Phoenix Contact continuing to grow

He announced that an increase in sales of about 14 per cent is expected at the end of this year as a result of this growth. The billion Euro turnover mark will be exceeded within the next few days. This ambitious target, set by Phoenix Contact in 2002, has now been achieved two years earlier than planned. Therefore, the turnover increased by approx 500 m Euro from 2002 to 2007. This means an average annual growth of 13 per cent in the past five years. This year again, the driving forces behind this growth have been all five Business Units with double-digit growth rates, in which automation technology has the top spot with 25 per cent. Distinct front-runners worldwide concerning relative growth are the Asian markets with India and China on top as well as Russia. However, the German market, which makes up 35 per cent of Phoenix Contact´s total sales, is hardly short of that with a double-digit growth rate. At the end of October 2007 a dedicated research and development company Phoenix Contact R&D Engineering Center Ltd in Nanjing was opened. This company is a service provider for the Chinese distribution and production company and develops customer-specific products and solutions for the Chinese market. The foundation of R&D Engineering Center Ltd. will lead to a stronger technological presence for Phoenix Contact in the Chinese market. In parallel with this commitment to global market regions, the company is also expanding the locations in Germany. In September of this year, Phoenix Contact opened the "Innovation Center Electronics" office building for the development and marketing departments of the Interface and Automation Systems business units in Bad Pyrmont. Together with the production units for these business units, over 1,000 people now work at the electronics plant in Bad Pyrmont. At the Blomberg site a new production building is just being constructed with an area of 20,000 square meters (215,000 square feet). Over the course of 2008, a new office building covering over 3,000 square meters (32,250 square feet) will be constructed at the Blomberg site.