VDMA
The World of Engineering
1892
VDMA
29 machinery factories form the Verein deutscher Maschinenbau Anstalten, the VDMA, under Dr Hugo Jacobi of Gutehoffnungshütte.
1893
VDMA
Heinrich Lueg (Haniel & Lueg) is elected president of the VDMA at the organisation’s first annual general meeting.
1893
Welt des Maschinenbaus
German companies operating in the machinery manufacturing business send travelling engineers abroad to learn about international sales markets.
1896
Welt des Maschinenbaus
A total of 147,000 people are employed in the mechanical engineering sector (by comparison, the textile industry employs 930,000).
1897
VDMA
The VDMA moves into a new office building in Düsseldorf together with the German Iron and Steel Institute (VDEh).
1897
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The growing number of strikes in Germany’s metalworking industry begins to affect the engineering sector too.
1899
VDMA
At the VDMA’s annual general meeting, its members reject a proposal for the organisation to act as an employers’ federation.
1901
VDMA
The VDMA campaigns against low import duties for foreign machinery.
1902
VDMA
The VDMA criticises the Central Association of German Industrialists for not representing interests. It sets out its intention to act independently in matters of trade policy.
1905
VDMA
The directors of the VDMA suggests to its members that they begin recording statistics relating to production.
1905
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Economic downturn: one third of engineering companies do not pay a dividend; another third end the year with losses.
1906
VDMA
A commission is established with the aim of developing general principles for an ‘orderly form of cost calculation’.
1907
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The German engineering sector exports 19 per cent of its production.
1908
VDMA
The members provide enough information about their production processes for the VDMA to be able to begin compiling meaningful statistics on production.
1908
Welt des Maschinenbaus
German machinery exports overtake US machinery exports for the first time.
1911
VDMA
The AGM discusses the positioning of German machine tools in the global market and models its marketing strategies on US competitors.
1911
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Faced with a shortage of skilled workers, the engineering sector implements guiding principles for the vocational training of industrial workers.
1914
VDMA
Friedrich Fröhlich, a future VDMA executive director, presents statistics showing that engineering is on a par with other major industry groups.
1914
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Engineering companies gear up for the wartime economy. As the manufacturers of armaments, they are heavily involved.
1917
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The proportion of female employees in the industry rises to 22.45 per cent.
1918
VDMA
The number of companies that are members of the VDMA rises to 814 (1914: 246). They benefit from the VDMA’s role as a mediator between industry and government.
1923
VDMA
The VDMA calls on engineering companies outside the occupied Ruhr region not to worsen the situation by increasing the level of competition.
1923
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Because of inflation, engineering companies are forced to insert price escalation clauses in contracts.
1924
VDMA
Alexander Rüstow, later one of the founding fathers of the social market economy, becomes head of the VDMA’s economic policy department.
1925
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The revival of the German economy is only short lived. More than two million people become unemployed as a result of the economic crisis.
1926
VDMA
The Insurance Office for the Engineering Industries (VSMA) is founded.
1927
VDMA
The VDMA publishes the Statistical Engineering Handbook, the first annual reference work of its kind.
1927
Welt des Maschinenbaus
For the first time since the end of the war, machinery exports from Germany surpass those from Britain, which had been losing market share since 1921.
1929
Welt des Maschinenbaus
After being set back by the First World War, the proportion of German exports accounted for by machinery rises to 10.6 per cent, breaking the 10 per cent mark for the first time.
1930
VDMA
The VDMA criticises the Nazis’ economic programme for being harmful to business.
1932
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Against a backdrop of mass unemployment, an extensive propaganda campaign opposing the use of machines is launched.
1933
VDMA
The VDMA calls on the Nazi Party and the German Labour Front to prohibit campaigns opposing the use of machinery.
1933
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The Law Restricting the Use of Machines in the Cigar Industry is passed, one of many such enactments.
