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Ranked in order of estimated 2004 production
1. Japan
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. China
5. Taiwan
6. United States
7. Switzerland
8. Korea
9. Spain
10. United Kingdom
11. France
12. Canada
13. Brazil
14. Turkey
15. Czech Republic
16. Austria
17. Sweden
18. Netherlands
19. India
20. Finland
21. Belgium
22. Russia
23. Australia
24. Thailand
25. Denmark
26. Croatia
27. Romania
28. Portugal
29. Argentina
30. Hungary
31. South Africa
nr. CECIMO
nr. CELIMO
nr. Singapore
nr. Indonesia
nr. Mexico
nr. Poland
nr. Serbia Montenegro
nr. Slovakia
This annual World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey is compiled by, and first presented in, Metalworking Insiders' Report, the semimonthly newsletter for executives in the machine-tool and factory-equipment industry. The Gardner Publications newsletter accepts no advertising, and it provides objective reporting on business news that affects the builders and sellers of production equipment worldwide. For subscription rates and other information, visit Metalworking Insiders' Report.
Countries below are listed alphabetically. In each Country Report, production means actual shipments, not orders for future shipment. When discussing percentage changes year to year, those percentages are based in local currencies unless stated otherwise, as in the case of some countries that report in U.S. dollars. Countries listed above as “nr†are not rated because reliable statistics are not available.
Many listings below include information on significant trade fairs that feature machine tools. The German machine-tool-builders’ organization known as VDW also does a good job in compiling a list of such shows.
For a convenient source of data on most of the countries included in this World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey, we highly recommend Section F international statistics in The Economic Handbook of The Machine Tool Industry. The book, approximately 300 pages, may be purchased from the American machine-tool trade group AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology (McLean, Virginia, USA). The book costs $295, plus $5 for shipping. More information at
http://www.amtonline.org/.
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Argentina
Argentine production, reported in U.S. dollars, stopped its recent slide and grew 5% after a fall of nearly 50% in 2003. Consumption grew, nearly doubling.
The Asociación Argentina de Fabricantes de Máquinas-Herramienta, Accesorios y Afines maintains a Web site at
www.aafmha.org.ar/. The trade group is the primary sponsor of the country's international machine-tool show called EMAQH (Exposión de la Máquina Herramienta) (
http://www.emaqh.com/), which runs in Buenos Aires, May 18-23, 2006. Another show, FIMAQH, last ran July 6-11, 2004. [Top of Page]
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Australia
The Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Ltd., in Melbourne, Victoria, was established in 1999 and combines the Institute of Machine Tools Australasia (est. 1961) and the Australian Machine Tool Association in Sydney (est. 1954). Estimates of production and trade (in U.S. dollars) are sourced from AMTIL.
Consumption of machine tools in Australia grew 5% in 2004 according to Shane Infanti of AMTIL, partly due to a statistics revision that now includes special-purpose machine tools like laser machines, waterjet cutting machines, and profilers.
Australia has also seen continued growth in traditional machine-tool consumption due to a number of factors including low inflation rates and low interest rates, an increase in capital expenditure as a percentage of its GDP. Also, reports Infanti, there have been some solid government strategies surrounding global competitiveness.
Historically, Australia gets about one-quarter of its imports from Japan, and the United States and Taiwan each sell Australia about 15% of its total imports. The major export market is the United States by far (40% of total exports go to America), followed by the U.K. and New Zealand.
AMTIL is a sponsor of Austech, an annual technology show in Sydney, this year in mid-May. Get more information about the trade association at
www.amtil.com.au/. [Top of Page]
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Austria
Austria saw a 5% increase in production in 2004. Trade in machine tools is important for this CECIMO member, which saw a 14% increase in exports and a 32% gain in imports, for a 28% increase in consumption. Austria is one of the entrepôt countries where exports exceed 100% of production and imports are more than 100% of consumption.
Primary contact for the machine-tool industry is through the larger machinery and steel-construction industries trade group known as FMS, or Fachverband der Maschinen- und Stahlbauindustrie in Vienna. The trade association maintains a Web site at
www.fmmi.at/.
