The German industrial automation multinational Festo has chosen its Catalan division, located in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, among the 250 delegations it has spread throughout the world, to centralize the global management of digital sales given the ecosystem of startups and digital ---technology and talent--- that can be found in Catalonia. This group, a family-owned company in the hands of the third generation, has been established in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat for 50 years ---which are commemorated this year---.
The project, with an investment of 2.6 million euros, has already been launched with a staff of 20 professionals, from more than nine nationalities and with high competencies, and the forecast is to double it throughout 2022. In total, the headquarters of Festo Spain and Portugal have a staff of 175 professionals, which globally amounts to 21,000 workers.
From the new digital sales hub, Festo will address its sales activity in four functional areas: data analyst, programming, customer care and innovation. The activity of the hub is directly connected with the company's headquarters in Germany to support all divisions worldwide.
The multinational considers that the future lies in digitalization given that, at this point, 75% of B2B buyers in Europe place their orders online. "From Festo, we foresee that by 2025, almost 40% of our sales will be generated digitally," said Ansgar Kriwet, member of Festo's Sales Board of Management, during the inauguration of the new technology center.
The group allocates 8% of its annual turnover, estimated at 3,070 million euros in 2019, to research and development (R&D), based on innovation and industry 4.0 to provide new technological solutions in the industry. The company produces all types of electronic, pneumatic and network technology for industrial processes and activities.
The company expects 40% of its sales to be generated digitally by 2025Headquartered in Esslingen (Germany), Festo supplies pneumatic and electrical automation technology to300,000 industrial and process automation customers from more than 35 sectors, and markets in 176 countriesThe multinational also has a learning, training and consulting systems division where it serves some 60,000 clients worldwide.