ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- “We are very pleased with the extraordinary financial year 2011 and we are also extremely satisfied with the current order income,” says Dr Michael Wenzel, Chairman of the German association VDMA Robotics + Automation on the occasion of the Automatica Fair in Germany.
“The German manufacturers of machine vision and assembly and handling technology as well as robotics recorded a 35% growth in turnover, reaching10.2 billion euro, which represents yet another all-time high. This figure means that even the industry turnover generated in 2008 (9.3 billion euro) – hitherto the best year prior to the financial and economic crisis – has been exceeded by far."
"Also for 2012, the manufacturers expect solid growth in the region of 4%. A new turnover record in the amount of 10.6 billion euros will then be reached, adding the next chapter to the success story of robotics and automation,” Wenzel reports.
The machine vision manufacturers increased their turnover by 20%, robotics by 43% and assembly & handling technology by 36%. For 2012 the manufacturers of robotics and machine vision expect further growth in the region of 5%, and the manufacturers of the assembly and handling technology of 4%.
Domestic turnover increased by 30% in 2011 in Germany, so this country remains the strongest and most important market for its own robot builders.
In Germany alone, the automotive industry installed some 10,500 new industrial robots, which is 50% more than in 2010.
For each 10,000 employees, 1,130 industrial robots were installed in the German automotive sector. This is the third highest robot density in the world.