A privately staged biennial show run by Reed Exhibitions called Intertool (
http://www.intertool.at/) runs May, 2006 in Vienna. [Top of Page]
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Belgium
Sycomom, the Syndicat des Constructeurs Belges de Machines-Outils pour le travail des Métaux, is the Brussels-based machine-tool organization that belongs to CECIMO. It in turn is supported by the Mechanical Engineering sector of Agoria, the federation of trade groups in a number of industries.
Output of machine tools from Belgium declined in 2004 from the previous year; it was one of only two countries in the survey to show a drop (the other is France). The breakdown between cutting and forming production is based on historical data.
True to its Benelux traditions, entrepôt Belgium is a very active trader in machinery, so the ratio (see Export table) of exports as a percentage of local production is more than 300% because figures include re-exported machines.
For further organizational information, click
www.fabrimetal.be/. [Top of Page]
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Brazil
Brazilian production, reported in U.S. dollars, grew 25% in 2004. Domestic consumption grew at a slower pace, with more of production going to exports, which gained nearly 40%.
The São Paulo-based builders group is the Associação Brazileira da Indústria de Máquinas e Equipamentos. Contact the trade association through its Web site at
www.abimaq.org.br/. As of 2001 ABIMAQ reports only the results of responding member companies, or about 35% of the total number of enterprises. However, they represent the most significant part of the industry, and figures here are projected for the entire sector.
The major machine-tool show is FEIMAFE, the Feira Internacional de Máquinas-ferramenta e Sistemas Integrados de Manufactura (
http://www.feimafe.com.br/). The biennial fair runs in São Paulo, May 9-14 2005. Another trade fair, for general machinery including machine tools, runs in alternating years, also in São Paulo. [Top of Page]
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Canada
The Canadian Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. (
www.cmtda.com) and the Canadian Tooling & Machining Assn. (
www.ctma.com) both sponsor a double show run by Reed Exhibition Companies: the National Factory Automation Show combined with the Montreal Fabricating & Machine Tool Show, next in May 15-17, 2006 (
http://www.reedexpo.ca/montreal).
Estimated output for 2004 is unrevised from 2003, based on very little change seen in trade.
Canadian production is estimated by the Ottawa ministry, Industry Canada, as the value added by principal establishments in the NAICS 333519 sector. The 60/40 split between metalcutting and metalforming machinery output is based on historical trends. Statistical information about the country's industry is available online through Statistics Canada at
www.statcan.ca. Trade data is current. [Top of Page]
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Peoples Republic of China
Chinese consumption of new manufacturing equipment continues to amaze: In 2004 she purchased and installed $9.3-billion in machine tools, up an astounding 37% from the $6.8-billion reported for 2003.
One out of five machine tools produced in 2004 went to a Chinese factory!
That is to say that Chinese consumption, as a percentage of total estimated world production of $45.3-billion, amounts to 20.4%. Chinese consumption again easily outpaced second-ranked Japan, by $3.3-billion. With the world’s biggest appetite, its imports again soared to $5.8-billion, way ahead of the United States, which is second at $3.4-billion.
In terms of domestic production, China, which reports its production for this survey in U.S. dollars rather than yuan, increased 34% (versus a 24% increase last year), again placing it in fourth place in the world, ahead of the United States and behind only Japan, Germany, and Italy.
The 9th biennial CIMT, China International Machine Tool Show (
http://www.cimtshow.com/), runs April 11-17, 2005, in Beijing. The CIMT has joined the European EMO, the American IMTS, and the Japanese JIMToF as the four major machine-tool trade shows in the world.
The China CNC Machine Tool Fair (
http://www.ccmtshow.com/), also sponsored by the country’s trade association, runs in even years (Feb. 16-17, 2006) in Shanghai.
CIMT’s sponsor is the Beijing-based China Machine Tool builders' Association (
www.cmtba.org.cn) includes subsidiary organizations for producers or different machine tools, tooling, abrasives, and accessories. [Top of Page]
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Croatia
With a fall-off in imports, Croatia decreased its consumption of machine tools in 2004, one of only two countries in the survey to decline (the other is Belgium).
BIAM, the 18th biennial international machine-tool fair, runs in Zagreb 25-29 April 2006. Info at
http://www.zv.hr/sajmovi/220/index_en.html.
