| Producers | Exporters | Importers |
| Trade Balance | Consumers | Per Capita |
| Analysis | Country Reports | Methodology |
Reports/Presentations |
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| Producers | Exporters | Importers |
| Trade Balance | Consumers | Per Capita |
| Analysis | Country Reports | Methodology |
Reports/Presentations |
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1. China |
12. Brazil |
23. Mexico nr. CECIMO |
This annual World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey is compiled by Gardner Publications, Inc. and presented in several of its outlets including Modern Machine Shop magazine and Metalworking Insiders' Report newsletter.
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 ranked because statistics are not available and/or not deemed reliable for 2010, although some have been included in previous Surveys.
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 E international statistics in The Economic Handbook of The Machine Tool Industry. The book, now published exclusively in CD-ROM format, may be purchased from the American machine-tool trade group AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology (McLean, Virginia, USA). The disk costs $295, plus $5 for shipping. More information at the Industry Trends and Statistics portion of AMT’s Web site, http://www.amtonline.org.
The country is a heavy importer, and consumption is often four times domestic production.
The AAFMHA - Asociación Argentina de Fabricantes de Máquinas-Herramienta, Accesorios y Afines supplies statistical data for this survey. It maintains a Web site at www.aafmha.org.ar/. The trade group is the primary sponsor of the one of the country's international machine-tool shows called EMAQH (Exposión de la Máquina Herramienta) (http://www.emaqh.com/), which runs in Buenos Aires in the Spring in odd-numbered years.
Another biennial show, FIMAQH, next planned for mid-2012, has been directly competitive in the same city. It is organized by CARMAHE – Cámara Argentina de la Máquina Herramienta, Bienes de Capital y Servicios para la Producción. The machine-tool and capital goods association has a Web site at www.carmahe.com. [Top of Page]
The Australian Manufacturing Technology Institute Ltd., in Wantirna (suburb of 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 Australian dollars) are sourced from AMTIL.
AMTIL is a sponsor of Austech, an annual (generally mid-May) technology show that alternates between Sydney and Melbourne. Get more information about the trade association at www.amtil.com.au/. [Top of Page]
Trade in machine tools is important for this CECIMO member. As one of those economies characterized as “entrepôt,” Austria’s exports in some years has exceed 100% of production. Figures for this survey are reported in euros and exclude the value of parts and accessories plus related services.
Primary contact for the machine-tool industry is through the larger machinery and metalware industries trade group known as FMMI, or Fachverband Maschinen & Metallwaren Industrie in Vienna. The trade association maintains a Web site at www.fmmi.at/.
A privately staged biennial show run by Reed Exhibitions called Intertool runs as part of an umbrella trade fair called Vienna-Tec. [Top of Page]
The Brussels-based machine-tool organization in Belgium belongs to CECIMO. It is supported by the Mechanical Engineering sector of Agoria, the federation of trade groups in a number of industries.
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 often approaches 200%, because figures include re-exported machines.
For further organizational information, click www.agoria.be/. [Top of Page]
Brazilian production and trade is reported in U.S. dollars by the São Paulo-based builders group, Associação Brazileira da Indústria de Máquinas e Equipamentos. Contact the trade association through its Web site at www.abimaq.org.br/.
ABIMAQ reports only the results of responding member companies, or about 35% of the total number of enterprises. However, these 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, usually in May. Another trade fair, Mecânica (http://www.mecanica.com.br/en/), for general machinery including machine tools, runs in alternating years, also in São Paulo. A privately run Usinagem exhibition runs in São Paulo in October. [Top of Page]
Historically, the top suppliers of machine tools to Canada are the U.S., Japan, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. The top destination for Canadian machine-tool exports is the United States, which accounts for around 80% of exports.
Canadian production in the Survey represents a rough estimate with input from the Ottawa ministry, Industry Canada (www.ic.gc.ca), from the distributors’ group, and from neighboring traders in the U.S. 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.
