The family-run medical technology company based in Tuttlingen was able to generate worldwide sales of EUR 288 million in 2020. Compared to 2019, this corresponds to a decrease of approx. 4%. In an international industry comparison and in view of the global pandemic, however, they are satisfied with the course of the past financial year.
As in previous years, the USA, Germany, Italy, India, China and Great Britain contributed significantly to total sales. In the US market and in some European markets even a slight increase in sales was achieved.
Although the capacity utilization at the KLS Martin Group was acceptable over the year, the effects of the corona pandemic are noticeable on sales and costs. The costs for the various measures in connection with the corona virus now amount to over EUR 600 thousand. But the protection of employees is the top priority for the family company. That's why shift work was introduced in production, additional protective measures were installed at the workplaces, investments were made in the IT infrastructure and employees started working from home early on. "The employees and their relatives were given free protective masks and the parents of children in need of care were given five days of special leave for childcare in 2020 and 2021," explains Managing Director Karl Leibinger.
All meetings are now held online and the global sales conference in January was also carried out completely digitally. “Most of the events could not take place as planned. In order to maintain contact with our customers and specialist retail partners despite the lockdown, we looked for new opportunities and offered webinars that were very well received. In 2020 we conducted more than 100 webinars with over 19,000 participants, ”reports Managing Director Michael Martin.
2020 was also an eventful year for the Swabian family company. In April, the Karl Leibinger company from Mühlheim took over the main business operations of the Stuckenbrock company and its shares in the Martin brothers. As a result, all companies in the KLS Martin Group are now fully owned by the Leibinger family.
In July, after an intensive planning phase and a 15-month construction period, the new production building "Building 70" in Mühlheim was moved into. Modern workplaces for the development and production of implants and biomaterials were created on around 5,400m² spread over three levels.
And the KLS Martin Group has big plans for 2021 as well. “We are looking positively into the year 2021, for which we are planning sales growth in the upper single-digit range. In the areas of virtual planning of surgical interventions and patient-specific implants in particular, we continue to expect above-average growth, ”explains managing partner Christian Leibinger.
