Top Ten Mechanical Engineering: Largest German mechanical engineering companies and plant engineering companies

Published on: June 28, 2021 / update from: October 26, 2022 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

Mechanical and plant engineering in Germany

On the international market, Germany is one of the most important mechanical engineering countries. Only China and the USA recently generated higher sales in the industry. After a decline during the financial crisis of 2008/2009, sales in German mechanical engineering have steadily increased again - most recently around 229 billion euros were generated.

Within mechanical engineering, the machine tools, drive technology and conveyor sectors are the most important in terms of annual sales.

With regard to developments in international trade, the mechanical engineering industry is strongly export-oriented. The export quota in Germany has ranged between 74 and 80 percent in recent years. The most important countries for German machine exports include the USA, China and France.

 
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Mechanical and plant engineering in Germany is one of the highest-turnover and most innovative sectors. The industry's sales have consistently exceeded 200 billion euros since 2011. Over a million people are employed in German mechanical engineering. The export value of German mechanical engineering products is far higher than the import value. Germany's most important export countries include the USA, China, France and Italy.

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The worldwide market

Global sales in mechanical engineering are trending upward. China is the region with the highest share of global mechanical engineering sales, followed by Europe and Asia (excluding China). For Germany, China is not only one of the most important countries for machinery exports, but China is also one of the most important countries when it comes to the import of mechanical engineering products to Germany.

Largest German mechanical and plant engineering companies by sales

In 2019, Siemens was the largest German mechanical and plant engineering company with sales of 49.5 billion euros. In the same year, the listed Siemens AG employed over 385,000 people worldwide in a total of eight of its business areas and was also the market leader in global automation technology .

Mechanical engineering/plant engineering – most important companies in Germany

• Siemens – 49.50 billion euros
• KION – 8.81 billion euros
• Bosch – 7.49 billion euros
• ThyssenKrupp – 6.52 billion euros
• GEA – 4.88 billion euros
• Enercon – 4.51 billion euros
• Voith – 4.28 billion euros
• Jungheinrich – 4.07 billion euros
• MAN Power Engineering – 4 billion euros
• Krones – 3.96 billion euros
• Dürr – 3.92 billion euros
• CLAAS – 3.90 billion euros
• Exyte (formerly M+W) – 3.89 billion euros
• Trump – 3.78 billion euros
• Zeiss – 3.38 billion euros
• Sew-Eurodrive – 3.30 billion euros
• Nordex – 3.28 billion euros
• KUKA – 3.19 billion euros
• Festo – 3.07 billion euros
• ZF Friedrichtshafen – 2.99 billion euros

Mechanical engineering & plant engineering: worldwide machine sales

Global machine sales in the area of ​​mechanical and plant engineering

• 2006: 1,425 billion euros
• 2007: 1,550 billion euros
• 2008: 1,680 billion euros
• 2009: 1,480 billion euros
• 2010: 1,815 billion euros
• 2011: 2,060 billion euros
• 2012: 2,140 billion euros
• 2013: 2,100 billion euros
• 2014: 2,180 billion euros
• 2015: 2,380 billion euros
• 2016: 2,365 billion euros
• 2017: 2,500 billion euros
• 2018: 2,600 billion euros
• 2019: 2,665 billion euros

Most important countries worldwide for German machine exports by export value

The statistics show the most important countries worldwide for German machinery exports by export value in the years 2017 to 2019. In 2019, Germany exported mechanical engineering products worth around 8.2 billion euros to Italy. The values ​​for 2017 and 2018 come from previous year's publications.

German mechanical engineering – most important export countries worldwide in 2019

• USA – 20.10 billion euros
• China – 18.80 billion euros
• France – 12.40 billion euros
• Italy – 8.20 billion euros
• Netherlands – 7.50 billion euros
• United Kingdom – 7.40 billion euros
• Poland – 7.30 billion euros
• Austria – 7.10 billion euros
• Czech Republic – 5.60 billion euros
• Switzerland – 5.50 billion euros

Most important export countries for German mechanical engineering worldwide in 2018

• USA – 19.20 billion euros
• China – 19.10 billion euros
• France – 11.60 billion euros
• Italy – 8.30 billion euros
• Netherlands – 7.40 billion euros
• United Kingdom – 7.70 billion euros
• Poland – 7.20 billion euros
• Austria – 7 billion euros
• Czech Republic – 5.50 billion euros

Mechanical engineering – share of global sales by region

The statistics show the share of global mechanical engineering sales by region in 2019. According to estimates, world mechanical engineering sales in 2019 amounted to around 2,700 billion euros, 33 percent of which were generated in China. The total turnover of the global mechanical engineering industry is estimated at 2,700 billion euros in 2019. Percentage points exceeding 100 percent are due to rounding.

Global mechanical engineering sales by region in 2019

• China – 33%
• Europe – 32%
• Asia (excluding China) – 18%
• North America – 14%
• Other – 3%

Companies and investments in the sector

German mechanical engineering has almost 6,700 companies. In total, over a million people work in German mechanical engineering. Most of them worked in the areas of machine tools, drive technology and conveyors.

Investments in mechanical engineering in Germany have increased significantly in recent years. Around 8.3 billion euros were invested in the industry in 2019. A large part of the investments goes into research and development every year, including for the further development of innovative mechanical engineering solutions.

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Mechanical engineering in Germany

Mechanical engineering is changing. Digital transformation, IoT, Industry 4.0 and AI towards smart factories are changing our image of gear-driven and oil-smeared mechanical engineering.

More about it here:

• Mechanical engineering in Germany – statistics and facts

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