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German sensor and measurement sector optimistic for 2017

24th March 2017

AMA Association for Sensors and Measurement

Mick Elliott

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Members of the AMA Association for Sensors and Measurement (AMA) anticipate a further market growth in revenue of five per cent and plan to invest another five per cent, compared to 2016. Last year, the sensor and measurement industry generated a cumulated growth in turnover of four percent standing out from other sectors of manufacturing industry which stagnated.

This development is also confirmed by the willingness of the sensor industry to invest.

In fact, the AMA members invested two percent more last year than in the previous year. The representatives of the sensor and measurement industry propose to further increase their investment by an additional five percent. At the same time, they also plan to expand their workforce by a further three percent.

The success of the sensor industry overall is reflected by a significant rise in the export quota by seven percentage points to 58 percent. It is thus clearly higher than the result of the previous year.

Conspicuous is that the export quota to non-European countries has remained largely unchanged, while the exports within Europe soared by seven percentage points to 36 percent.

The AMA Association also polled its members this year on the risks and opportunities of digitising and networking industrial production. A total of 88 percent of the AMA members consider the development towards Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things as a good opportunity for more growth in sensor and measuring technology, while only 10 percent of the AMA members remained undecided.

“The sensor and measurement industry is in the fast lane compared to the overall German industry,” concluded Thomas Simmons, general manager of the AMA Association for Sensors and Measurement, in regard to the poll results. “If we take a look at society’s future projects, we find topics like CO2-neutral, energy-efficient, climate-adapted cities, intelligent conversion of the power supply, sustainable mobility, Internet-based services for the economy, Industry 4.0, and secure identities. These projects already show us today the challenges of tomorrow. The good news for our sensor and measuring industry is that the approaches to their solution are based on data that only sensor and measuring technology can provide and evaluate. Thus, the future has many new opportunities for our members to mold these coming changes.”