Despite continuing economic uncertainty and subdued demand in the wire industry, WAFIOS was able to safeguard jobs by responding in good time and introducing targeted measures. Thanks to a broad product portfolio and growing momentum from the field of e-mobility, the company was able to offset the decline in core business. In the second half of the year, the overall mood was positive – with major orders coming in for 2025, WAFIOS is feeling confident about the future.
The economic uncertainty that took hold in 2023 continued in 2024. While some economic sectors found themselves on an upward trend, the steel sector of the wire industry did not have the same growth momentum. Due to customers’ reluctance to place orders, WAFIOS saw a further decline in its core business. In response to this subdued order situation in its core business, WAFIOS decided to reduce employees’ accumulated overtime hours in a targeted manner in the second half of 2024. This measure makes it possible to respond flexibly to the economic situation while also safeguarding jobs in the company on a long-term basis. Towards the end of the year, however, the company was able to secure major orders for 2025 and the incoming order volume was 15.9% above the previous year at EUR 134.4 million.
“We were already seeing signs of weakening demand in 2023 and this continued in 2024. Due to the broad product portfolio and the new e-mobility sector, we were able to offset our weak core business to some extent. The order situation is stable but at a lower level compared to previous years,” reports Dr. Uwe-Peter Weigmann, Speaker of the Executive Board at WAFIOS.
Development at a glance
Due to economic uncertainty and the resulting subdued core business, WAFIOS recorded group sales of EUR 175.6 million in 2024 (2023: EUR 189.3 million). This resulted in an annual result of EUR 0.3 million (2023: EUR 6.5 million). The equity ratio dropped slightly to 50.4% (2023: 51.2%). WAFIOS AG recorded sales of EUR 119.6 million and an annual result of EUR 0.7 million (2023: EUR 131.2 million / EUR 7 million). The shareholders’ meeting on July 24, 2025 decided to suspend the dividend payment in view of the challenging market situation. In this way, both the shareholders – by forgoing the dividend – and the employees – by reducing working hours and working on short time – are making a vital contribution toward strengthening the company. These joint efforts will create the necessary financial scope to make targeted investments in future-oriented projects, especially in the key areas of development and digitalization.
“In 2024, we were able to keep the number of employees relatively stable. By the end of the year, WAFIOS AG in Reutlingen and Marktredwitz employed a total of 791 people (724 in Reutlingen alone), including 57 trainees. We provide these trainees with practical, thorough training. At the end of their placement, all trainees were offered the opportunity to keep working here,” says Dr. Weigmann. The positive developments in the field of e-mobility led to further recruitment in this area.
For the WAFIOS Group, the number of employees including trainees was 1,094. 25 trainees and dual-system students are starting their training at WAFIOS in 2025, demonstrating WAFIOS’ commitment to maintaining and expanding the German sites.
The company makes active use of funding programs such as tax incentives for research activities as well as partnerships with universities and colleges to support the necessary developments.
Changes on the Executive Board – setting the course for the future
The start of 2025 saw a significant personnel change at WAFIOS: After an impressive 51 years with the company, Martin Holder left to start his well-earned retirement.
He was succeeded on the Executive Board by Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Eisele and Dipl.-Ing. Martin Mayer who, together with Speaker of the Board Dr.-Ing. Uwe-Peter Weigmann, form the new management team. Since the start of the year, the three Executive Board members have been working hard to drive forward future-oriented projects in their respective areas of responsibility – with a particular focus on innovation, digitalization and sustainable growth.
Investing in the company
WAFIOS is investing in new business areas. Fall 2024 saw the opening of the E-Mobility Campus – the new home of the e-mobility business area – on Wafiosstraße near Reutlingen Südbahnhof station in Germany.
The company obtained TISAX certification in order to serve as a reliable partner for the automotive industry and meet its needs. The TISAX (Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange) certification is a standardized assessment of information security for companies in the automotive industry. This certification assures all of our customers that any information shared with the company will always be managed securely.