1938
VDMA
After Austria is annexed by Germany, all Austrian machinery concerns are assimilated into the VDMA organisation of the time.
1938
VDMA
The Reich economics minister appoints the VDMA’s executive director, Karl Lange, as representative for machinery production.
1939
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The Reich economics minister, Walther Funk, enacts a regulation governing the control and manufacture of machinery and apparatus.
1942
VDMA
Albert Speer, the Reich minister of armaments, creates self-governing bodies in the munitions industry, including a central committee for machinery.
1944
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Forced labour accounts for almost 35 per cent of people working in machine building.
1945
VDMA
The Berlin magistrate’s department for economic affairs appoints an administrator for the wartime VDMA organisation.
1945
Welt des Maschinenbaus
In industrial concerns, Soviet troops begin to disassemble machinery that remains halfway operational.
1946
VDMA
The Association for Machine Building is founded for the British sector in occupied Berlin. Similar associations are established in the US zone of West Germany.
1949
VDMA
The VDMA is reformed as a powerful federation of trade associations in the House of the German States in Königstein im Taunus.
1949
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The Allies mandate capacity restrictions for various machinery groups.
1951
VDMA
The VDMA establishes its own publishing house as well as a company to represent the engineering industry at trade fairs and exhibitions.
1952
VDMA
The VDMA writes to economics minister, Ludwig Erhard, to raise the issue of iron prices and criticises the fact that free interaction of supply and demand is not working.
1952
Welt des Maschinenbaus
As a supplier to the arms industry, the machinetool sector is able to double production in real terms within two years and more than triple exports.
1953
Welt des Maschinenbaus
There is a marked slump in the economy, which in the engineering sector leads to a reduction in overtime and a high incidence of shorttime working.
1957
VDMA
The VDMA publishes a pamphlet called ‘More technology – more engineers’ and a host of other information material promoting the industry as a career choice for skilled workers.
1957
Welt des Maschinenbaus
West Germany ousts the UK from second place in the ranking of global machinery exporters and now only trails the USA.
1960
VDMA
The executive directorate approves a resolution to build a dedicated office complex in Frankfurt for the VDMA.
1960
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The value of German machinery exports has increased almost tenfold compared with 1950 – from DM 1.3 billion to DM 9.3 billion.
1961
Welt des Maschinenbaus
At 1.024 million, the number of people employed in engineering breaks the million mark for the first time.
1964
VDMA
Building work begins on the VDMA headquarters in the Niederrad district of Frankfurt
1964
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Before restrictive Bundesbank policies take effect, output in the engineering sector is valued at DM 33.92 billion, generating revenue of DM 35.745 billion.
1967
VDMA
The VDMA moves out of Königstein im Taunus and begins to host its executive board meetings once again at its own offices in Frankfurt.
1967
Welt des Maschinenbaus
For the first time since the end of the war, German engineering companies are making more money from international sales than they do domestically.
1969
Welt des Maschinenbaus
A group of around 40 companies join together to form the Plant Engineering Working Committee in order to improve the industrial plant business.
1970
VDMA
The VDMA calls on the government to implement an economic policy that is able to counteract negative influences.
1971
VDMA
For a hearing before US Congress, the VDMA formulates arguments against the 10 per cent duty levied on imports to the USA. The protests are successful.
1972
VDMA
The VDMA sets up a liaison office in Brussels (known as the VDMA European Office from 1999).
1974
Welt des Maschinenbaus
High costs and a decline in capital spending lead to a slump in employment, which the mechanical engineering industry counters by restoring profitability.
1976
VDMA
A statutes commission proposes that the people in charge of the VDMA’s various trade associations and country groups be subordinated to the executive director.
1978
Welt des Maschinenbaus
One in six companies in the mechanical engineering industry have integrated microelectronics into their products.
1979
Welt des Maschinenbaus
To encourage the use of modern technology in mechanical engineering, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs subsidises R&D labour costs of SMEs.
