Maplan set for record 2022 despite market challenges

Dusseldorf, Germany – Maplan GmbH expects to achieve record revenues this year, according to Wolfgang Meyer, CEO of the Austrian rubber moulding machinery and systems company.

“We will do our best [ever] turnover worldwide,” said Meyer, who pegged 2022 revenues at “roughly €60 million” compared to the Kottingbrunn-based company’s previous high of around €50 million in 2018.

Gains have been made across all Maplan subsidiaries, including its Wujin, China manufacturing & supply operation, which is delivering its best ever results, the CEO added at a press conference during the K2022 show in Dusseldorf.

Meyer linked the highly positive sales development to growing adoption of automated moulding technologies to address industrial labour shortages  – including in lower-cost economies, such as China, Mexico and Turkey.

“This year, companies in China, even the local Chinese companies, are buying our [highest specification] machines, with all options including full automation,” the Maplan boss also reported.

So, while the rubber moulding machinery market “did not do that well” in 2022, Meyer said Maplan had “won an unbelievable number of new customers, new projects, and could put extra-machine types on the market.”

The sales growth, he added, is an endorsement of Maplan investments over recent years in its production facilities and introduction of new machines and automation technologies.

Business is being further bolstered by this year’s sharp rise in energy prices: Meyer explaining that manufacturers can now typically save around €23,000 a year by replacing an older machine with new energy-efficient models.