ALSTRO, the Croatian Association of Manufacturing Technology, is located in Zagreb and may be contacted on the Web at
http://www.alstro.hr. [Top of Page]
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Czech Republic
The Association of Manufacturers & Suppliers of Engineering Technique is at
www.sst.cz/. The SST, Svaz Výrobcu A Dodavatelu StrojÃrenské Techniky, is located in Prague and is a member of CECIMO. The association’s financial director, LeoÅ¡ Mačák, reports that, as expected, production grew 15% in 2004. Most exports are to Germany (nearly 40%), with lesser percentages going to Italy, Slovakia, the U.S., Poland and Austria. Imports come mainly from Germany, Japan, and Switzerland.
IMT 2006, the International Machine Tools Exhibition, runs in Sept. 2006 in Brno. [Top of Page]
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Denmark
A prominent trade show is called Metal, the biennial international trade fair for machine tools and tooling, and the 14th in the series runs April 2006 in Fredericia (
www.fagmesser.dk).
The Association of Danish Machine Tool Manufacturers is called FDVV, Foreninen af Danske Vaerktoejs- og Værktøjsmaskinfabrikanter (e-mail:
[email protected]) and is a member of CECIMO (
www.cecimo.be/general/memberassoc.htm).
Danish production grew 6% in 2004. Like some of its neighbors, Denmark sees a certain amount of trans-shipment of machines, and so indicators like “exports as a percentage of production†run more than 100%. [Top of Page]
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Finland
A machine-tool builders’ group was started in 1986 and is now part of the Technology Industries of Finland (
www.teknologiateollisuus.fi); it also is a member of the CECIMO consortium of Western European machine tool manufacturers’ organizations. National output is heavily weighted toward metalforming machines.
A trade show that includes manufacturing technology, FinnTec, last ran May 11-14, 2004 in Helsinki (
www.finnexpo.fi). [Top of Page]
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France
The French market for machine tools is led by big customers in the aerospace and automotive industries and thus is often subject to large swings due to the timing of major programs.
Statistical data comes from Paris-based Symap, the Syndicat de la Machine-Outil, du Soudage, de l'Assemblage et de la Productique Associée. The French Manufacturing Technologies Association, a CECIMO member, operates
www.symap.com.
Symap had hosted the pan-European machine-tool show, EMO, every eight years, but a change in the schedule announced at the 2003 event drops Paris to concentrate on Hanover and Milan for future EMOs.
Symap sponsors the biennial Machine Outil trade fair in Paris in non-EMO years, next in March 27-31, 2006. It is part of a larger umbrella show called Industrie 2004, which includes other specialized exhibits for tooling, assembly, etc. Details at
www.industrie-expo.com. In addition, a private show called Transfometal (
http://www.transfometal.com/) had been scheduled for Lyon in the south of France for Oct. 2004; recently it has been rolled into a broader show in Lyon called Industrie Sud, to run March 7-10, 2005.
In addition, a trade association called Symo, Syndicat des Entreprises de Commerce International de la Machine-Outil, represents importers and distributors and is a member of CELIMO. [Top of Page]
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Germany
In 2004 Germany saw a gain of 8% in production, following a 10% drop the year before. It remains the second-largest machine tool producer. In terms of consumption, the country increased 5% in 2004 after having dropped 17% in consumption in 2003. Germans spend $65 per capita on machine tools, the third most aggressive investment, behind Taiwan and Switzerland.
Statistics are compiled by Germany's machine-tool builders' group, Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken (VDW, Frankfurt), which maintains
www.vdw.de.
The trade association traditionally sponsors the biennial Metav pair or German national shows, run in non-EMO years to avoid conflicts. One in Düsseldorf, the traditional venue, next runs in late June 2006. Another in Munich, which debuted in 2004, next runs in early April 2006.
The giant pan-European EMO returns to Hanover, Sept. 14-21, 2005 (
www.emo-hannover.de/). The new schedule for the biennial EMO has it running twice consecutively in Hanover and once every six years in Milan. In other words, Germany hosts in 2007, 2011, and 2015 while Italy presents the show in 2009 and 2015.
