Mechanical Engineering Industry Association


The Mechanical Engineering Industry Association has its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and represents around 3,200 members, making it the largest industry association in Europe. The Association represents the interests of the predominantly medium-sized companies in the mechanical engineering industry towards policymakers and society, as well as towards business, the scientific community, public authorities and the media.
With more than 1.3 million employees and a turnover of around EUR 228,7 billion mechanical and plant engineering is Germany's largest employer in the industrial sector. German machinery production is valued at EUR 224 billion and Germany's mechanical and plant engineering sector is extremely export-oriented.
In addition, VDMA sees itself as a platform that provides its member companies with various networks where they can discuss technological challenges, interdisciplinary issues and many other topics.
The association was founded in 1892.

Core topics

VDMA concentrates its efforts on eight key topics:
Markets and economy – VDMA provides its members with country-specific and economic data, which they can then use as a planning basis for their business decisions.
Research and production – VDMA provides its member companies with a network, where new trends and technologies in production can be discussed so that they can forge new paths as part of Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung. One of many examples here is Industrie 4.0.
Energy and environment – VDMA essentially supports the German federal government's energy and climate protection goals and promotes an ambitious implementation of the European Union's Energy Efficiency Directive. German mechanical and plant engineering makes an important contribution to this by providing and using energy efficient technologies. VDMA combines the topic areas of technology, research and energy policy in various formats such as the VDMA Forum Energy, where VDMA pools the energy policy-related activities of the associations and the sector's expertise on energy. The Forum Energy also acts as a voice for the investment goods industry and represents the interests of mechanical and plant engineering towards policymakers and the public.
Social and economic policy – Mechanical and plant engineering is the largest industrial employer in Germany, with more than one million employees. VDMA's core activities therefore include analysis, commenting and discussion of social and economic policy issues. The Association publishes its joint positions on economic policies regarding the following topics on an annual basis: labor market and wage policy, foreign trade policy, education policy, securing a skilled workforce, energy policy, Europe policy, research policy, social security, tax policy, technology policy, environmental policy and a sustainable state.
Profession and training – VDMA is involved in activities relating to apprenticeships, degree programs and professional qualifications. VDMA's Education department is the main contact in this field.
Companies and management – strategic positioning, operative management, human resource development, corporate social responsibility and many others. Against this backdrop, the Management Services department at VDMA is the first point of contact regarding management issues; its consultants are available to all member companies and obliged to maintain confidentiality.
Law and taxes - VDMA's team of economic lawyers specialized in the investment goods industry work on the topics of law and taxes.
Standardization and technology policy
Standardization and technology policy facilitate technological and economical collaboration on a national, European and international level. VDMA supports the competitiveness of mechanical engineering via the DIN Standards Committee Mechanical Engineering. Furthermore, the Standardization department coordinates activities regarding the creation of VDMA Specifications – the standardization process for mechanical engineering.

Campaigns

Campaigns highlight VDMA's activities and focus on topics that are particularly important from VDMA's point of view.
"Arbeit 4.0" – Everything remains different
Industrie 4.0 will not only make economic processes and production process more efficient, but also help to change the world of work. Mechanical and plant engineering plays an important role here as both a provider and a user of Industrie 4.0 technologies.
www.allesbleibt-anders.net
Blue Competence – The sustainability platform
The mechanical and plant engineering industry shows that sustainability increases profitability. This realization also holds true for other sectors and other parts of the world. The idea behind Blue Competence is to show that sustainable business can be a great help to both customers and producers in mechanical engineering.
"Talentmaschine" – The mechanical engineering portal for the next generation
VDMA uses the online portal Talentmaschine.de to reach out to school and university students who are interested in technology and looking for an apprenticeship, internship or traineeship. The portal offers a nationwide overview of job listings in mechanical engineering, and gives the around 3,200 VDMA members a handy tool that helps them find new talent.
"Maschinenhaus" – The VDMA initiative for student success
Increasing student success in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering at all German universities is an important objective for VDMA. The aim is to lower high drop-out rates and help make more engineers available on the labor market.
"Wir unternehmen was" – CSR is an important topic in mechanical engineering
Many mechanical engineering companies in Germany not only develop sustainable products and processes, but also make a contribution to society with great commitment and responsibility. This commitment is as varied as the companies themselves.

