The report has been prepared following the CECIMO Spring Meetings 2016 (Fuschl-am-See, Austria, 18-21 June), where the CECIMO delegation looked for answers to the following questions: i) what does digitisation entail for the European machine tool industry? ii) how can machine tool builders tap into new business opportunities? and iii) what are the policy needs underpinning the competitiveness of the European machine tool sector? 

The European machine tool industry has concluded that our companies should continue to advance their digital strategy. The European machine tool sector is very heterogeneous, so each business will need to think about their individual plan based on their own strengths. What is clear is that acting alone in the digital era yields no results. To generate the products and services that customers are ready to pay for, machine tool builders need to team-up with key suppliers, and get closer than ever to end-users. They should bear in mind that digitisation is not a revolutionary event but an evolutionary process. European machine tool builders, therefore, should thoroughly investigate new avenues of growth and gradually invest in innovative business models. They should also invest in new skills and technical capabilities as ICTs are often beyond the expertise of machine tool builders. This implies that our businesses need to take the steps to transform human resources in line with the digital needs. Policy-wise, the industry should closely follow and get involved in the key debates. On their side, policy-makers should refrain from intervening too early, as premature regulations put severe barriers to Europe’s advanced manufacturing’s growth, where innovation cycles are getting shorter as an answer to changing customer demands.  

We believe it will be useful for our stakeholders to learn more about digital transformation from the perspective of the European machine tool industry.  

Discover the full report here.

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