VDMA President Dr Reinhold Festge (Image: VDMA/Christan Rösler Photography)
VDMA December 2014 – German machinery and plant manufacturers are confirming the production forecast of 1% for 2014 that they first issued in the summer. “In the first ten months of the year, production of machinery and plants in Germany was up 1.0% year-on-year in real terms. We are therefore very optimistic that we will achieve our forecast,” explained VDMA President Dr Reinhold Festge at the Association’s annual press conference in Frankfurt on Thursday. “All in all, sales of EUR 212 billion and production totalling EUR 199 billion in 2014 mean we exceeded the previous records for both of these figures from 2008 (sales of EUR 208 billion and production of EUR 196 billion),” said Festge.
Employment exceeds the one million mark
“Our employees are the clear winners from this strong overall performance,” emphasised the VDMA President. However, I also see this growth in employment as an important investment in the future.” The number of employees hit the one million mark again in May for the first time since 1993. In October, a total of 1,011,000 people were working in the mechanical engineering industry. That is 1.7% or 16,000 people more than in the same month last year. As reasons for the increase – in light of the moderate production growth – Festge cited primarily the huge challenges (Industry 4.0, pension age of 63, demographic change) that the mechanical engineering industry can surmount only with qualified staff.