A privately organized show, AMB, runs in Stuttgart, Sept. 19-23, 2006 (
http://www.messe-stuttgart.de/AMB/vorank/english/index.htm). A more-specialized sheetmetal-working show, EuroBLECH, runs in Hanover starting Oct. 24, 2006. [Top of Page]
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Hungary
Hungary’s machine-tool industry suffered years of decline following the change to free market economy and the collapse of other socialist markets in the early 1990s. Sector employment, formerly around 8,000, was cut to less than 2,000 during this period. Today many machine-tool builders are owned by foreign entities.
Hungarian production and trade statistics for 2004 are unchanged from 2003, except that they have been converted to U.S. dollars at the 2004 rate.
The MachTech international machine manufacturing technologies trade fair (March – April 2005) runs biennially (
http://www.mach-tech.hu/) at the Budapest Fair Centre.
The National Association of Hungarian Engineering Industries (MAGOSZ, or Magyar Gépgyártók Országos Szövetsége, in Budapest,
http://www.magosz.hu/) was founded in 1990 and promotes relations between companies. [Top of Page]
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India
Production in 2004 gained 47% (measured in rupees, slightly higher in U.S. dollars), following a rise the two years before. Consumption gained 64% in 2004 following a rise of 43% in 2003, moving India up several notches in rankings; it had gained 20% in 2002.
India’s machine-tool industry is composed of nearly 450 manufacturers, but ten produce around 70% of output. The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association hosts a Web site at
www.imtma.org.
The main metalworking show is the triennial IMTEX in Bombay, dubbed the Indian Machine Tool Exhibition with International Participation (
http://www.imtex.org/), last held Jan. – Feb., 2004. [Top of Page]
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Italy
Euro-based Italian consumption slipped 3% in 2004, following a decline in 2003, but when translated into the slipping U.S. dollar the country actually gained. Italy remains fifth among the world’s consumers. Imports declined 5%.
Production edged up by a bare 2%, following a decline the year before in euros. Italy continues to rank third among producers and among exporters.
For 2004, Italian machine tool producers saw an increase of around 13% in their index of aggregate orders, but virtually all of that increase came from foreign customers, whereas domestic orders were essentially flat. Early in 2005 the continuing stagnation prompted Alberto Tacchella, president of the machine tool builders’ group, to again call for the Italian government to adopt more liberal policies regarding depreciation allowances.
Italy hosted the most recent biennial pan-European show, EMO, Oct. 2003 at the old Milan fairgrounds (
http://www.emo-milano.com/). Under the new schedule adopted by sponsoring CECIMO, the next two EMOs (2005 and 2007) will be held in Germany. When the huge event returns to Milan in 2009, it will be staged in a new trade-fair site, to be built about halfway between downtown Milan and the international airport at Malpensa.
Milan's fairgrounds also hosts the national machine-tool show Bi-MU (biennial macchine utensili) Oct 5-10, 2006. It runs in conjunction with a subcontractors’ show called Sfortec. Like other national shows for members of CECIMO, the Bi-MU runs in even years so as not to interfere with the EMO. Other major shows in Italy include Bi-MU Mediterranea held in Bari, southern Italy, next Feb. 23-26, 2006 and the Lamiera sheetmetal show in Bologna, May 10-13, 2006.
The builders' group is named UCIMU- Sistemi Per Produrre. Originally UCIMU, for “Unione Costruttore Italiana Macchine Utensili†or “association of builders of Italian machine tools,†it has like other builders’ groups expanded its purview to embrace makers of associated factory automation or “systems of production.†It posts data at
www.ucimu.it/eng/. [Top of Page]
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Japan
A 24% increase in production (in yen, higher in dollars) again keeps Japan in the number-one slot in terms of world output for 2004, 14% ahead of second-place Germany, which had been at the top in 2002. Japan is second to Germany in total exports, and it exports about half the value of its production, a smaller percentage than other large producers.
Combined statistics come from both the Japan Machine Tool Builders' Assn (metalcutting machine tools) (
www.jmtba.or.jp) and the separate Japan Forming Machinery Assn. (presses and other metalforming machine tools) (
http://www.j-fma.or.jp/). For metalcutting machine tools, JMTBA estimates production totals starting with statistics from the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry, which does not include companies employing less than 50 workers, and adjusts them according to its own surveys. For trade data, JMTBA excludes semiconductor-fabrication equipment, which is included in data from the Ministry of Finance.
