FRANKFURT, Feb. 24, 2026 — The robotics and automation industry in Germany continues to face challenging conditions. For 2026, the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association expects revenues to decline by 5% to 14.1 billion euros. The main reasons are weak demand from key customer industries, geopolitical disruptions and persistently unfavorable economic conditions.
The year 2025 was already marked by significant strain: industry revenues fell by 7%. This renewed decline underscores a continuing trend that exposes structural weaknesses and heightens pressure on companies and policymakers to act.
“The situation remains challenging. Our industry is simultaneously struggling with weak demand, geopolitical uncertainty and burdensome location factors,” said Dr. Olaf Munkelt, chairman of VDMA Robotics + Automation. “This makes it all the more important that we decisively strengthen our competitiveness — our levers here are customer centricity, innovation and courage. At the same time, we must pick up speed and become faster in implementation. The task of policymakers is to significantly improve the framework conditions for entrepreneurial action now.”
Competitiveness as a strategic priority
The association emphasizes that the current weakness is structural in nature and goes beyond cyclical effects. International competitors – particularly from Asia — continue to expand their position and gain market share.
“The long-term growth drivers — digitalization, AI, smart production and automation — remain intact,” Munkelt stresses. “We now need to create the conditions for German and European robotics and automation to return clearly to a leading position. We need rapid reduction of bureaucracy and competitive cost structures in order to return to a growth trajectory.”
About the VDMA
The VDMA represents 3500 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies. The industry stands for innovation, export orientation and SMEs. The companies employ around 3 million people in the EU-27, more than 1.2 million of them in Germany alone. This makes mechanical and plant engineering the largest employer among the capital goods industries, both in the EU-27 and in Germany. In the European Union, it represents a turnover volume of an estimated 870 billion euros. Around 80% of the machinery sold in the EU comes from a manufacturing plant in the domestic market.
The VDMA Robotics + Automation Association (VDMA R+A) is a trade association within the umbrella of the VDMA with more than 400 member companies: Suppliers of components and systems from the fields of robotics, automated solutions and machine vision. The aim of this industry-driven platform is to support robotics and automation through a wide range of activities and services. Key activities include statistical analysis and market surveys, marketing activities, standards development, public relations, research, trend studies, trade fair policy as well as networking events and conferences.