The Canadian Machine Tool Distributors’ Assn. (www.cmtda.com) and the Canadian Tooling & Machining Assn. (www.ctma.com) both are sponsors of the Montreal Manufacturing Technology Show in May. There is also the Toronto-based CMTS (Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show, October), traditionally the largest forum for machine tools in the country; it, too, is produced by SME. [Top of Page]
Chinese factories have led the world in consumption of new manufacturing equipment for more than a decade, satisfying demand in much of the early 21st Century with imports. In recent years the country’s domestic machine-tool-producing industry has been catching up with local appetite by growing to be the world’s largest industry by volume.
Several of the largest machine tool building companies in China are wholly or partially state-owned, and financial information on individual entities is notoriously difficult to obtain in a country that does not have a tradition of capitalism. The machine tool builders’ association reports aggregate Chinese production and trade for this survey in U.S. dollars rather than yuan.
The biennial CIMT, China International Machine Tool Show (http://www.cimtshow.com/), runs in April of odd-numbered years 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-numbered years in April in Nanjing; (it had been in Shanghai and Beijing).
Sponsor of both trade shows is the Beijing-based China Machine Tool builders' Association (www.cmtba.org.cn), which includes subsidiary organizations for producers or different machine tools, tooling, abrasives, and accessories. [Top of Page]
The Association of Engineering Technology, which also represents the interests of Slovak Republic organizations, is at www.sst.cz/. The SST, Svaz Strojírenské Technologie, is located in Prague and is a member of CECIMO.
For the past several years, as local machine-tool factories have pursued production agreements with builders in other countries, the Czech Republic has become an entrepôt in the commodity, with exports exceeding 100% of production. Most exports are to Germany (35%).
IMT, the International Machine Tools Exhibition, runs in September in Brno, and typically draws 70,000 visitors. [Top of Page]
A trade show dubbed the gateway to the Scandinavian market called Metal, the biennial international trade fair for machine tools and tooling, runs in April in the Fredericia exhibition center (http://www.fagmesser.dk/).
The show’s organizer, the Association of Danish Machine Tool Manufacturers is called FDVV, Foreninen af Danske Vaerktoejs- og Værktøjsmaskinfabrikanter, and is a member of CECIMO, through which it reports statistics.
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]
A machine-tool builders’ group started in 1986 and including nine members is part of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries (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. Main export destinations are Russia, Italy, the U.S., China, and Germany.
A trade show that includes manufacturing technology, FinnTec, runs in April in Helsinki in conjunction with a tooling show, ToolTec. (www.finnexpo.fi). [Top of Page]
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 Symop, the Association for Manufacturing Technologies, whose French name derives from a predecessor Syndicate for Machine Tools (machines-outil) Producers. The association, which operates www.symop.com, was reorganized in 2005 to include importers and distributors, and it is now a member of both the builders’ European consortium, CECIMO, and that of the distributors, CELIMO.
Symop sponsors the biennial machine-tool trade show formerly called Machine Outil in Paris in non-EMO years (that is, even-numbered years), now held as part of IndustrieParis in March. Organizers have also conducted a similar show in Lyon during EMO years; details at www.industrie-expo.com. Also, a biennial specialty machine-tool show called SIMODEC (Salon International de la Machine-Outil de Décolletage) for screw-machine technology runs in March at LaRoche-sur-Foron. [Top of Page]
Statistics are compiled by Germany's machine-tool builders' group, Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken (VDW, Frankfurt), which maintains www.vdw.de, and does an excellent job of providing statistics and detailed information.
In the German machine tool industry during 2011, a relatively high percentage of special-purpose machines—with associated extended delivery times—ordered the year before were moved to the shipments side of the ledger. In addition, 2011 order intake remained strong although it tapered off somewhat toward the end of the year. These reasons combined to make 2011 production of complete machines increase 35%, a better rate than all shipments including parts and accessories.
Scenarios for 2012 take into account current financial distortions facing all of Europe, leading to a mid-single-digit percentage increase, forecasts VDW economic- and statistical-department head Gerhard Hein.
