Record sales thanks to good exports

The industry grew by 13% in 2017, achieving a total sales volume of 14.5 billion euros - a new record! Exports, especially to Asia, are responsible for the strong growth. Compared to 2016, export sales to China grew by around 60%. The Middle Kingdom thus further expanded its position as the most important market for robotics and automation. The electronics industry based there and its major investments in automation are the main drivers of this strong growth.

However, the industry is also booming in Asia as a whole: The other Asian countries also grew at an above-average rate of around 20%. Growth in North America is also continuing. Exports to other European countries increased only moderately, but still accounted for the largest share within the regions: The export ratio here rose from 57% in 2016 to now 60% in 2017.

New production facilities require automation

The global trend towards a higher degree of automation is continuing to drive growth. The electromobility megatrend is also filling the order books of automation manufacturers: car manufacturers and suppliers are increasingly investing in electric and hybrid drives and their components, especially batteries, require new production systems.

The trade association expects the electronics industry to continue to drive growth in 2018. The unusually strong demand for robot technologies and automation in 2017 extended delivery times for these systems and will continue to have a positive impact on sales well into 2018. Despite protectionist tendencies and macroeconomic risks worldwide, the trade association expects the industry to grow by 9% to a sales volume of EUR 15.8 billion in the current year.

Automatica special show "People in the Smart Factory"

Industry 4.0 is generating a high level of development activity in the sector. The trade association has also embraced the smart factory. The specialist departments of Machine Vision, Integrated Assembly Solutions and Robotics have developed the first manufacturer-independent information models based on the OPC UA communication standard. With the communication protocol, the machines will speak the same language in future and can communicate directly with each other and with the workers. The OPC UA demonstrator will be on show for the first time at Automatica.

In addition to interoperability, the role of humans in the factory of the future will also play a major role at the trade fair in Munich. The VDMA trade association emphasizes the importance of intelligently combining the complementary strengths of humans and machines. Instead of simply replacing a manual process one-to-one with machines, processes need to be rethought from the ground up in order to achieve better results. In so-called "fusion skills", the technologies used reinforce the skills of people, while people maintain, check and further develop the technologies.

Gesture control, maintenance using augmented reality, mobile learning systems, digital assembly assistance systems, human-robot collaboration, technology transfer using gamification, the particularly ergonomic exoskeleton "Chairless Chair" and the intelligent glove - all these new interfaces between man and machine will be on display at the special show "Man in the Smart Factory".

Automatica, Hall B4, Stand 338