Munich (dpa / lby) - The Bavarian machine and plant manufacturers are worried about the future. "Corona is far from over. In addition, disrupted supply chains and the Ukraine war make life difficult for our industry," said Bertram Kawlath, chairman of the industry association VDMA Bavaria, on Wednesday. "This is a highly complex mixture of well-known and completely new challenges."
According to a survey among association members, the most important obstacle to growth is supply bottlenecks. They were mentioned by 82 percent of the companies. This is followed by geopolitical crises at 61 percent and the shortage of skilled workers at 54 percent. "87 percent of companies are currently unable to fill all vacancies," said Kawlath. Above all, technicians, mechatronics engineers, mechanics and software experts are missing and there is hardly any improvement in sight, since 43 percent of the technical training positions cannot be filled. In addition, companies are also affected by rising energy prices. Twenty-five percent reported very strong or severe effects, and another 60 percent felt them.
Last year, the Bavarian mechanical and plant engineering industry was able to increase its sales by 5.9 percent to 52.7 billion euros, as reported by the VDMA. However, that is still 1.7 billion euros less than the value of the pre-Corona year 2019. And even then the turnover was disappointing, according to the association.
The development was also noticeable in employment. It fell by 1.8 percent to almost 223,700 people. It was the second significant decline in a row. In 2019 the value was 236,900.