The trade association, the largest member of CECIMO, traditionally sponsors the biennial Metav German national show in Düsseldorf, which runs in non-EMO years to avoid conflicts. It runs in early March.
VDW is the organizer of the next giant pan-European EMO. that runs in odd-numbered years and will be staged next in Hanover, Germany, for 2013, in September. (Italy presents the show in 2015.)
A privately organized show, the biennial AMB, runs in Stuttgart in September with the VDW organization as a sponsor. Stuttgart also hosts the sheetmetal-fabrication-specific fair called Blechexpo in November of odd-numbered years; VDW is also a sponsor or Blechexpo. A manufacturing and tooling show called Intec runs every other odd-numbered year in Leipzig. And Stuttgart hosts a laser-systems fair, LASYS, in June.
The private German corporation that operates the VDW-hosted EMO, Deutsche Messe A.G. (Hanover, Germany) also operates the annual Hannover Messe event in April that combines several industrial-oriented themes into a giant exhibition. In addition Deutsche Messe also operates specialized trade shows around the world, some in conjunction with machine-tool shows like the American IMTS. [Top of Page]
The Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association in Bangalore is composed of around 475 member companies, but traditionally only about ten produce around the majority of output. The country’s domestic industry, however, includes many smaller companies that are beyond the reach of the trade association.
In past editions of this survey, the association reported (in U.S. dollars rather than in rupees) production and export statistics of its member companies (imports are estimated from government sources). Starting in 2011, IMTMA collects adjusted data that reflects the growing domestic machine-producing industry.
The new estimates for 2011 for the entire industry put production at $860-million, moving India up a few notches in the rankings by output. Exports grow, also, but not enough to make a substantial difference in domestic consumption.
The main metalworking show has been the traditionally triennial IMTEX in Bangalore, dubbed the Indian Machine Tool Exhibition with International Participation. Set for Jan., 2013 to run in concert with a tooling and accessories exhibition called Tooltech; it has evolved into a metalcutting-machine show. A spin-off exhibition, IMTEX Forming 2010, ran in Bangalore in January 2012. A newer event, Modern Machine Shop, runs in April 2012 outside New Delhi and attempts to draw a wider range of factory equipment and automation. [Top of Page]
With just a few exceptions, Italy’s machine-tool producers tend to be small- or medium-sized companies under family ownership. The Italian machine-tool trade 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.” The Milan-based trade association traditionally takes an active role in lobbying Rome in the interests of its members on matters like trade policy and investment incentives.
Under the schedule adopted by sponsoring CECIMO consortium of Western European machine tool associations, the pan-European world expo called EMO is staged at fairgrounds outside Hanover and Milan under a scheme of twice in Hanover then once in Milan. The Italians last hosted the huge biennial show in 2009, which means that it will return to Italy as EMO Milano 2015.
UCIMU stages a series of shows including the biennial Italian national machine-tool show called Bi-MU (October), which runs in conjunction with a subcontracting expo, SFORTEC. There ‘s also a less-frequent Southern-Italy exhibition called Bi-MU Mediterranea in Bari, a biennial mecatronics and automation event known as Bi-Mec, plus an annual metalforming-equipment show called Lamiera in Bologna. A regional show in Pordenone called Samumetal includes subcontracting. [Top of Page]
Unlike the situation in other leading machine-tool-building countries, most Japanese builders–with just a few notable exceptions—are publicly held and are listed on the Tokyo or Osaka exchanges. This makes for a very vibrant and competitive industry, one in which spirited investors demand and get excellence.
Combined statistics here 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.
The major machine-tool show is the JMTBA-organized biennial Japan International Machine Tool Fair (JIMToF) (www.jimtof.org) in Tokyo in November of even-numbered years, sponsored by a variety of trade organizations. Since 2009, the forming-machine trade association has run its own biennial MetalForming & Fabricating Fair Tokyo, in August of odd-numbered years.
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]
Giant industrial conglomerates whose other endeavors range from shipyards to automobiles dominate the list of companies in the Republic of Korea that operate machine-tool plants.
