On 23 June, the Lock and Fittings Industry Association (FVSB) was once again pleased with a well-attended annual members’ meeting. This year it took place as a hybrid event. Chairman Karl Kristian Woelm, managing partner of Woelm GmbH, together with Stephan Schmidt, managing director of the FVSB, welcomed the more than 50 participants to the meeting at the association’s headquarters in Velbert as well as digitally. “This year we are once again pleased with the lively participation of our members in this different form of general meeting. However, we would be happy to hold the coming annual general meeting again entirely as a face-to-face event on site,” said Stephan Schmidt.
Chairman Karl Kristian Woelm has a small anniversary this year. Woelm has been on the FVSB board since 2015 and has been chairman since 2017. This means he has now held his position as chair for five years. In his opening speech, Karl Kristian Woelm addressed the impact of the Corona pandemic and the Ukraine war. The FVSB Chair reported that the continuing enormous demand continues to cause material shortages and supply bottlenecks. In the meantime, it has become clear, according to Woelm, that this cannot be a real demand. Stockpiling and hoarding are taking place. Input prices are also rising by leaps and bounds, and calculations are hardly possible.
After the welcoming address, the participants enjoyed a guest lecture: Michael Basten, Managing Director of the Bundesverband Baustof-fe – Steine und Erden e.V. (bbs) (Federal Association of Building Materials – Stones and Soil) gave a lecture entitled “Building materials industry – an industry in transition”. Here the General Manager reported on the situation in the construction sector. The building industry is facing special challenges: On the one hand, housing and infrastructure are needed, while at the same time building materials are considered energy-intensive.
Holger Koch, FVSB Deputy Managing Director, reported on developments in the past year. The lock and hardware industry was again able to expand its production in the building sector in 2021. The values in terms of turnover, incoming orders and net production for 2021 are clearly above the previous year’s values. The production volume increased by 11.8 percent to around 3.4 billion euros. The production value of locks and fittings for buildings has thus increased for eight consecutive years.
Growth is also expected to continue. The general conditions for the construction industry continue to look positive despite price and interest rate increases. Rising construction investments are also expected in non-residential construction. The figures of the Federal Statistical Office show that there is a high demand for housing and thus the market as a whole is growing. The surplus of housing permits is over two years’ production.
A look at the Heinze market studies on the exterior door and window market also show that the window and exterior door market is developing well despite the Corona crisis, and that sales growth can therefore be expected for the lock and hardware industry. The German window and exterior door market was also able to grow in 2021. The window market closed with an increase of 1.9 percent compared to 2020, to 15.83 million window units. Growth of 0.8 percent is expected for 2022. The exterior door market in 2021 grew by 2.1 percent to 1.392 million exterior doors. Growth of 1.4 percent is expected for 2022.
FVSB Managing Director Stephan Schmidt then reported on European events. In particular, he dealt with standardisation and the environment and the numerous topics the association is currently dealing with, such as the new Construction Products Regulation (Bau-PVO), the ARGE association EPDs, Master Key Systems (MKS) and the SCIP database. Other items on the agenda were the annual accounts for 2021, the presentation of the budget for the current year and the resolution on the membership fee for 2023.