Photo by Kistler Group Kistler's new European headquarters in B?blingen-Sindelfingen, Germany, is nearing completion.

Sales at Kistler Group, based in Winterthur, Switzerland, increased in 2015 even with the negative impact that the strong Swiss franc had on the country’s export-oriented businesses.

The group, which makes sensor technology for injection moulding as well as automotive and other sectors, announced sales were CHF 329m in 2015, a rise of 3% from CHF 319m in 2014. Sales expressed in terms of other currencies were €308m and $341m in 2015, it said. No profit figures are disclosed by the group.

“The abolition of the minimum euro exchange rate by the Swiss National Bank at the start of last year curbed the growth trend to some extent, but Kistler's growth of 10% (after currency-related adjustments) means that the group remains well on course,” said Kistler.

CEO Rolf Sonderegger said the group expects another successful year in 2016: “Kistler will continue to grow, thanks to our unique technologies and our strong global positioning. We aim to achieve some of this growth through new products and applications, but a key part will also be played by a targeted expansion of our service offering in tandem with strategic acquisitions.”

Kistler’s improved service offering to customers goes hand-in-hand with investment in its facilities in Europe and Asia.

The group is building a new European headquarters in B?blingen-Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart in Germany, which is scheduled to open in May this year. Kistler says that a number of “processes and operations will be optimized and accelerated” by merging facilities at nearby Ostfildern and Sch?naich into the new HQ.

New service products will be available this year at Kistler’s technology centres in Detroit, Shanghai and at the new facility in B?blingen-Sindelfingen. The area of the Shanghai tech centre has been doubled for this purpose. Another new tech centre is scheduled to open in Tokyo during 2016.

Kistler’s recent investments also include an extension to the production centre in Lorch, Germany, and doubling the area of the software development centre in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The group said it “intends to expand its service offering by introducing application-specific service products on a continuous basis until 2020”.

Sonderegger said: “Together with our customers, we operate at the limits of what is technically feasible – and hand-in-hand, we go one step further. As our customers' development partner, we actually become part of their innovation and improvement process.”

Kistler said it added 120 new jobs at its global sites in 2015. Group employee numbers are about 1,400 at eight production centres, three tech centres and 26 sales centres worldwide.