Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Franz Morat Group is breaking new ground when it comes to communication with its employees. The annual company meeting is being held digitally for the first time and live-streamed into the employees’ homes. Managing Director Gökhan Balkis reports on a challenging fiscal year, which the corporate group has handled well in retrospect.
Revenue planning was adapted to the changes in underlying conditions early on in the current year. At an annual revenue of approximately €81 million, the Franz Morat Group will conclude its fiscal year approximately 15% below the level of the previous year. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the focus has been on preventing layoffs related to the economic situation and to break even on the balance sheet. According to Balkis, both goals have been met in one of the most challenging years of the company’s 108-year history.
Current forecasts from business research institutes indicate that the economy should not be expected to recover quickly. Executive Management of Franz Morat Group is basing its planning for the coming year on the assumption of a moderate revenue growth of 4%. According to Balkis, breaking even without cutting jobs at any location of the Franz Morat Group will remain the top priority for 2021. The Group operates sales branches in the U.S. and Turkey in addition to production plants in Poland and Mexico. Currently, the corporate group has about 640 employees, 550 of whom work in Eisenbach.
As a way of preparing for the changes in work conditions, numerous company agreements have already been passed together with the Works Councils of Framo Morat and F. Morat. Progress has been made in digitalization. Working from home or remotely and video conferencing have become part of everyday business. According to Balkis, even though the development of the pandemic and the political guidelines are factors that one has no control over, they still need to be considered when determining the right courses of action for the company.
Balkis says that the focus on sales and development activities in booming growth industries that are less dependent on the overall economic situation will continue in the coming years. In all business areas of the Franz Morat Group, numerous projects are about to enter series production. These include plastic components for e-bikes and the automotive sector, motor shafts for electric forklifts and wheel hub drives for automated guided vehicles in intralogistics as well as drives developed according to customer specifications for fully automated commercial coffee machines, for fabric dyeing machines or for cleaning the sensors of autonomous cars.