Bucher Industries, which owns the Kuhn machinery brand, recently reported its business figures for 2021 and, according in its own statements, it reported exceptionally high demand in 2021 for its machines exceeding the 2019 figures by nearly one third. It reported that orders rose in all of its five divisions.
At €3.66 billion sales, the Swiss based company reported that the increase was mainly due to the good economic development, but also to catch-up effects and precautionary orders. Bucher reported that like all global industry, the divisions were confronted with bottlenecks and delays in the supply chain and logistics, as well as rising material and transport costs.
This resulted in production challenges that intensified over the course of the reporting period. However, the divisions managed to cope with these challenges very well. Recruiting qualified employees became increasingly difficult. The divisions enlarged their workforce primarily by means of temporary workers but were unable to fill vacancies to the desired extent, particularly in the USA. Accordingly, the Group’s order book grew by more than two thirds. The Group’s order backlog rose by more than two thirds to €1.73 billion. Compared to the previous year, sales increased significantly by 14.2 percent.
With a share of sales of around 42 percent, the Kuhn Group is the largest division within Bucher Industries. Orders received by Kuhn Group rose by almost a third to €1.55 billion. Sales grew by 21 percent compared to 2020 to €1.22 billion. This was also well above the high level of 2019.
