GERMANY – The HOMAG Group, the world’s leading manufacturer of plant and machinery for the woodworking industry and for cabinet makers, will merge its two subsidiaries BARGSTEDT Handlingsysteme GmbH, Hemmoor, and LIGMATECH Automationssysteme GmbH, Lichtenberg, into HOMAG Automation GmbH. This will create additional capacity for the systematic growth and global expansion of activities in the fields of handling, packaging and assembly. The aim is to implement the project in stages up to the end of 2014.

Both locations and brand names will remain intact. CEO of HOMAG Group AG, Dr. Markus Flik, emphasized that there would be no redundancies for operational reasons. “With this merger, we want to free up additional resources so that we can grow worldwide with both brands in the corresponding core business areas. On the back of the planned growth, we want to create new jobs at both locations in the coming years.”

The merger is intended to avoid duplicate development work, as the product ranges of BARGSTEDT and LIGMATECH currently overlap in the area of automation. The development capacity that will be freed up at both locations as a result of the move will be systematically deployed to achieve the growth planned in the fields of handling, packaging and assembly as well as the expanding project business. This is intended to secure and expand the market leadership in the area of automation projects.

Harald Becker-Ehmck, the board member in charge of production at HOMAG Group AG, sees additional advantages to the merger: “It will result in a larger unit that not only offers growth opportunities but also potential to raise efficiency. By combining the sales teams, for instance, we will be able to further intensify our customer service and provide on-site support more frequently in the future. Further synergies will arise in procurement, in production and the areas of research and development.”