Machine tool industry
VDW increases production forecast for 2018
In the first quarter of 2018, incoming orders in the German machine tool industry rose by 22% compared to the same period last year. Domestic orders increased by 39%. Foreign orders grew by 15 percent.
"Our industry continues to be very dynamic in 2018," said Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association) in Frankfurt am Main, commenting on the result. "This is a seamless continuation of last year's outstanding development. Domestic orders remain the driving force. They are growing more than twice as fast as foreign demand," Schäfer continues.
Machining and forming contributed equally to order growth in the first quarter. Capacity utilization was 93.4%.
Production to increase by a further 7 percent in 2018
The boom in almost all user industries worldwide had already driven production and incoming orders to a record high last year. With an increase of 7%, production exceeded the EUR 16 billion mark in 2017. "Based on the high growth in orders last year, which will continue, we also see potential for higher production growth in 2018 than expected in February and are increasing our production forecast from 5% to a further 7% growth2, says Schäfer.
The industry assumes that the global economy will continue to provide a good environment for industrial investment. The upturn in demand is based on a broad foundation, both in terms of technologies and markets. High capacity utilization requires expansion and replacement investments. "If bottlenecks in production, personnel and supplies do not become too serious, this ambitious target should be easily achievable," concludes VDW Executive Director Schäfer. am
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