In the period between January and September 2023, the sales of the member companies of the ZVEI Measurement Technology and Process Automation Division (M+P) are also above the values of the previous year. However, the global order level is weakening and fell in the mid-single digits. The trend is expected to continue into next year.
Recovery in sight from spring 2024
The global trends of electrification and digitalisation, energy efficiency and sustainability continue to be influential factors. As a result, the companies expect significantly positive impulses for the industry again from spring onwards. For example, digitalisation solutions, such as the NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA), can be used to meet the major challenge of the shortage of skilled workers. Among other things, monitoring and optimisation as well as maintenance in process plants can be digitalised and made more efficient.
Booming markets in Asia and the USA
While growth can still be seen in products and solutions from the "Instrumentation" business field, the "Instrumentation & Control" field is already showing signs of weakening. With regard to the regions, positive signals are coming from the US market. The Asian market is also developing positively for the most part. India in particular stands out positively, while China is weakening. Business in Europe and especially in Germany is also rather weak. Particularly in the German chemical industry, there is a noticeable reluctance to invest, which is leading to a decline in business with this sector. On the other hand, growth was achieved in the pharmaceutical industry and in the oil, gas, hydrogen, water and wastewater sectors. In the process industry, automation helps to increase efficiency and thus leads to an improvement in the cost base.
Process automation in Germany had 126,500 employees at the end of 2022 and generated sales of 24.9 billion euros in 2022, a good eleven 11 % of sales in the electrical and digital industry as a whole. Exports in this period were 18.4 billion euros, almost twice as high as imports at 10.3 billion euros.