The Seoul-based Korea Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association provides online information. Statistics for this report have been based in the National Statistical Office (production) and the Korea Customs Service (exports and imports) and the KoMMA Web site contains extensive tables on the machine tool industry there.
KoMMA is the main sponsor of the biennial (even-numbered year) fair SIMTOS, the Seoul International Manufacturing Technology Show (http://www.simtos.org/), which runs in April. The show dates back to 1984 and since 2006 has been at the Kintex Seoul expo center in Gyeonggi with 53,000 square meters of space available. [Top of Page]
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, those sources became unreliable, and the country had been necessarily dropped from this survey’s tables. Recently however, sources outside Mexico were able to produce a very rough estimate—around $125-million—for production (based on a formula derived from trade). About one-third of imports come from the U.S.; other main sources are Germany and Japan, each with about one-fifth.
A generalized machinery-importers group that includes distributors of construction and agricultural machines, the AMDM, Asociación Mexicana de Distribuidores Maquinaria (Mexico City) sponsors the TECMA Mexico City show in March, which alternates years with the biennial Expomaq in Santiago de Queretaro. [Top of Page]
Like other entrepôt countries heavily engaged in trade into and then out of the country, Holland often posts exports that are in excess of total domestic production and imports that are larger than local consumption.
Machine-tool builders in the Netherlands traditionally lean toward producing presses and other metalforming machines rather than cutting machine tools. They are represented by VIMAG, (Vereniging van Importeurs van Machines en Gereedschappen) the 70-member group that also represents importers and manufacturers of tooling and accessories. VIMAG is a branch of FPT (Federatie Productie Technologie) is one of the affiliated sector organizations in the 2600-member-company engineering-industry association in Zoetermeer known as FME-CWM (www.fme.nl). VIMAG is affiliated with the CECIMO consortium based in Belgium.
FPT promotes the biennial (usually March) Techni-Show, billed as the largest manufacturing-oriented trade exhibition in Benelux, held in Utrecht, The Netherlands. [Top of Page]
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, once separately known as CIMAF (Centro de Cooperaçáo dos Industriais de Máquinas e Ferramentas) in Porto is now a division of AIMMAP (Associaçáo dos Industriais Metalurgicos Metalomecanicos e Afins de Portugal), the metal and mechanical engineering industry group (http://www.aimmap.pt/). It is a member of CECIMO in Brussels, Belgium. [Top of Page]
The Bucharest-headquartered trade association CROMUS (Union of the Romanian Center for Machine Tools & Tools, www.cromus.ro) has provided data for the Survey. Most imports come from Germany, Italy, Japan, and France. Exports—three-quarters of which are cutting machines—go to a variety of countries ranging from Mexico to Germany to Ukraine. CROMUS is located at the headquarters of Masinexport Trading S.A., once the state agency for all machine tool production and trade.
Production statistics in this survey for 2011 are unrevised from the previous year. [Top of Page]
The Russian machine tool industry has been making slow but continuous progress since its collapse at the end of the Soviet era two decades ago. The domestic market is characterized by a high import penetration.
An exhibition, the International Exhibition Mashinostroenie or MashEx, is held at the relatively new Crocus Exhibition Center outside Moscow in late October. It is organized by MVK/ITE Group, a show-production company, and it carries the support of several organizations, including the Union of Russian Machine Builders
Another show, the two-decade-old biennial Metallo Obrabotka , concentrates on foreign machines and runs in the central Moscow Expocentre in late May. An organizer is Stankoinstrument. Other trade shows include Sibmetal, a metals and machinery even organized by the Siberian tradeshow authority in Novosibirsk; and a Metal-Working & Fastening exhibit in December at the Urals region city of Yekaterinburg.
