According to the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association, the robotics and automation industry in Germany is expected to generate total sales of €14.5 billion in 2025, a drop of 10% compared to the previous year (see Figure 1).
"The revenue weakness announced at the start of the year has been confirmed in our current forecast for 2025," says Dr. Dietmar Ley, Chairman of VDMA Robotics + Automation. "Growth prospects are currently clouded in all subsectors through the end of the year."
The machine vision subsector is stagnating with zero growth and is expected to generate industry revenues of €3.1 billion. The forecast for robotics has slightly worsened from -3% to -5%, with expected revenues of €3.7 billion for 2025. The sharpest decline is anticipated for automated solutions, with a projected revenue drop of 15% to €7.7 billion. Key causes of the economic weakness in Europe and Germany include postponed investment plans due to current geopolitical tensions and increasing competitive pressure from Asian rivals.
“Robotics and automation are key technologies without which industrial production in a high-wage country like Germany will no longer be conceivable in the future,” says Dr. Dietmar Ley. “Politics and business must now take concerted action to reduce location-based disadvantages in international competition and set the course for renewed growth.”
To this end, the “VDMA Robotics Action Plan for Europe” sets out three core demands:
- Make more venture capital available for startups and scale-ups.
- Establish a roadmap for competitiveness.
- Focus specifically on scaling up European innovation.
VDMA represents 3,600 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The VDMA Robotics + Automation Association is a trade association withing the umbrella of VDMA, with more than 420 member companies, supplies of components and systems from the fields of robotics, automated solutions and machine vision.