Orders tracked by JMTBA for future production amounted to ¥1.24-trillion for the 12 months of 2004. That was 45% higher than in 2003, so 2005 is virtually assured of being another high-production year, based on the backlog.
The major machine-tool show is the JMTBA-organized biennial Japan International Machine Tool Fair (JIMToF) (
www.jimtof.org) in Tokyo, sponsored by a variety of trade organizations. The next (23d) JIMToF runs Nov. 1-8, 2006.
Japan's machine-tool distributors' group lists information at
www.nikkohan.or.jp/e/index.htm. Additionally, the Japan Machine Tool Importers’ Assn. maintains
www.jmtia.gr.jp. [Top of Page]
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Korea
South Korean machine-tool production increased 10% after a whopping 24% surge in 2003. And orders for future production, reported by the 48 corporate members of KoMMA’s statistical program, showed a year-end gain of 15% in 2004, with the domestic portion of that bookings increase ahead 9% and foreign orders 29% higher than in 2003.
The Seoul-based Korea Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association provides online information at (
www.komma.org/english/english.htm). Statistics for this report are based in the National Statistical Office (production) and the Korea Customs Service (exports and imports). KoMMA publishes an annual book, Machine Tool Statistics Handbook, which contains 215 pages of very extensive tables on the machine tool industry there.
KoMMA is the main sponsor of the biennial fair SIMTOS, the Seoul International Machine Tool Show (
http://www.simtos.org/), which runs April 12-17, 2006. It’s to be held at the new Kintex Seoul expo center and organizers expect it to be the largest SIMTOS in the history of that fair. [Top of Page]
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The Netherlands
After seeing declines, The Netherlands showed a small increase in both machine-tool production and in consumption in 2004. Imports dropped, unusual for European manufacturing economies in 2004.
Machine-tool builders in The Netherlands are represented by the GGW Groep Gereedschapswerktuigen, one of the 150 affiliated sector organizations in the 2600-member-company engineering-industry association in Zoetermeer known as FME-CWM (
www.fme.nl). It is affiliated with the CECIMO consortium (
www.cecimo.com/) [Top of Page]
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Portugal
EMAF (Exposição Internacional de Máquinas - Ferramentas), the International Machine Tool & Accessories Exhibition, runs in Porto in November of non-EMO years (
www.emaf.exponor.pt/).
The machine-tool industry association, CIMAF (Centro de Cooperaçáo dos Industriais de Máquinas e Ferramentas) in Oporto is part of AIMMAP, the metal and mechanical engineering industry group (
http://www.aimmap.pt/). It is a member of CEIMO in Brussels [Top of Page]
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Romania
Bucharest-headquartered trade association UPROMUS (Uniunea Producătorilor Români de Maşini Unelte şi Scule) (fax 421-255 6481. e-mail
[email protected]) represents machine-tool builders. The group created a standardization and quality-certification agency called S.C. Simtex S.A. (
www.simtex.ro/).
According to Mircea Pupaza, managing director of UPROMUS, 2004 exports are larger than production, as was the case for the previous two years as well, because of sales from stock. Imports recovered from a slump a year ago, and exports also gained. Statistics are reported in U.S. dollars at the rate of 30.3 lei to the dollar for 2004. [Top of Page]
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Russia
A biennial exhibition, Mashinostroyenie or “MashEx,†is held at the Sokolniki Exhibition Center in Moscow May 30-June 3, 2005 (
www.mashinostroyenie.ru). It is organized by Stankoinstrument Assn. of Machine and Tool Mfrs.
Another show, the two-decade-old Metalloobrabotka (
www.expocentr.ru), concentrates on foreign machines and runs in Moscow May 23-27, 2006.
An annual tooling exposition, ISET (Tool World), runs Mar. 23-26, 2005 in Moscow (
www.tool-world.ru/).
Russian production and trade is reported in U.S. dollars. Statistics are reported by Moscow-based Stankoinstrument Association of Machine & Tool Manufacturers (e-mail
[email protected]),which represents more than 200 machine-tool and instrument factories, research organizations, and design bureaus. [Top of Page]
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Singapore
Reliable statistics on domestic Production are unavailable, hence no Apparent Consumption statistic can be calculated. Some data on trade had been available from StatLink, Singapore Trade Statistics. For 2003 Singapore exported $135-million (up from $108-million in 2002), and it imported $122-million ((up from $113-million).
