January Poll Indicate Economic Recovery for the Sensor Industry

At the annual press conference on 18 February 2010 in Nuremberg, the AMA Association for Sensor Technology presented its latest findings on the economic situation of the sensor industry. The AMA January poll 2010 surveyed 90 German enterprises operating in the European sensor industry, including the measuring and testing branches. They represent approximately 13,000 jobs.

Based on the results, the sensor industry suffered a continual drop in turnover amounting to 25 percent overall since the third quarter of 2008. The drop in turnover started to level off during the second quarter of 2009, and turned upwards in the third quarter. Subsequently, it rose for two quarters by five percent respectively. The results of the poll show that the sensor industry lost about 17 percent in turnover up to the end of 2009, but is counting on a five percent increase for 2010.
The export quota for 2009, interpolated for the sensor industry, was 48 percent, showing a clear increase in intra-European business by six percent.

To cope with the decreased demand due to the crisis, the sensor industry reduced its jobs in 2009 by three percent. For the 2010 it is planning to reduce its personnel by a further one percent.
The investment readiness also suffered because of the reduced turnover and uncertain perspective. Thus, in 2009 the industry invested 14 percent less than in the previous year. For 2010 however, it is planning an increase of approximately four percent.

"As the first signs of a possible stabilization appeared, many suspected that this could be due merely to a temporary replenishment of emptied inventory. But now, after two successive quarters with growth, we can assume that the economy is slowly recuperating," says Wolfgang Wiedemann, Chairman of the Board of the AMA Association.

Johannes Steinebach, Treasurer of the AMA Association, notes: "Our industry is presently in the dilemma that today it has a personnel level comparable to that of the beginning of 2007, but with the considerably lower turnover of 2005. Therefore, we need to continue to economize and in some cases hard decisions will have to be made. Nevertheless, the crisis also offers our industry a good opportunity, as the increased competition among our customers should accelerate the trend towards more sensor technology in their future products."

Sensor technology is indeed a key technology for all sectors of industry, for production functionality, for research and development, as well as for production itself and quality assurance. It is a central component of the majority of technical products in all areas of application from household appliances to consumer products, from vehicles and industrial products to environmental protection and the life sciences. That is why the economic situation of the sensor industry is a good barometer for the overall economy to which it can be applied with only minor qualification.