After a difficult year in 2009, maxon begins 2010 with record sales

Sachseln, Switzerland. – Fiscal 2009 was a difficult year for maxon motor Group. Yet thanks to the company's strategy of broad diversification and its ability to win important projects and new customers, the anticipated drop in sales was less severe than originally feared. At CHF 248 million, Group sales were down 16% over the previous year. Cash flow of CHF 27.6 million enabled the company to fund all its investments without resorting to external financing. maxon invests 8.6% of its revenues in R&D, an area in which 200 of the company's total workforce of around 1,700 (previous year: 1,760) are employed. maxon has production plants in Sachseln (Switzerland), Sexau (Germany) and Veszprém (Hungary), and has succeeded in strengthening its position as a technology leader in the field of complex drive systems thanks to a number of new products. The first four months of fiscal 2010 were marked at maxon by record revenue sales and a bulging order book. Owing to the volatility of international markets, the company is looking to the future with cautious optimism.

"In a very adverse economic climate, we deliberately took an anticyclical approach, systematically investing in R&D," said majority shareholder Karl-Walter Braun at the media conference. This strategy, according to Braun, enabled maxon to strengthen its position as a technology leader and to win over new customers. He noted that international markets were developing at different rates. Markets with a high proportion of medical technology, such as North America, remained relatively stable. Medical technology already accounts for one-third of maxon's revenues. Thanks to a variety of special applications, the UK market delivered an excellent result. However, both the capital goods industry and markets with a high share of industrial automation and robotics – among them Germany and Japan – recorded heavy losses. In China, which overtook Japan for the first time as a source of revenue, maxon was able to build on its already strong position.

In use everywhere – from Mars to the center of the Earth
maxon is involved in all major space projects. This year will see the market launch of a special motor designed for high-temperature applications. It will be deployed when exploring the geology of the Earth's interior, primarily for handling control tasks near the drill. While the company's motors for Mars can be used in temperatures as low as -120oC, the newly developed motor covers the hightemperature range up to +200oC. Owing to the extreme temperatures the motors must be able to withstand, adhesives are no longer used in their production. This means that maxon products can be deployed just about anywhere – from Mars to the center of the Earth. Every year, maxon produces more than 15,000 different drive variants for use in a wide range of applications. Examples include making gear changes faster for cyclists, ensuring the uniqueness of banknotes, and enabling exact dosages of insulin. In future, maxon's so-called "robot fish" will enable shoals of fish to be led out of danger zones into safe waters.

Other new products – including a high-precision rotary-lift drive as well as motors for control systems and medical technology – underscore the innovative power of a company that will continue to expand its R&D workforce in the course of the year.

Good start to fiscal 2010
The positive trend that began in the second half of 2009 gathered pace in 2010, with maxon posting a record result in the first four months of this year. As a consequence, the company has taken on additional staff to ensure the speedy delivery of customer orders. With markets remaining volatile, Jürgen Mayer, Chairman of maxon's Board of Directors, says it is extremely difficult to forecast with any certainty how business will develop. However, he believes that there are grounds for cautious optimism if the economy continues to pick up.

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