Hamilton, New Jersey, May 2024 - In 2023 the FRABA Group, a leader in industrial motion control sensors, enjoyed a 16% increase in overall business activity. Sales for the year increased to €46 million. As well, the group opened a new office and R&D center on Cluj, Romania. “FRABA is an international company with a strong commitment to technology and innovation,” commented Christian Leeser, FRABA’s CEO and majority shareholder.
“Locating our new office in a city with a well-regarded technical university is an important element in our strategy for attracting talented and energetic employees.” The year also saw significant progress in the rollout of a new generation of products for the POSITAL and UBITO business units. Leeser continued, “Our NEXTGEN initiative has had two main objectives. The first, naturally, has been to make certain that our products incorporate the most efficient and up-to-date technologies. The second has been to reorganize our supply chains to avoid the problems we encountered during the COVID crisis.
In our key Wiegand sensor business, we have invested in the development of a new in-house designed ASIC that will make us less dependent on external suppliers.” Another highlight of 2023 has been the ramping up of the production at FRABA’s factory in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. This facility features a semi-automated computer-guided production system designed for high-volume manufacturing. It addresses a growing demand for Wiegand components for event sensing and energy harvesting while also increasing manufacturing capacity for POSITAL’s popular kit encoders. Output of Wiegand sensors was twice the volume achieved in 2022 while production of kit encoders has almost tripled.
While FRABA experienced solid growth in 2023, there are signs of economic headwinds, including a weakening inflow of orders from machinery manufacturers. Leeser concludes: “We are confident that our mix of a highly responsive business culture and advanced products will bring us long-term success. However, we recognize that we may face challenges in the early months of 2024.”
About FRABA
The FRABA group is made up of a closely integrated set of business units that provide technically advanced products and services for industrial customers. The group’s history dates to 1918, when its predecessor, Franz Baumgartner elektrische Apparate GmbH, was established in Cologne, Germany, to manufacture electrical relays. Since then, the company has played a trendsetting role in the development of motion control sensors such as rotary encoders and inclinometers (Sold by the POSITAL business unit) and Wiegand sensors for motion sensing and energy harvesting (UBITO), The CREDEMUS business unit provides a digital platform and support services for high-complexity, low-volume manufacturing operations.
FRABA has a global reach with subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia, along with and sales and distribution partners worldwide.