Beckhoff’s sales plummet by 33%, but are expected to bounce back
3 April 2025 
Global sales by the German automation supplier Beckhoff slumped by 33% in 2024, from €1.75bn in 2023 to €1.17bn. This was a sharp change in fortune for a company that usually achieves double-digit annual increases in sales, and expanded at an average annual rate of 15% between 2000 and 2023. Between 2021 and 2023, the company’s cumulative growth was more than 80%.
The company’s founder and owner, Hans Beckhoff, says that he had expected the dramatic drop-off in sales in 2024 because many customers had over-ordered during 2023 and “their warehouses were full”. He reports that incoming orders are now showing signs of recovery and expects the sales figures for 2025to be much better. “We have gone through the valley and are now moving upwards again,” he said at the Hannover Messe.
“This is my sixth crisis in 45 years of business and almost all of them have followed a very similar pattern,” Beckhoff continued. “You can be sure that there will be a recovery, but you have to tackle the crisis head-on and see it as an opportunity for innovation and optimisation.”
After almost unbroken rises in recent years, Beckhoff Automation’s sales fell sharply in 2024During 2024, there was a small decrease in Beckhoff’s global workforce to 5,300 – which includes around 2,000 engineers. Despite the downturn, the company invested €80m in research and development last year – a similar amount to recent years.
“We are intent on further expanding our position as a global automation technology company,” Beckhoff said. “We remain dedicated to our mission of evolving our portfolio with strong developments every year and introducing revolutionary new technology every five to seven years.”
At Hannover, Beckhoff unveiled several new and enhanced product lines, including:
- a next generation of TwinCat PLCs with built-in chatbot functions;
- new multi-touch panel PCs with improved user-friendliness;
- a new system to measure and analyse energy consumption;
- an expanded portfolio of EtherCat Box modules for integrating intrinsically safe signals;
- a machine vision camera connector that integrates up to 64 cameras directly into the TwinCat architecture;
- an updated version of the TwinCAT 3 Motion Designer software for drives with more functions and device options; and
- a series of “vision unit illuminated” (VUI) compact cameras that incorporate illumination and focusable optics, simplifying installation and commissioning.