Britain’s All World Exhibitions plans one of its MTA – MetalAsia series of shows for Singapore, May 10-15, 2005. Top of Page]
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South Africa
South African production and trade statistics for 2004 are unchanged from 2003, except that they have been converted to U.S. dollars at the 2004 rate.
South Africa's Machine Tool Merchants' Association in Randburg runs a machine show every four years in Johannesburg and posts information at
http://mtma.africa.co.za. (It is distinct from the country's Machine & Tool Manufacturers Association. in Johannesburg.) [Top of Page]
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Spain
2004 was a turnaround year for the Spanish machine-tool sector. After a drab start the industry saw a slow recovery in which orders by year-end showed a 10% increase over 2003. But if orders increased, 2004 production was flat, so 2005 starts with a considerable backlog.
In trade figures, exports fell by 5% (in euros), adding to the backlog slated for delivery in the first months on 2005. Imports increased by 3%, and apparent consumpton gained more than 5%. The head of the builders’ trade group, Alberto Ortueta, notes 78% of production value is in CNC machines and that the industry takes pride in supplying equipment to sophisticated user countries like Germany, France, Mexico, Italy, and the U.S. The coming year is expected to be one of consolidation in the Spanish industry.
Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Máquinas-herramienta (AFM), the Spanish machine-tool builders’ association (
www.afm.es) is located in San Sebastian, in the heart of the northeast-Spain machinery-producing region. Also in San Sebastian is AMT, the export trade association of Spanish manufacturers of machine-tool accessories, component parts, and tools, at
http://www.amt.es/.
AFM’s biennial national machine-tool show, BIEHM (Bienal Española de la Máquina-Herramienta), runs in nearby Bilbao June 2006 and usually draws 50,000+ visitors. Since Spain is a CECIMO member, the BIEHM is not presented in odd-number years, which are reserved for CECIMO’s pan-European EMO, in 2005 in Hanover, Germany. Another show, Maquitec, runs in Barcelona (
www.maquitec.com) Oct. 25-29, 2005 [Top of Page]
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Sweden
Production grew by 6% in 2004 while apparent consumption gained by 10%, reversing a two-year trend..
The Swedish Machine Tool & Cutting Tool Manufacturers Association is a member of the CECIMO consortium and is known as FVM (Foreningen Svenska Verktygs - Och Vertygsmaskintillverkare). It hosts a Web site at
www.fvm.se/. Secretariat for the association is the Assn. of Swedish Engineering Industries (V.I.).
Trade shows include the Scandinavian Technical Fair, which runs annually in October in Stockholm (
http://www.stockholmsmassan.se/). [Top of Page]
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Switzerland
Swiss machine-tool production gained 14% in 2004, after having slipped the year before (both measured in Swiss francs). With that gain, Switzerland moves up to seventh place among producing countries, ahead of Korea.
In terms of consumption, 2004 saw a 13% increase, higher when converted into U.S. dollars. On a per-capita basis, Switzerland’s consumption of $758-million means that more than one hundred dollars was spent on this class of production equipment for every person in the country. The Swiss have always had a very high per-capita consumption rate, usually ranking number one; in 2004 a surge by Taiwan moves Switzerland into second place.
Machine tool builders are organized into the VSM (Verein Schweizerischer Maschinen-Industrieller). The Swiss trade association that now encompasses the builders' group is called Swissmem, at
www.swissmem.ch. The umbrella organization covers Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering (MEM) industries. [Top of Page]
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Taiwan
Taiwan increased its production by one-third in 2004, following a double-digit increase the year before. Imports more than doubled, boosting Taiwan’s consumption of machine tools by 89% (slightly higher when measured in U.S. dollars) over 2003.
Major trade shows include Manufacturing Taipei, the expanded successor to Taipei Automat, which ran May 2004. Also there is the trade-association-organized biennial TIMTOS, the Taipei International Machine Tool Show, which runs March 15-20, 2005 (
http://www.taipeitradeshows.com.tw/timtos/).
