Our Mission 26

For GEA, sustainability is an essential part of how we do business. That is why we have committed to ambitious climate targets. In addition, we have developed a tailored pathway to become a sustainability leader in our industry, with clear KPIs which focus on delivering sustainable solutions, ensuring responsible operations and becoming an employer of choice by 2026. Our technological edge enables us to make a huge difference for our customers and is a strong motivator for us. There is no doubt that sustainability will be a key growth driver for GEA in the future.

At GEA, we place great expectations in the growth opportunities offered by innovation and digitalization. In the coming five years, we plan to significantly increase our R&D spending to accelerate the development of new products. As a result, their share of our sales is expected to grow substantially. Also, we have bundled our digital expertise under the newly created position of Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Our aim is to offer our customers additional digital solutions that enable them to use their GEA machines even more efficiently.

Driven by changing consumer expectations, the New Food market is growing rapidly. For GEA, this development presents exciting growth opportunities. As a full-range supplier with all the relevant technologies, we are well-prepared to serve this demand. Based on our comprehensive expertise and proven strengths in scaling industrial applications, we aim to expand our strong position in this segment and become a market leader. Thus, New Food will be a key lever in helping us make Mission 26 a success.

Substantial growth opportunities for GEA also lie in sales. Our goal is to grow sales of new machines by 4.0 to 5.0 percent per year by 2026. To this end, we want to fully exploit our effectiveness and global presence as well as better manage performance. Measures include analyzing in detail at business unit level in which regions we have the greatest growth opportunities and how we can optimize our route-to-market. Such activities will not only help us grow but will also have a sustained positive impact on our cost structure.

Service is a resilient and profitable business for GEA. Customers appreciate our offerings in this area – and we have identified numerous opportunities to serve them even better. Our aim for 2026 is to increase service coverage and expand our service business with customers, thereby boosting recurring revenue streams. For example, we are looking to make the shift from an incident-driven to a subscription-based business model. This overall approach is expected to generate annual organic revenue growth of 5.0 to 6.0 percent by 2026.

We have made great progress with a broad range of optimization measures initiated in 2019 to elevate the performance of GEA’s global operations. But there is still significant potential for further improvement. Our global operations Mission 26 transformation journey will drive best-in-class procurement, further optimize our production network and improve customer centricity, reducing GEA’s cost base, enabling further growth and promoting sustainable operations.

GEA has a healthy balance sheet. While most levers of Mission 26 focus on boosting organic growth, strong cash generation enables us to invest in external growth. That's why we are continuously monitoring and actively screening acquisition opportunities to strengthen our portfolio – provided they appear to be value-enhancing and bolster our capabilities in a targeted way.