VDMA: Robotics and Automation Raises Growth Forecast to over 11%

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VDMA raises its 2017 growth forecast for the German robotics and automation industry from 7% to 11%. “Both incoming orders and turnover development for the current year have greatly exceeded our expectations,” said Dr. Norbert Stein, Chair of the Board of VDMA Robotics + Automation. “For the first time, we will hit the mark of EUR 14 billion in sector turnover.”

All three segments of German robotics and automation are on a strong growth trajectory for 2017. According to the new forecast, machine vision will achieve an 18% increase in turnover instead of the initially expected 10%. This corresponds to an industry turnover of EUR 2.6 billion.

German robotics is also proving to be much more dynamic than forecast. An initial projection of 8% growth in sales has been raised to 15%, with industry turnover pegged at EUR 4.2 billion. These results confirm statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), which indicate a global boom in robotics. The IFR figures show that global installations of industrial robots in 2016 rose 16% to 294,000 units. For the current year, the IFR expects the number of units to grow by 18% to 346,000 units. Germany is the fifth largest robotics market in the world and Europe’s biggest by far.

The largest subsector of German robotics and automation remains integrated assembly solutions, meaning the intelligent assembly and production solutions. For 2017, VDMA forecasts a turnover increase of 6% to reach a new record of EUR 7.4 billion.

automatica 2018: World’s leading marketplace for automated production

The growing worldwide interest in robotics and automation is reflected in the number of visitors to the sector’s leading trade fair, automatica, which will take place from June 19 to 22, 2018 in Munich. It pools the world’s largest range of industrial and service robotics, assembly systems, machine vision and automation components. The focus is on the digital transformation of manufacturing, human-robot collaboration, service robotics and the future of work. 

About the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA)

VDMA is the largest industrial association in Europe and has more than 3,200 member companies in the engineering industry. VDMA Robotics + Automation forms its own association with more than 270 members: companies offering components and systems from the areas of robotics, integrated assembly solutions (formerly assembly and handling technology) as well as machine vision. The objective of this industry-driven platform is to support the robotics and automation sector through a wide spectrum of activities and services. Key activities are statistics and market surveys, marketing services, standardization, public relations, future radar, trade fair policy, networking events and conferences. Find out more here.