New models, a digital factory and the continuous expansion of the sales and after-sales service network in all strategic markets – the Scm Group continues to focus on innovation. And the results speak for themselves: the group has closed the year 2019 with a turnover of over 700 million euros. This is in line with the record figures of 2018 and the target set for the 2019 financial year. The Italians are also satisfied with the order situation; after the calming of the last few months, it would currently be around the 2019 level, according to Rimini. An improvement compared to 2018 can be seen in the working capital, which is more than 70 million euros. These figures demonstrate the Group’s solidity and its ability to generate liquid funds.

2019 was a thoroughly positive year and was in line with the 2018 figures in all strategic markets and in all business areas of the Group: Scm operates in the wood sector, Cms is the brand for other materials and Hiteco for high-tech industrial components. The group’s objective now is to continue to invest in order to further consolidate the leading position of all business units in their respective competence sectors, from furniture to wood construction and from automotive to aerospace, shipbuilding and plastics processing, and to develop new market niches in rapidly expanding application areas.

“In view of the international economic context and the general trend in our competence markets, we are extremely satisfied with the results achieved, which even exceeded expectations”, said Marco Mancini, General Manager of the Scm Group. “In order to guarantee sustainable results and develop our competitiveness in the current global context, we must maintain an appropriate level of investment and continue to focus increasingly on innovation, digitalization, customer service and continuous training of our staff”.

“Far-sighted decisions have to be made, just as they were made during the last, very intensive year,” comments Giovanni Gemmani, Chairman of the Scm Group. “We are therefore continuing our investments with the aim of being rooted in the markets with solid subsidiaries. The continuous improvement of both our products and services and our competences must be a lifestyle, a fundamental way of thinking and working in order to face with confidence the new challenges that await us”.

The SCM Group clearly sees the recent positive successes as the result of its long-term corporate strategy. Thanks to this strategy, a number of important projects were implemented in the course of 2019:

Last year, more than 3,000 people participated in almost 500 courses with a total of 42,000 training hours. The “Campus”, the training centre of the Scm Group, coordinates and promotes all activities for the development of the professional, technical and managerial skills of the Group’s employees. In addition, the “Campus” offers customers from all industries the opportunity to participate in e-learning courses on the latest technological trends with experts from Scm Group.

Numerous initiatives have been launched to permanently promote the generation of ideas and innovation in all areas of the company. In this context, for example, an “Innovation Award” was created. It is a recognition for employees who “invent” innovative improvements for products and processes for the individual technologies from the wide product range of Scm Group. From 2020, the prize, which has been awarded annually for the past three years, will even be awarded quarterly to further fuel the emergence of innovative ideas for simplifying highly competitive applications.

In addition, the Group’s internal innovation teams will work even more closely with renowned research centers around the world. One focus, for example, is on digital innovations, as these are increasingly becoming decisive competitive factors in mechanical engineering. The same applies to the development of new technologies and applications for processing innovative materials.