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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Built for success: a lucrative partnership Since its acquisition by MULTIVAC in 2019, the FRITSCH Group has been soaring: sales grew by 40% in 2021, a year that saw various pandemic restrictions throughout. It also recorded the best quarterly result in its history, in 2022, and a record-breaking EUR 35 m in incoming orders, while new equipment was also introduced. Christian Traumann, MULTIVAC Managing Director and Group President, and Andreas Eyd, Managing Director, FRITSCH Bakery Technologies, shared with us the strategy of the two companies, leading up to these results, and how it continues to nurture the success at FRITSCH.
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Catalina Mihu: FRITSCH Bakery Technologies recently announced it recorded a sales growth of 40% in 2021. Where were the biggest sales recorded? Andreas Eyd: We registered a tremendous fourth quarter, and the momentum is continuing this year, starting from the first months of the year. We’ve seen the biggest growth in Eastern and Western Europe, but also in North America and elsewhere. MULTIVAC’s organization, with 83 subsidiaries worldwide, has been hugely beneficial as we are able to reach many countries; and the results are showing. Mihu: Which segment saw the biggest sales increase? Andreas Eyd: Our customers typically look for the highest possible line flexibility, to support product diversity. They want to follow trends and the ability to easily introduce new products on their lines. This is why they frequently choose our IMPRESSA universal solution, which has the highest flexibility. In addition, our MULTITWIST pretzel solution is highly requested all over the world. Typically, pretzels are considered very European – German, or even Bavarian regional specialty. But, we have sold these machines in Asia, in the U.S., and the demand for the MULTITWIST continues to grow. A customer from Southern Europe recently visited and requested this line. As customers are looking for product diversity, this line can also be used with sweet and soft doughs, which are preferred in Asia, for example. Having these options available helps to give bakers new ideas for new markets. Mihu: As FRITSCH is reporting impressive growth, events outside of the bakery world call for attention nevertheless. How do you perceive the war in Ukraine? Christian Traumann: First of all, it must be said that we deeply admire the bravery of the Ukrainian people and President Selenskyj. MULTIVAC is doing everything we can to support them. Our thoughts are with all those who risk their lives to protect their freedom, and, by extension, our freedom, too. In addition to our daughter company in Ukraine, we also employ good, hard-working people in Russia, and we admire those who take to the street to protest against this war there. Generally, this is a grief-filled humanitarian issue; business-wise, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus account for only
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2% of our global turnover, which will be around EUR 1.5 bn this year, according to our first estimation. The impact on our business will be limited. Mihu: How is FRITSCH utilizing MULTIVAC’s sales and service network? Christian Traumann: We are active in close to 170 countries as MULTIVAC and have 83 daughter companies. We follow the same strategy whenever we acquire a new company. When we took over FRITSCH in August 2019, we immediately put our efforts into our own sales subsidiaries, to support their portfolio. We put our people through very intense training, as many had limited knowledge regarding bakery. It was a cumbersome process, but now we have the people up to speed. At our World of Bakery in Kitzingen, we trained people, in person as well as online when possible, due to COVID. On the other hand, FRITSCH has given us a great headstart, with its amazing people! The results are showing in our current order intake: we are taking full advantage of having FRITSCH be a part of an international organization. Mihu: What new doors opened right away for FRITSCH after joining MULTIVAC? Andreas Eyd: Going back to August 2019, when FRITSCH came out of insolvency and was taken over by MULTIVAC, our customers were reassured to see things stabilizing and FRITSCH back in the market. The reason is simple: we provide high-quality lines and the resulting end products are also excellent. Some might have wondered about the association between FRITSCH and MULTIVAC, “What does MULTIVAC, a packaging machine specialist, know about dough?”. What we saw instead was a high cross-selling potential: we brought many customers to meet MULTIVAC and learn about packaging and automation solutions and, in turn, MULTIVAC brought a lot of customers who were interested in our bakery technology solutions – a huge benefit for all of us.
Building the business plan Mihu: What investments were made at MULTIVAC’s subsidiaries to create specialized sales teams for bakery, aside from staff training?
