Even in the manufacturing sector, energy-efficient solutions in production technology will play a decisive role in achieving Germany's ambitious climate goals. German companies active in energy-intensive industry sectors have been working for decades to optimise energy efficiency in production processes.
Machinery and Equipment
The German engineering tradition moving forward: the M&E industry is driving innovation
Germany is a leader in providing customised products to the global manufacturing industry via small- and mid-sized companies. As a leader in digital automation technologies, Germany’s M&E industry is at the forefront of the fourth industrial revolution.
The German machinery industry in numbers
3rd
Germany ranks third in terms of worldwide M&E industry turnover (China No. 1, USA No. 2).Industrie 4.0
Germany's M&E industry makes Germany the world’s leading Industrie 4.0 nation with a notable market increase from 2015 to 2019.6,600
In terms of level of activity, M&E is Germany’s largest sector with almost 6,600 companies along the value chain.16 percent
Germany’s M&E industry is the top global producer of industrial machinery with 16 percent of global industrial machinery trade.Efficiency and innovation: great for investment
With the highest robot density, Germany is Europe’s Robotics & Automation Hub: 346 robots / 10,000 employees
R&A Industry turnover has more than doubled from 2009-2019: EUR 6.2bn-EUR 14.7bn
In 2019, compared to 2bn EUR in 2015, machine vision has the highest growth rate. Integrated assembly solutions remain the largest segment in the industry.
The automotive industry is the largest manufacturing sector in Germany and is also the largest robotics customer.
Production technology is undergoing radical change with the arrival of the Internet of Things in the factory. Industrie 4.0 will increasingly allow companies to create connected processes and make them more flexible and client-oriented. Industrie 4.0 is expected to increase M&E sector gross value added by EUR 23 billion through to 2025.
Industrie 4.0
is driving change in the automotive sector in Germany. The domestic market for Industrie 4.0 solutions in this industry grew 20 percent to EUR 2.1 billion in 2016/17.Bitkom
the German association for IT, telecommunications and new media, predicts an annual value added potential of EUR 2.1 billion through 2025 for Industrie 4.0 solutions in the automotive industry, such as real-time data and man-machine interfaces. Predictive maintenance is expected to play a particularly strong role in automotive production within two to five years.
Smart
According to the Staufen German Industrie 4.0 Index 2017, almost all auto sector companies already use “smart” concepts.Laboratories for Industrie 4.0
Research clusters are driving innovation and offering great investment opportunities – for instance, the “it’s OWL” technology network, one of the most important Industrie 4.0 initiatives in Germany. “it’s OWL” connects more than 200 companies and research institutes with the goal of finding solutions for processing data from machines, creating new services and business models, and using technology to improve working conditions.
Collaboration for innovation
Germany's machinery and equipment industry boasts a productive, educated workforce, along with stable wage rates over time. Flexible working practices, such as fixed-term contracts and shift systems, add to Germany’s competitive edge in offering investors an affordable, high-quality climate for manufacturing.
Workforce in Germany by level of professional education in 2018. More than 55,000 engineers and around 60,000 mathematicians and natural scientists graduated in 2018.
| 50 | skilled craftsmen (dual education apprentices) | % |
| 23 | university graduates | % |
| 17 | unskilled | % |
| 10 | vocational college graduates and technicians | % |
Top location for M&E investment
Germany's leading role in industrial machinery and equipment comes from the synthesis of a highly skilled workforce, excellent support resources for R&D and a long-standing engineering tradition – all necessary parts for the latest industrial revolution, Industrie 4.0. Get in touch to learn more.