ERIKS is a specialist provider of industrial services. A wide range of technical products, co-engineering and customisation solutions, and related services all help customers to improve product performance and reduce total cost of ownership.
With a presence spanning Western Europe, North America, and Asia, ERIKS serves customers in original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and maintenance, repair and overhaul operations (MRO) across a wide variety of industrial segments.
The tagline Let’s make industry work better emphasises the company’s mission to increase efficiency and reduce waste within industrial processes, helping customers to become more sustainable.
To maintain its position as a leading industry provider, the strategy is focused on digital solutions, innovation, and sustainability as a business driver for growth.
After a slow start to the year in a challenging and unstable environment, ERIKS saw a solid post-lockdown recovery in its markets which in turn had a positive effect on the business. Indeed, all business units improved their performance compared to last year as business activity gradually gained traction and orders at hand slowly returned to pre-COVID-19 levels. Supply chain constraints and a shortage of materials, however, negatively affected delivery performance due to delayed orders and forced cancellations. Especially ERIKS Germany was affected by these circumstances and a new management team is in the process of restructuring and implementing a one European supply approach.
Further progress was made with Fuel for Growth. This long-term strategic improvement programme is aimed at returning ERIKS to benchmark profitability; establishing the business as a leading player in the industries it serves; and securing profitable growth by focusing on five key areas: driving organic growth, improving pricing, enhancing procurement and core assortment, increasing organisational efficiency, and developing a high performance organisation and mindset.
To pursue organic growth, the company has established a dedicated support function composed of strategic product group Centres of Expertise (CoE), international sales capabilities, and pricing. The aim is to develop and scale commercial offerings in key industries and targeted growth segments including semiconductor, food, and pharma & agriculture. The new support function will also leverage global product and sales marketing expertise from across the organisation, while safeguarding local customer relationships.
The negotiation of improved conditions with strategic suppliers has resulted in significant savings for ERIKS’ procurement and core assortment enhancement (PACE) activities. Focused on the sale of core assortments from set strategic and preferred suppliers, PACE achieved procurement savings by reducing the cost of goods sold. Core assortments were identified and bundled by the product CoE. Plans to train sales teams across the company on the unique selling points of the core assortment brands and products have been put in place for 2022.
A dedicated pricing leader joined the global senior leadership team in 2021, developing a pricing strategy model for ERIKS’ product and services across all markets. The company also operationalised its central distribution centres in Germany and the UK, serving customers more efficiently by optimising distribution and increasing capacity to fulfil orders more accurately.
The need for digital solutions continues to grow quickly, with customers looking to improve productivity and safety. ERIKS has made significant progress towards its goal of going to market as a digital distributor in the next few years and serving customers across multiple channels. Beginning with an internal overhaul to digitise and simplify business processes, the focus is on value-added solutions that provide superior data-driven digital experiences. From Smart Asset Management to an industry-leading digital self-service platform, ERIKS helps customers to operate more safely, work more sustainably, and predict downtime more accurately to allow real-time visibility and interactions.
A revised innovation strategy will be deployed in 2022, identifying three areas that will drive the development of new responses to ever-changing customer needs: capitalising on specialism, accelerating digitisation, and anticipating the future — for example, by monitoring the development of hydrogen.
Operational performance considerably improved in 2021, mainly driven by the UK, Netherlands & North America, and was positively impacted by the booming semi-conductor, oil & gas and automotive industry. Sales growth was supported by International Sales Development & Centers of Expertise, while pricing and procurement initiatives aided to improve margin performance. Execution of the Fuel for Growth initiatives led to better financial results and improved organisational efficiency.
Solid recovery
Centralised distribution