Taiwan's machine tool builders' association is part of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry,
www.tami.org/. [Top of Page]
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Thailand
Statistics on Thai production of machine tools have not been completely available. The statistics here were generated by Spain’s machine-tool trade association working with the Spanish embassy in Bangkok.
The Intermach 2005 (
www.thai-exhibition.com/intermach/) metalworking-equipment exhibition runs in Bangkok 11-15 May 2005. According to reports by show organizers, 68% of imports come from Japan, 10% fro Taiwan, and 5% from the U.S. Most of the country’s exports are built by Sodick Thailand, a subsidiary of the Japanese builder noted for its electrical discharge machines. [Top of Page]
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Turkey
Turkey saw an 18% increase (euro-based, higher in dollars) in production of machine tools in 2004 .
The Turkish machinery companies' trade association Makina Imalatçilari Birligi, is the newest member of the CECIMO consortium, joining in 1999 as its 15th member. The group's Web page is at
www.mib.org.tr.
Its biennial fair, IMAK-TATEF, the International Machine Tool & Metalworking Exhibition, last held in March 2004 in Istanbul (
http://www.itf-exhibitions.com/), combines two formerly independent shows that were merged in 2000. [Top of Page]
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United Kingdom
Production by U.K. factories, which is reported in pounds rather than euros, gained 18% in 2004 after a decline in the previous two years. The trade association’s chief economist, Geoff Noon, says his organization’s outlook for 2005 is for continued recovery.
The MTA trade association, a CECIMO member, reports that imports grew at only 5% in 2004, due to adjustments for some exceptional items in 2003.
The prospects for 2005 suggest another period of grown, and economist Noon is forecasting an increase of 17% in the U.K. market. This is driven by a continuing improvement in the economic fundamentals which support investment—a stable economy and improvements in profits and companies’ financial balances. There’s a downside risk from confidence, though, since it’s an important factor in machine tools. U.K. exports are expected to improve, but there is a limit to the extent to which U.K. manufacturers will be able to take advantage of growth in China and the U.S. because of the sterling/dollar exchange rate situation.
The biennial major national machine-tool show, Mach, is part of a combined exposition at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. It’s next scheduled for May 15-19, 2006. (
http://www.mach2004.com).
Both builders and distributors are members of the London-based Manufacturing Technologies Association,
http://www.mta.org.uk/. [Top of Page]
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United States
American machine-tool factories in 2004 increased their output by 24%, clearly moving out of a four-year slump that had forced widespread consolidation and more than a few bankruptcies. However, Taiwan’s production in 2004 increased an impressive 37% (in U.S. dollars, less in the local currency), and Taiwan moved ahead of the U.S. to fifth place in production.
National consumption grew by 26%, and America continues in fourth place among consumers in the world. (In 2001 the U.S. fell out of first position as leading consumer for the first time since 1993.) Consumption increases will continue, since orders, as tracked by the “U.S. Machine Tool Consumption†(USMTC) survey series, continue to grow. “Investment in new machine tools during 2004 was strong,†reported John B. Byrd III, president of AMT, one of the organizations that conduct the USMTC survey. A spike in December orders puts that yearly investment up 44% over 2003, according to Byrd.
Data in this World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey is based on actual shipments reported by factories and at ports. This is in contrast to the orders for future shipments booked by those AMT and AMTDA trade-association members who elect to participate in the monthly USMTC survey, whose index is issued jointly by those groups (
http://www.amtda.org/usmtc/index.htm).
The builders' trade group, AMT - The Association for Manufacturing Technology in McLean, Virginia, posts info at
www.amtonline.org/. For information about the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) it runs in Chicago, Illinois, every two years, (Sept. 6-13, 2006 is next), click
http://www.imts.com/.
The distributors' trade group, the American Machine Tool Distributors' Assn. (AMTDA), located in Rockville, Maryland, is at
www.amtda.org.