“Alongside the certification, there have also been developments in other areas. For example, we have invested in a new machine for production and have also undertaken numerous projects in the field of digitalization,” says Martin Mayer, member of the WAFIOS Executive Board.
With regard to digitalization, WAFIOS has established its own SAP extension for digital management and visualization of orders in production and assembly. The cross-department CRM system and a ticket system for customer service are further examples of the many new developments introduced at WAFIOS.
“Digitalizing our processes is a crucial factor when it comes to remaining competitive over the long term. It will allow us to make our internal processes more efficient and cost-effective,” says Mayer.
Addressing the shortage of skilled workers
It is not just declining order volumes or political upheavals that are causing problems for companies in the wire and tube processing industry. The shortage of skilled workers is also a factor that many companies are having to address. At wire & Tube 2024 in Düsseldorf – the largest international trade fair for the wire and tube processing industry – WAFIOS presented an innovative solution with regard to assisted machines, which will make it easier for operators to carry out the setup process and produce good parts. To this end, WAFIOS has defined four levels of machine assistance. Levels 1 to 4 denote the increasing level of automation in the machines – starting with systems that are fully manually operated (level 1), moving up to partially automated assistance functions (level 2), then largely automated setup with minimal expert intervention (level 3) and finally the visionary concept of fully self-configuring machines with no operator input (level 4).
At wire & Tube, WAFIOS presented two machines at levels 2 and 3 which support the operator with assisted or automated functions. The level 3 machine also guides the operator through the entire setup process, thus making it easier to carry out the difficult task of straightening the wire. As a result, induction training for new employees can be completed much more quickly.
“We have received excellent feedback on our assisted machines. This shows that this topic is important to our customers and is becoming more and more of a focus. Not only do these machines assist with induction training for new employees, they can also help experienced specialists by making processes easier and speeding things up,” says Jörg Eisele, member of the WAFIOS Executive Board.
Parallel operations in production
Another innovative development which made its debut at wire & Tube is the CNC transfer bending machine BQ 10. The machine uses a transfer system to manufacture wire, tube or copper components in individual parallel operations, thus speeding up production considerably. The machine is equipped with multiple processing stations which execute individual operations independently of each other. The BQ 10 uses the universal WAFIOS Programming System WPS to create the production sequences.
A major advantage of the BQ 10 is that it can manufacture entire component families without requiring long setup times. Component families comprise components with the same wire diameter but different geometries. If the operations to be carried out remain the same, or if some operations are omitted, these components – even with different lengths and similar geometries – can be programmed and manufactured using the patented individual transfer systems.
Fifth Reutlingen E-Mobility Days at the new WAFIOS campus
The Reutlingen E-Mobility Days (RED) took place for the fifth time and were held for the first time at the newly opened WAFIOS AG E-Mobility Campus. From October 15 to 17, around 200 industry specialists visited the event to find out about the latest technologies for stators, hairpins, busbars and axial flux motors.
“The E-Mobility Days have become a fixture in the industry calendar. With specialist talks on topics such as motor cooling, artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing plus a strong exhibitor turnout, they provide the perfect platform for dialog and innovation,” says Dr. Uwe-Peter Weigmann, Speaker of the WAFIOS Executive Board.
Innovation in copper components for electric motors
The FMU 40 E is increasingly becoming the “Swiss Army knife” of copper component production for stators. In addition to hairpins, the machine can also be used to manufacture axial flux coils and other components made of enameled copper wire precisely and flexibly. WAFIOS is seeing a particular increase in demand in the field of axial flux motors – a key technology for electric vehicles and aircraft. Several machines have already been successfully delivered for the series production of these coils.
Furthermore, with the new SpeedFormer, WAFIOS also offers a solution for the highly flexible series production of hairpins – and the first customers have already received their deliveries. The company will be continuing to drive forward developments in this area.