Organization

VDMA is a registered association based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and comprises six regional subsidiaries, seven representative offices in foreign countries and 37 trade associations. VDMA was founded in 1892 and celebrated its 125-year anniversary in 2017.
The strategic positioning and operative leadership of VDMA are the responsibility of the Executive Directorate. The Association is headed by a Board of Chairmen comprising three elected company representatives. The President is elected every three years and cannot be re-elected. A Restricted Board and a Main Board with company representatives from mechanical and plant engineering act as advisory committees for the Board of Chairmen.
VDMA Board of Chairmen:
VDMA Executive Directorate
The Verein deutscher Maschinenbau-Anstalten was founded in Cologne in 1892 with the objective of protecting the economic interests of all German mechanical engineering companies. It has its origin in the Verein Rheinisch-Westfälischer Maschinenbauanstalten, which was founded two years earlier and aimed to improve delivery and price conditions for mining and plant machinery in particular. Its first office was in Düsseldorf. Several trade associations joined VDMA over the years that followed, one of them being the Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken, which joined in 1916. In 1918, VDMA moved from Düsseldorf to Berlin.
In 1934, a year after the Nazis seized power, the new government adopted the “Gesetz zur Vorbereitung des organischen Aufbaus der deutschen Wirtschaft”. As part of this process, all business associations were united under one central management system and answerable to the Reich's Minister of Economic Affairs. VDMA became part of the newly founded the Wirtschaftsgruppe Maschinenbau, membership of which was also compulsory for all companies that had not previously been part of an association. This group was led by Karl Lange, the Executive Director of VDMA.
At the end of the war, the Wirtschaftsvereinigung Maschinenbau was founded. A year later, the Verein Bayerischer Maschinenbau-Anstalten, the Wirtschaftsvereinigung der Maschinenbau-Anstalten in Groß-Hessen and the Wirtschaftsverband Maschinenbau in Berlin were founded. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verbände der Deutscher Maschinenbau-Anstalten was the first supra-regional association to be founded, in 1947. In 1949, the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association was re-established in Königstein im Taunus.
Shortly after that – in 1950 – VDMA established a liaison office in the German capital, Bonn. A year later, the Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Maschinen- und Anlagenbaus mbH and the Maschinenbau Verlag GmbH were founded. In 1954, VDMA took part in founding the Europe Liaison Group of the European Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic and Metalworking Industries in Brussels, Belgium.
In 1966, VDMA's headquarters moved to Niederrad, a district of Frankfurt. A number of sub-organizations were founded over the following years: Forschungskuratorium Maschinenbau e.V. in 1968, Dokumentation Maschinenbau e.V. and the Deutsche Maschinenbau-Institut now Maschinenbau-Institut GmbH in 1972, the Fachinformationszentrum Technik in 1979.
During the next few years, political contacts were established and intensified on a national and international scale. VDMA established a liaison office in Brussels in 1972; another followed in Tokyo in 1984. In 1980, the Association changed its German name from Verein Deutscher Maschinenbau-Anstalten to Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau. The abbreviation, VDMA, remained the same. VDMA's Impuls Foundation was founded in 1992, followed by VDMA Gesellschaft für Forschung und Innovation mbH in 1998. That same year, VDMA's Berlin office was inaugurated.

Presidents

Verein Deutscher Maschinenbau-Anstalten
Wirtschaftsgruppe Maschinenbau
Wirtschaftsverband Maschinenbau Düsseldorf
Wirtschaftsvereinigung Maschinenbau in Hessen
Vereinigung der Maschinenbau-Anstalten von Württemberg-Baden
Verein Bayerischer Maschinenbau-Anstalten e.V.
Verein Deutscher Maschinenbau-Anstalten e.V.
Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V.