In the past four years, LEWA has had ongoing growth in sales and profits – putting it to the tenth place in the ‘Top 100 Ranking of German Midsized Companies’ issued by Munich Strategy Group (MSG).
The Munich Strategy Group (MSG) specialises in strategy consulting for small and medium-sized companies. As part of this effort, MSG works with universities and business schools to maintain one of the most extensive databases of companies in this size range, with over 1,000 entries. With their yearly top 100 ranking, the consultants award companies that have shown outstanding growth over the last four years, both in sales and in profitability (profit before interest or taxes).
With an average sales growth of 38.4% in the years 2005 to 2009, accompanied by an average profit of 9.7%, LEWA was in second place in 2010 in the ‘machine and plant engineering’ sector; in all, the pump specialists reached the tenth place among the most successful midsized companies in Germany in this study.
The above-average growth and profitability of the top 100 companies are interpreted by the strategic consultants at MSG as the result of a superior enterprise strategy, a high degree of internationalisation, and above-average innovation.
“Our observations show that many of the top midsized companies are successful because they have the confidence to change the rules of play to their advantage in their sectors,” says MSG CEO Sebastian Theopold. This often allows them to redefine traditional sales and production processes in their industries. “The leadership of most of the top midsized companies consists of internationally trained and thinking managers,” he adds as another reason of their success.
For LEWA, since the acquisition of the original family company in 2005 by Deutsche Beteiligungs, then in 2009 by the Japanese company Nikkiso, this is reality, according to CEO Bernd M. Stütz: “The two central value addition levers have been the internationalisation of sales as well as the transfer of our technologies to new application areas.”
LEWA has not only defined customer advantage in terms of technical features and strict quality requirements. After-sales offerings, first-class service, its worldwide on-site presence, and international project management are also important points.
Stütz says: “We provide our customers with competent, thorough consulting. The process, the systems approach,
and especially cost-effectiveness are the focus.”
Today, with over 700 employees around the world and sales of about €145m worldwide, the company is among the competence leaders in fluid metering, particularly in critical processes and safety-relevant applications. LEWA also represents products by other well-known manufacturers through its regional sales organisation, with a focus on the European market. With 16 subsidiaries and a large number of authorised representatives, users can find offices and cooperation partners in over 90 countries.
Other enterprise consultants have also noticed LEWA. After Frost & Sullivan cited the company in 2007 for above-average innovation in the development of application-oriented pumps and systems in the oil and gas industry, in 2009 LEWA was awarded the prize for best growth strategy in the area of high-pressure metering pumps for critical applications on the European market. Both awards are the result of LEWA’s ongoing focus on research and development, documented by a variety of innovations and patented technologies.