CECIMO forecasts stable growth in 2013

HANNOVER, 19 September 2013 – CECIMO, the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries presents the state of the European machine tool industry at EMO Hannover 2013:

• EMO Hannover 2013 confirmed Europe’s leading role in intelligent production.
• European machine tool production grew 8% in 2012 and reached 22.6 billion euros in 2012, supported by a strong 14% growth in exports;
• Top policy priorities for CECIMO are technology development, skills, access to finance and free market access.

EMO Hannover 2013

EMO Hannover, the world’s most important metalworking show, has underlined once again that Europe has the leading edge in production technology. Mr. Carl-Martin Welcker, the General Commissioner of EMO Hannover 2013, said: “Taking the lead in intelligent and resource-efficient production, Europe’s machine tool industry paves the way for an industrial future which is in line with the EU’s 2020 objective of achieving a competitive resource-efficient low-carbon economy.”
CECIMO organized a series of meetings involving international machine tool associations and representatives of the European Commission to evaluate the latest economic, technological as well as regulatory and policy trends in global machine tool markets.
A major highlight of EMO was the BlueCompetence Show, during which European machine tool suppliers showcased their energy and resource-efficient production solutions on a special booth. The initiative gathers together nearly 400 companies in 29 engineering sectors to promote energy- and resource-efficient solutions. The machine tools energy efficiency section is operated by CECIMO at European level.

Economic situation

2012 marks a record year in exports for the European machine tool industry. In total machine tools valued for 18.8 billion euro were shipped aboard. Outstanding export performance made CECIMO’s production to grow 8 % in 2012. The gradually improving economic growth in Europe and global developments support the forecast that the growth of production will stabilise and reach to comparable level of 22.6 billion euros in 2013.
On global scale, Europe remains the biggest CNC machine tool producer. CECIMO’s estimations for 2013 show even slight increase in its global market share – from 32% in 2012 to 34% in 2013. “European machine tools are made by a highly innovative, cutting-edge industry. The machines are in demand all over the world for cost efficient manufacturing processes, which proves the competitiveness of the sector. EMO Hannover 2013 shows once again the great global demand for our intelligent production systems,” commented Frank Brinken, Chairman of CECIMO Economic Committee and CEO of Starrag Group.
Despite gradual economic recovery in Europe due the uncertainty and cautiousness, we saw no increase in domestic investment activity of manufacturing enterprises. In 2012, European machine tool consumption stabilized slightly over 12 billion euro. For 2013, we expect European consumption to remain slightly below the same amount.
The machine tool sector is a global competitive business. Free access to foreign markets and internationalisation play a crucial role for further growth of European machine tool industry. To support the industry’s ambitions towards Asian markets, the EMTE-EASTPO Machine Tool Exhibition will be held in Shanghai at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre from 14 to 17 July 2014. “It will be an exhibition of high quality, providing a perfect meeting place for machine tool producers and potential customers,” affirmed Mr Jean Camille Uring, Executive Board Member of Fives Group.

CECIMO’s EU policy priorities

The Industrial Policy Communication issued by the European Commission sets an ambitious target to reverse the declining role of Europe's industry from its current level of around 16% of GDP to as much as 20% by 2020. But meeting this target needs concrete and clear action in many fields. “European machine tool industry is concerned about fading domestic demand. The 2009 economic crisis has steeply cut the apparent consumption in all countries. Today we have reached to 66% of pre-crisis production and this level is mostly achieved due to excellent export performance. Domestic demand in many CECIMO member countries is still drastically low,” explained Martin Kapp, the president of CECIMO.
The Industrial Policy Communication has identified ‘advanced manufacturing technologies for clean production’ as a priority area and CECIMO strongly supports the work of the Task Force created by the European Commission. CECIMO’s key message to the EU is that research and technology transfer in advanced manufacturing technologies should be supported by effective actions of two kinds. First, push measures must be put into place, especially through the EU Horizon 2020 Programme and the overarching Key Enabling Technologies Strategy. Pull measures should also be introduced using European financial instruments to facilitate the financing of investments in high-tech equipment. Filip Geerts, Director General of CECIMO, commented: “The ongoing stagnation in European machine tool consumption owes to low business confidence combined with unfavourable lending conditions in the EU. In southern-European countries hit by the sovereign debt crisis, lending conditions remain extremely rough, requiring urgent action to ease bank lending to the real sector. Customer demand is the key driver of innovation in B2B industries and is crucial for maintaining sustainable value chain relations in Europe.”
When it comes to skills, the soon to be published CECIMO Manifesto on Skills spotlights that the skills gap and shortage are becoming a growing threat on the future of the European machine tool industry. Luigi Galdabini, Chairman of CECIMO Technical Committee and Managing Director of Cesare Galdabini S.p.A. explains: “Owing to increasing technology integration and to globalisation, requirements for both technical and transversal skills are soaring. Europe’s education and training systems are not capable of delivering the practical skills that industry needs.” The CECIMO manifesto calls for coordinated action across the EU to place greater focus on workplace education programs, promote apprenticeships and build better cooperation between universities and the industry in order to bridge education and production. Moreover, CECIMO urges to boost industry-government-university common efforts for the organisation of lifelong-learning programmes, key to upgrade the knowledge of the existing workforce and to ensure know-how transfer to the new generation of employees.

About CECIMO

CECIMO is the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries. We bring together 15 national Associations of Machine Tool Builders, which represent approximately 1500 industrial enterprises in Europe*, over 80% of which are SMEs. CECIMO covers 98% of total Machine Tool production in Europe and about one third worldwide. It accounts for almost 150,000 employees and a turnover of nearly €22 billion in 2012. More than three quarters of CECIMO production is shipped abroad, whereas half of it is exported outside Europe*. For more information visit www.cecimo.eu
*Europe = EU + EFTA + Turkey

For further media enquiries:
Contact person: Filip Geerts, Director General
Tel +32 2 502 70 90 / Fax +32 2 502 60 82
filip.geerts@cecimo.eu