Russian production and trade for this World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey is reported in U.S. dollars. Statistics come from the Moscow-based Stankoinstrument Association of Machine & Tool Manufacturers,which represents more than 200 machine-tool and instrument factories, research organizations, and design bureaus. In addition, the more generalized Union of Machine Builders in Moscow provides a broader scale of coordination for member companies. [Top of Page]
The machine-tool-building industry, centered in the Basque region of northeast Spain, consistently ranks among the world’s top ten producers and is a net exporter of equipment. The domestic market continues to grow but still shows signs of a recovering situation. Export markets are strong, both in traditional European markets (Germany, Italy, France) and in the Brazil, Russia, India, China group.
Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Máquinas-herramienta (AFM), the 80-member Spanish machine-tool builders’ association, located in San Sebastian, contributes statistical information for this Survey. Also in San Sebastian is AMT, the 60-member trade association of machine-tool accessories, component parts, and tools manufacturers. AFM and AMT completed a two-year merger in late 2011. A machine-tool-importers’ association, AIMHE, is headquartered in Bilbao.
AFM’s biennial national machine-tool show, BIEHM (Bienal Española de la Máquina-Herramienta), runs in Bilbao in late May 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. Another show, one that emphasizes imports, Maquitec, runs in Barcelona, next in 2013. [Top of Page]
The 30-member Machine and Tool Association of Sweden in Stockholm is a member of the CECIMO. Secretariat for the association is the Assn. of Swedish Engineering Industries (V.I.).
Trade shows include M·A·X, the Manufacturing & Automation Expo in October at the Stockholmsmässan Exhibition Center. [Top of Page]
On a per-capita basis, Switzerland’s consumption of $1.2-billion means that more than $160 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.
Around half of Swiss imports typically come from Germany. Germany also leads the list of Swiss export destinations, followed by the U.S. and Italy.
Output and trade is reported in Swiss francs, and in 2011 production gained 23%. Industry officials report that a surge in the value of the Swiss franc in mid-year, along with other global uncertainties, stalled the recovery somewhat.
Machine tool builders are organized into the 75-member machine-tools and manufacturing technology group within SwissMEM, the umbrella organization of mechanical and electrical-engineering industries in Zurich. It in turn is a member of the Western European consortium CECIMO.
A biennial trade show for machine tools and production technology, Prodex, runs in Basel, November in even-numbered years. [Top of Page]
Taiwan continues to have a very high per-capita rate of consumption, with more than $75 worth of new machine tools installed for each person. Its domestic machine-tool-producing industry consistently ranks in the top ten among builder nations, and several of its manufacturers have established production facilities in China.
Major trade shows include Manufacturing Taipei, the expanded successor to Taipei Automat, which is now known as MT Duo (for ‘Machine Tools’ and ‘Manufacturing Technology’); it runs in May, organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, TAITRA. Also there’s been the biennial TIMTOS, the Taipei International Machine Tool Show, which runs in odd-numbered years in March.
In 2007, the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Assn. in Taichung, was set up as an independent, not-for-profit organization. Its chartered purposes include promoting internal industrial cooperation projects and global machine tool shows. It runs TMTS, the Taiwan International Machine Tool Show in even-numbered years in November at the Greater Taichung International Expo Center.
Data for this survey continues to come from the Taipei-headquartered broad trade group, Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry, whose membership also represents builders of a wide range of machinery. It publishes the Taiwan Machine Tools Directory and promotes the TIMTOS (set for Mar. 5-10, 2013) and MT Duo trade fairs. [Top of Page]
The Turkish machinery companies' trade association MIB (Makýna Ýmalatçilari Býrlýgý, is the newest member of the CECIMO consortium, joining in 1999 as its 15th member. It provides statistics for this Survey in U.S. dollars.
Two biennial metalworking-oriented fairs run in Istanbul in alternating years: TATEF, run at the CNR Expo Center by the ITE Group in October of even-numbered years; and TIME Manufacturing Technologies Exhibition held in November of odd-numbered years. [Top of Page]
Statistics for this World Machine Tool Survey are provided in British pounds by MTA, the London-based Manufacturing Technologies Association whose members include both builders and distributors. MTA’s chief statistician, Geoff Noon, says his group expects 2012 to be broadly the same as in 2011, with the strongest growth being for imports at just +5%. Production is expected to increase minimally, driven by a small expansion of exports, giving growth of +3% for the U.K. market. The British industry has seen a build-up of order backlogs during 2011, both from general business and some special projects, most of which are expected to be delivered shortly. The major risk remains the crisis in the euro-zone, and the problem for forecasters is that there are many possible outcomes as entire national economies continue at risk. The question is: how many?