IMTS is THE major machine-tool-oriented trade show. Regionals include the APEX (Advanced Productivity Exposition) series like Westec and Eastec held in conjunction with the manufacturing engineering society (
http://www.sme.org/). Also there is a series of machine-tool shows (
http://www.amtda.org/shows/index.htm) organized by the distributors’ association (two scheduled for 2005: Indiana in April and Pennsylvania in October). [Top of Page]
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CECIMO
CECIMO is the European Committee for Co-operation of the Machine Tool Industries and is based in Brussels, Belgium. During 2004 its 15 member trade associations were responsible for 46% the world's output, down slightly from the year before. Its statistical department, headed by Eric Noêl, has been instrumental in coordinating survey results from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United Kingdom.
The consortium of Western European machine-tool associations provides a site at
www.cecimo.be and a subsidiary location for info about its pan-European world show called EMO (Exposition Machine-Outil) that is run in odd-numbered years by the host country. A schedule change announced at the 2003 EMO in Milan removes Paris from the rotation. The giant pan-European EMO returns to Hanover, Sept. 14-21, 2005 (
www.emo-hannover.de/). The new schedule for the biennial EMO has it running twice consecutively in Hanover and once every six years in Milan. In other words, Germany hosts in 2005, 2007, 2011, and 2015 while Italy presents the show in 2009 and 2015. [Top of Page]
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CELIMO
Whereas CECIMO, above, is the trade association for European machine-tool producers, CELIMO handles distributors and importers. The acronym stands for Comité Européen de Liaison de Machines-Outils. It represents 13 national associations in Europe: in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
The group’s main task is coordinating statistics on trade in machine tools. Individual member associations also sponsor trade shows, sometimes different from those organized by the builders in their respective countries. Britain’s MTA in London, which has traditionally represented both builders and distributors in the U.K., acts as secretariat for CELIMO. [Top of Page]
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Indonesia
ASIMPI (Asosiasi Industri Mesin Perkakas Indonesia), the Jakarta-based machine tool industries association, is working on developing comparable statistics, but the country is not yet rated in this survey.
A U.K.-based exhibition services firm has scheduled Machine Tool Indonesia as part of its Manufacturing Indonesia series for Jakarta Dec. 7-10, 2005. Another Machine Tool & Manufacturing exhibition is scheduled for Surabaya, Indonesia in early June 2005. (
www.allworldexhibitions.com). [Top of Page]
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Mexico
Mexico imports more than 90% of its consumption of machine tools. and there are virtually no companies that produce machine tools. In past surveys, local production had been estimated from fragmentary data, and those sources have since become unreliable. When the statistics are out-of-date, the Production data (nor the derived Consumption figures) cannot be used, and the country is necessarily dropped from this survey’s tables.
Trade, however, is a different matter: Other sources indicate Mexican imports of machine tools at $837-million in 2004, following a drop to $657-million in 2003 ($830-million in 2002), which would place the country in the top ten of importers.
Exports—mostly re-sold imports—for 2004 are placed at $23.7-million, following a 2003 bounce of $56-million (up from the 2002 figure of less than $30-million).
The AMDM, Asociación Mexicana de Distribuidores Maquinaria (Mexico City) sponsors the TECMA Mexico City show in March and maintains a web site at
www.amdm.org.mx. [Top of Page]
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Poland
Machine-tool production for Poland was last estimated at around $190-million in 1997. With no reliable Production data, Consumption cannot be calculated, and the country is not included in this report’s tables.
Trade data is somewhat more current, with 2003 imports estimated at $354-million and exports at $71-million. Most exports go through Metalexport Group, now privatized, and its subsidiary Toolmex.
The major machine-tool show venue is the annual Poznan Fair, labeled Innovations-Technologies-Machine-Poland or ITM-Poland, June 20-23, 2005. [Top of Page]
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Serbia & Montenegro
Most recent statistics, for 2000, show Yugoslav production of around $50-million, or less than one-third of the level when war broke out in 1992. The industry’s three-dozen firms tend to specialize in metalcutting machines.
The machine-tool association Masino-Savez is headquartered in Novi Beograd, a suburb of the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Web site:
www.masino-savez.org.yu. Fax: 381-11-671-675. [Top of Page]
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Slovakia
The Slovakian Association of Machine Tools & Tooling Builders is run by a unit of the mechanical-engineering department of a Bratislava university; it hosts a Web site at
www.kvs.sjf.stuba.sk/. Slovakian machine tool production was last estimated in 2000 at around $110-million. [Top of Page]
