AFM HAS BROUGHT TOGETHER THE MAIN EUROPEAN MACHINE-TOOL COMPANIES IN BARCELONA

• CECIMO’s autumn General Assembly, the European machine-tool association, was held in Barcelona last 23rd and 24th November
• AFM, which currently holds the vice presidency of CECIMO, organised the event in Barcelona that brought together around seventy leaders of some of the largest corporations in European industry
• Estimates for 2018 predict an 8% increase in European production

Presidents and CEOs of companies such as Schneeberger, Krauseco, WFL, Fastems, Fives Machining, Emag, United Grinding, Tos Varnsdorf, Losma, Tornos, Renishaw, Dimeco, Loire Gestamp, Fagor Automation and Soraluce, among others, together with the Managing Directors of the fifteen European associations that form CECIMO, met in Barcelona to discuss the challenges faced by European companies that manufacture machine tools and advanced technologies in order to produce and design a common strategy to address them.

During the assembly, the main issues that now concern companies that produce manufacturing technologies, such as the decarbonisation of transport and the impact of the electric car, the statistical tools that allow the prediction of market behaviour, macro-economic trends in Europe, the contribution of the sector to the circular economy through the incorporation of new technologies such as additive manufacturing, the effects of Brexit and forecasts for the next 18 months were all analysed and discussed, forming a complete work programme throughout the two-day event.

At the end of its meeting CECIMO also announced that the forecast for the year 2018 is positive, estimating that European production will grow in total by 8%, reaching a turnover of 27,800 million Euro and increasing its world market share from 33% to 34%. With respect to exports, the growth estimate is 6.7% compared with 2017 figures, reaching 21,300 million Euro, with the main destination markets for the European machine tool continuing to be China, USA, Poland and Mexico.

Founded in 1950, CECIMO is the European association of the machine tool and manufacturing technologies’ industry representing their common interests both globally and at a European level. It brings together the national associations of the fifteen leading European producers of machine tools that represent approximately 1,300 industrial companies in Europe, of which 80% are SMEs, which employ 136,000 people and turn over more than 26,000 million Euro, CECIMO represents 97% of European production and 33% of world production. AFM has been part of CECIMO since 1964 and holds one of its vice presidencies.