Blum ended the year 2011-2012 successfully

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Blum confirmed that last year was closed in positive. The managers of the company attribute the success to innovative products, international presence and an excellent staff.

The 2011/2012 financial year of the Blum Group ended on 30 June 2012. It was a year of growth – the company increased its turnover 8.2 % or Euro 95.2 million compared to the previous year, reaching a total of Euro 1.261 bn.

Blum

On the other hand, the average number of employees worldwide was 5,459 people in 2011/2012 and the apprenticeship scheme is being continued, and in September of this year, 65 new apprentices are to start their technical training at Blum (3 of them with Blum USA). This will bring the total number of apprentices trained in their professions by the Austrian fittings manufacturer up to 252 (10 with Blum USA).

The entire Group enjoyed positive sales developments throughout the business year. There were, however, significant differences in the development of the individual market regions. While the economic crisis made itself felt mainly in the southern countries of Western Europe, the Eastern European and Asian regions achieved above-average growth rates.

In North America, too, sales increased, with the general situation improving mainly in the USA. One thing has remained true, however: The short-notice character of incoming orders, that has been dominating the business for some years now, has not changed. Management is pleased to note that these challenges were successfully mastered thanks to the good cooperation between all departments.

The fluctuation of steel prices, that is a problem for the sector, calmed down slightly during the past financial year, but for the coming business year Blum is again expecting slight increases in the steel price

Extensions
The expansion of the technology centre of Plant 3 in Höchst is making great headway. The company expects completion of the construction work for spring 2013. Blum is also planning to expand the warehousing and production area of Plant 7 in Dornbirn; construction work will begin this coming November.

The new Blum facility in the Ukraine went into operation at the beginning of the past business year, and in the second half of the year, the new warehouses and offices in New Zealand and Portugal were opened.

The establishment and start-up of the new subsidiary in Greece was a success, and Blum Canada moved into the new office building in June. In Poland work on the new “small-quantities“ warehouse is progressing swiftly. In May, the new building in Tunisia – with office and showroom – was opened, our gateway to the North-African markets.

New products and services

The fittings experts from Vorarlberg has always been among the top 10 companies in the Austrian Patent Office invention ranking of the past few years. Last year, Blum even secured 2nd place with a total of 40 patents filed.

This makes Blum the biggest patent applicant in Austria. The company describes its patent policy as follows: “Patents are the only way to effectively protect important findings of our research and development efforts. Consequently, we check all developments affecting future products and covering customer requirements as to possible patent contents.”

The company’s focus on its strategic orientation with regard to the development of new products and services did not falter in the 2011/2012 financial year. The Tandembox Antaro box system will be launched on the market in the coming months. It is a closed box with insert elements made from glass, timber or metal and will offer further differentiation options for our customers.

Legrabox the new, elegant box system made by Blum, will certainly meet with great approval by high-value furniture manufacturers. The Movento runner system was readily accepted and the full, extensive range is already offered on the market.

The Aventos lift family is also very popular with our customers and becoming a highly important product group. The most impressive feature of the Aventos series is the electrical motion support – with Servo-Drive, ease of opening and comfortable closing ensured. The new hinge generation with integrated dampening mechanism, Clip top Blumotiom, brought a considerable number of new customers.

* For further information: www.blum.com