Technologies · Systems · Solutions - Dürr

Paint distribution center in an automotive
paint shop: Paint circulation
lines, through which paint is pumped
to painting robots, need to be cleaned
regularly. That is done with foam balls
known as pigs, which push paint
residues out of the pipeline.
Discontinued operations
Services,
Development Test Systems
Amounts in €m
Services
The Services business unit, represented by the US-based Premier Group, continued
its growth trend in 2004 with a sales plus of 8.3%. Without the increasing weakness
of the US dollar, which had an above-average effect on Services due to the unit’s
strong US business, the plus would have amounted to 14.5%.
Outsourcing trend continues
45
The continuing outsourcing trend in the automotive industry ensures that the services
sector remains a growth market, despite the industry’s low propensity to invest.
Shifting tasks to external partners like Premier is beneficial as it permits manufacturers
to reduce costs, improve quality, and fully concentrate on core areas of competence,
such as development, sales, and brand management.
Strategy: Expansion of product portfolio
2004 2003 Change
Total incoming orders 257.0 230.0 11.7%
Total sales 233.4 227.8 2.5%
EBITDA 4.1 –0.6 783.3%
EBT –6.8 –4.8 –41.7%
Employees at year’s end 6,015 5,105 17.8%
To consistently take advantage of market opportunities, the Services business unit
is pursuing the strategy of widening its range with perfectly fitting business models
and sophisticated new services. That underscores our profile as a quality provider
with full service competence and distinguishes us from smaller, local suppliers. Also,
expanding our product range makes us more independent of our original core business
of plant cleaning.
We made good progress in restructuring our product range in 2004. That is shown
among other things by the fact that primarily new business areas contributed to sales
growth.
Services produced a very promising start in the segment of equipment maintenance
for engine factories. In our established market in the United States, we obtained a
large order right away after having performed maintenance primarily for paint shops
in the past. We made this entry with the help of Premier Tech, a consulting program
that we use to advise our customers on strategic and operational aspects of equipment
maintenance.