year. That will significantly increase product availability and improve delivery performance in line with customer expectations,” says Koopsingraven.
WAGO’s growth strategy also includes expanding its presence in Europe and investing in international markets. For instance, the company is expanding the production capacity at its Domdidier site in Switzerland, where a new plastic injection molding plant will be ready by the end of 2025. The main focus of this process is on energy-efficient production and resource conservation. The company is also investing in the new headquarters of WAGO UK & Ireland, in Houlton Rugby. The project is equipped with a state-of-the-art building management system and includes 5,900 square meters of office and production space. Construction is slated to be completed by the end of 2024.
In addition, investments are being made in production expansion and manufacturing equipment at the plants in Poland, India, China and Mexico.
Strengthening existing markets represents another strategic area of action. For example, WAGO is continuing to expand its business activities in Spain as part of its growth strategy. The merger with its long-standing local sales partner Dicomat to form WAGO Iberia in the second half of 2024 represents a clear commitment to WAGO’s customers, partners and employees in Spain and Portugal. “Expanding our international footprint and investing in markets, customers and employees are crucial for our long-term growth, helping to increasing our competitiveness and resilience,” explains CEO Dr. Heiner Lang.
WAGO CFO Jürgen Koopsingraven
Innovations and Partnerships
Since launching its splicing connector 50 years ago, WAGO has stood for pioneering spirit and a consistently high level of innovation. As a market leader, WAGO makes a crucial contribution to performance in various industries through continuous development of its products and services. This success rests on strong technology partnerships and the development and introduction of new solutions and products. Openness and partnerships that make collaborative ideas and product innovations possible – these form the foundation for exploiting the opportunities that the digital transformation offers. On this basis, WAGO was able to make great progress and further strengthen its market position in 2023. As part of this strategy, WAGO and Bosch Rexroth further expanded their collaboration in 2023. As the first system and technology partner, WAGO is helping shape the Linux®-based ctrlX OS operating system as an open platform and will integrate it into its automation portfolio.
Through its cooperation with Swiss cloud provider Avelon, WAGO was able to take an important step toward sustainable building automation in the building sector last year: The combination of WAGO’s automation expertise and Avelon’s cloud solutions allows more efficient engineering processes and saves energy and money in the domain of Building Management Systems (BMS). The goal is to create open building ecosystems that contribute to the energy transition and sustainability. In addition, WAGO added proven, high-quality market services in control cabinet manufacturing to its own offerings with the acquisition of control cabinet expert Bauer Systeme in March 2024. In general, collaborations with strong partners remain crucial to the expansion of WAGO’s portfolio of products and services.
Sustainability: A Vital Investment in a Livable Future
At WAGO, long-term success has been built on sustainable business practices for many years. In addition to offering sustainable solutions for customers, WAGO is constantly rethinking its own processes and products to make its business even more energy-efficient and conserve resources. Nothing is too small to make a difference – which is why WAGO has continued to develop one of its many successful products, the iconic 221 Series Splicing Connector, for its 50th anniversary. With the launch of the Green Range 221 Series in September 2023, WAGO has shifted attention to the issue of sustainability. The new version of the 221 Series is produced from biocircular and recycled plastics and meets all quality standards and certifications. It also proves that transformation of existing products is possible and illustrates WAGO’s path towards a more sustainable future.
The WAGO 221 Series Green Range in Use
The Outlook for the Next Fiscal Year
In February, the German Electro and Digital Industry Association (ZVEI) predicted a dip in growth for the current year, despite a gradual recovery, and anticipates a two percent real decline in production for the electrical and digital industries. Developments on the building market are also viewed very cautiously due to the high interest rate level. Therefore, serious prediction of market trends for 2024 is not possible, says CEO Dr. Heiner Lang: “Internationally, we see a very diverse picture of growth potential, but also of economic uncertainties. Our goal is to create purchase incentives through numerous initiatives and to strengthen WAGO’s competitive position. Through a high level of innovation, we aim to make ourselves largely independent of external influences in order to stay on a growth trajectory.”