1980
VDMA
The VDMA is renamed after a motion is passed at the AGM. It is now called Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau.
1981
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The number of students enrolling on mechanical engineering courses rises by 27 per cent at traditional universities and by 23 per cent at universities of applied sciences.
1984
VDMA
The VDMA’s first international office opens in Tokyo. Further offices follow later in Beijing, Kolkata, Moscow, Mumbai, Noida, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tehran.
1984
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The German government funds projects in which industry, software houses and research institutions develop machinery and processes for flexible manufacturing.
1985
VDMA
The VDMA presents the Bernhard Weiss award to Friedrich A. Hayek, a past winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
1986
VDMA
The VDMA creates a foundation for an annual prize recognising special achievements in the field of mechanical engineering.
1989
Welt des Maschinenbaus
After the fall of the Berlin Wall there is a sense of optimism among companies in East and West Germany as well as a lot of new interest in the VDMA.
1990
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The Federation of German Employers’ Associations in the M+E industries imposes its collective wage agreement on eastern Germany, causing financial problems for the engineering companies there.
1992
VDMA
The VDMA helps privatised firms in East Germany to regain ownership, an important step in smoothing the introduction of a market economy in the east.
1992
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The engineering sector endures a period of recession in which employees are laid off – a mistake that is not repeated in later crises.
1994
VDMA
The VDMA plays a key role in establishing a ‘working time corridor’ as the first step towards introducing flexible working hours.
1995
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The networking of documents via the internet is a major step towards the digitalisation of production processes in mechanical engineering.
1997
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The German engineering sector benefits significantly from the boom in the Asian markets.
1999
VDMA
Crossdisciplinary forums are set up to explore matters such as the automation of factories. The VDMA establishes a software trade association.
1999
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Engineering companies are increasingly integrating information and communication technologies into their products.
2000
VDMA
The VDMA opens an office in Germany’s capital, Berlin.
2000
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act leads to a surge in orders for engineering companies, the primary suppliers to the wind turbine industry.
2003
VDMA
The VDMA is one of the key founder members of EUnited, the European Engineering Industries Association.
2003
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The internationalisation of Germany’s mechanical engineering sector continues apace. SMEs are increasingly moving production abroad.
2004
VDMA
The VDMA establishes the OE-A, the Organic and Printed Electronics Association, in order to accommodate the value chain for organic electronics.
2004
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The boom in China ushers in several years of strong growth for the engineering sector. Demand from the BRIC countries is responsible for a sharp increase in the volume of business.
2008
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The global financial crisis and the ensuing recession threaten the very existence of the engineering industry. Order books go from being completely full to practically empty.
2009
VDMA
The VDMA opens up its membership to European engineering companies and internationalises its services.
2009
Welt des Maschinenbaus
The economic crash results in production declining by 25 per cent in real terms. Skilled workers are retained, however.
2010
Welt des Maschinenbaus
App technology helps companies in the machinery business to connect with branches, suppliers and customers.
2012
VDMA
The VDMA drives forward the implementation of cyber-physical production systems. It presses hard for the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies.
2013
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Engineering revenues are twice as high as in 2002, with the export rate climbing from 45 per cent to 64 per cent.
2015
VDMA
The VDMA broadens its work by setting up centres of competence for future business, the labour market and fundamental issues of economy policy.
2015
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Engineering companies attempt to achieve growth by breaking into new business areas such as electromobility.
2016
VDMA
The VDMA lends its expertise to negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and champions the cause of free trade.
2016
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Despite enduring five successive years without any significant growth, the German engineering industry employs 1 million people and at least generates revenue of approximately €220 billion.
2017
VDMA
The VDMA celebrates its 125th anniversary. It provides a voice to around 3,200 companies and offers a diverse network.
2017
Welt des Maschinenbaus
Industry 4.0 is on everybody’s lips. The digitalisation of production processes is the no. 1 topic in the capital goods industry.