The VDMA Robotics + Automation Affiliation (VDMA R+A) is voicing issues about Germany’s robotics business. The German commerce affiliation, which falls underneath the VDMA umbrella that has 420-plus member corporations, mentioned the nation’s robotics and automation business “has misplaced competitiveness.”
The VDMA R+A forecast that Germany‘s robotics and automation business will drop 9% in complete turnover in 2025 to €13.8 billion ($14.4 billion U.S.). “Whole turnover” is the time period Germany makes use of to explain the sum of money a rustic’s companies make from gross sales over a time period. In accordance with the affiliation, the sector closed with a 6% drop in turnover in 2024 at €15.2 billion ($15.8 billion).
Dietmar Ley, who was named chairman of VDMA R+A in November 2024, cited a number of causes for the decline.
“The gross sales pattern within the robotics and automation business requires motion,” he mentioned. “The present downward pattern just isn’t based mostly solely on cyclical fluctuations in demand however has very tangible structural causes. These embody, for instance, the extreme dependence of the robotics and automation business on the German automotive business. As well as, there are weaknesses in competitiveness that enterprise and politics should handle with constant reforms.”
VDMA R+A mentioned these structural weaknesses had been evident in 2024. It pointed to a 16% lower domestically in contrast with 2023.
Development stimuli from overseas additionally faltered, displaying a decline of two%. The one brilliant spot for the German robotics and automation business was exports to the eurozone, with incoming orders rising by a formidable 44% in 2024, famous VDMA. The eurozone is a foreign money union of 20 member states of the European Union which have adopted the euro as their main foreign money.
In contrast, the Frankfurt, Germany-based group mentioned international demand excluding the eurozone nations was 13% beneath the earlier yr’s determine.
“Corporations within the German robotics and automation business must concentrate on their very own competitiveness,” acknowledged Ley. “The precedence is to speed up innovation. Extra agility can also be wanted to reply extra rapidly to buyer calls for and to set ourselves aside from opponents overseas. Lastly, we additionally must carry prices all the way down to a aggressive stage.”
In June 2024, the VDMA warned that rising competitors from China was weighing by itself robotics ecosystem. “Many Chinese language suppliers have grown strongly of their house markets and at the moment are pushing into Europe,” the group mentioned on the time.
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VDMA chair requires reforms
Ley additionally referred to as for a decided reform agenda from politicians.
“With a view to fierce world competitors, Germany can not afford disadvantages equivalent to disproportionate regulation and extreme prices,” he asserted. “The economic system wants dependable framework circumstances in Germany that help, not hamper, development. Solely then robotics and automation may thrive once more.”
“All long-term development tendencies for our progressive business stay intact. We now should set the proper course,” Ley pressured.
Germany just isn’t alone in robotics slowdown
A3 mentioned industrial robotic gross sales had been flat in North America in 2024. Credit score: Steve Crowe
Germany isn’t the one nation to see its main robotics business see a slowdown. China, the world’s largest industrial robotics marketplace for 10-plus years, anticipated its industrial robotic gross sales to say no for the primary time in 5 years in 2024.
The nation’s complete industrial robotic deliveries reached an estimated 300,000 items, down 5% from 2023, in accordance with Shenzhen Gaogong Industrial Institute (GGII). The GGII mentioned the decline was as a result of “clearly tightening demand” from the manufacturing business, particularly the automotive and renewable power sectors.
After file back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022 throughout the top of the COVID-19 pandemic, industrial robotic gross sales in North America noticed a big decline in 2023 and primarily flat development in 2024, in accordance with the Affiliation for Advancing Automation (A3). On the current A3 Enterprise Discussion board, the commerce group mentioned it expects industrial robotic gross sales in North America to have a sluggish begin to the yr earlier than rebounding within the second half of 2025.
Jeff Burnstein, president of A3, not too long ago wrote an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump, saying automation is essential to reshoring manufacturing to the U.S. Burnstein really useful that the federal authorities work with the robotics business to develop a technique to successfully compete economically and for nationwide safety. This message was re-iterated a number of occasions on the A3 Enterprise Discussion board.
Will probably be fascinating to learn the Worldwide Federation of Robotics’ (IFR) “World Robotics” report when it turns into accessible later this yr. The annual report dives into the variety of industrial robots working in factories around the globe.
For 2023, the IFR mentioned there have been 4,281,585 robots working in factories worldwide, which was a ten% enhance from 2022. By area, 70% of all newly deployed robots in 2023 had been put in in Asia, 17% in Europe, and 10% within the Americas.
Credit score: IFR “World Robotics Report 2024”