The MTA trade association, as a CECIMO member, participates in the pan-European EMO exhibition and thus is restrained from running its national trade fair in odd-number years. So the MTA’s nearly century-old machine-tool show, Mach, runs in April at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham and is part of a combined exposition that also includes drives & controls, fluid-power technology, plant management, etc. In addition, a privately sponsored, generalized manufacturing exhibition called Midlands Design& Manufacturing runs in Birmingham in May. [Top of Page]
American machine-tool factories in 2011 had a solid 25% gain in production, which increased to $4.1-billion. Consumption grew at an even faster pace, as imports also zoomed.
Data in this World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey is based on actual shipments reported by factories and at ports. Additionally, the two machine-tool-oriented trade associations survey their members for monthly orders. Those bookings have started slackening and foretell a lesser rate of expansion in the future.
The two main trade associations, AMT and AMTDA, both located outside Washington, D.C., are in the process of combining their operations. The larger, AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology, traces back to the National Machine Tool Builders’ Association founded in 1902, and it represents providers of manufacturing machinery and equipment, with emphasis on technical and economic issues. AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association, launched in 1925, has concentrated on advancing sales and marketing through various distribution channels.
The superlative trade show by far is IMTS, the International Manufacturing Technology Show that’s held in the McCormick Place complex in Chicago, Illinois, every other even-numbered year.
A different, invitation-only exhibition that’s more like a combined intimate open house, called iMX (for Interactive Manufacturing Experience) launched in Las Vegas, Nevada, in November 2011 and will run in odd-numbered years.
A professional society based in Dearborn, Michigan, SME, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, over the years has developed a stable of events including regional trade shows like Westec and Eastec plus exhibitions that target certain manufacturing technologies like NanoManufacturing or Rapid. The society’s extensive calendar of events also includes conferences and trade shows that concentrate on equipment-using industries like AeroDef and Medical Manufacturing Innovations. [Top of Page]
CECIMO is the European Committee for Co-operation of the Machine Tool Industries and is based in Brussels, Belgium. Its statistical department, headed by Marek Gerczynski, has been instrumental in coordinating survey results from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
CECIMO is the official sponsor for the pan-European world machine-tool show called EMO (originally for “Exposition Machine-Outil” but now a self-standing acronym). EMO is run in odd-numbered years by the host country, and by tradition the national machinery shows in separate member countries are held in even-numbered years. The current rotation pattern has the biennial expo run in Hanover, Germany, for two times, then moving to Milan, Italy, for the third, then back to Hanover. So Hanover hosts the next EMO in 2013. The giant pan-European EMO returns to Milan, Italy, in 2015.
In addition to coordinating statistics and fair calendars, CECIMO has launched a number of machine-security, standardization, and sustainability initiatives like the recent Blue Competence Machine Tools Initiative. [Top of Page]
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]
Although it does not provide information about the domestic machine-tool-producing industry in any given country, the International Trade Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, provides reasonably up-to-date information on imports and exports. The Centre is the technical cooperation agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization. When working with statistics from the ITC, since Production information is missing, the resulting Consumption statistic for any given country cannot be calculated in the same manner as in this survey (Consumption = Domestic Production + Imports and – Exports).
For imports and exports, go to the ITC’s International Trade Statistics page and select by Product Group 8456 through 8463 (Metalworking Machine Tools). The sum of these eight categories are necessary to give an approximation of the statistics in this World Machine Tool Output & Consumption Survey (definitions of some classes of machine tools vary—e.g., certain lasers or specialized electronics equipment—are not included in this Survey). [Top of Page]
