ARC Rapport
33 / 106
AMNYTT #1
DECEMBER 6, 2012
2012 SPS/IPC/Drives Fair Highlights
Hardware and Intelligent Devices
By David Humphrey and Florian Güldner
Keywords
SPS/IPC/Drives, Factory Automation, Germany, Industry 4.0
Overview
The SPS/IPC/Drives fair continues its status as THE industry event for the
automation industry in Germany. This year’s fair once again attracted more
attendees than ever before, but the show has
This year’s SPS/IPC/Drives stayed true
to its scope of presenting new, smarter
hardware solutions for industrial
automation. With economic indicators
still in the green, show attendance
continued the growth trend of this
remarkable show.
become mature and isn’t growing as fast as in the
past. While the merging of physical with virtual
worlds in manufacturing was discussed in the
eleven exhibition halls, most visitors kept both feet
planted firmly on the ground and used the threeday show to learn about tangible trends in
industrial automation.
VDMA Sees Most Growth from Exports
An important tradition at SPS/IPC/Drives is the annual report by the
German Engineering Federation (VDMA), a consortium of German
machine builders, of market numbers for the German machine-building
industry, a bellwether for automation suppliers. According to VDMA, 2012
will end with a positive development of around 4 percent. This contrasts
with flat GDP growth of probably less than 1 percent; and 4 and 3 percent
growth, respectively, in 2010 and 2011. The machinery industry is typically
sensitive to changes in the economic environment and falling GDP growth
rates, so a negative or slightly positive forecast would have been acceptable.
But the machinery sector is bucking the trend and growing exports will
continue to drive overall growth. An interesting development is that a 24
percent growth in foreign (non-German) orders more than made up for a 14
percent drop in domestic order growth.
VISION, EXPERIENCE, ANSWERS FOR INDUSTRY
2013