VDW - German Machine Tool Builders Association
We support our members in all relevant areas from knowledge transfer to organising international trade fairs or representing their interests to politicians and the public. As the leading industrial association in the metalworking sector, we offer our around 120 member companies a comprehensive service package. We are at their side with advice and action and give them an audible voice. Together with the Sector Association Machine Tools and Manufacturing Systems within the VDMA (German Engineering Federation), we represent our industry’s interests to legislators, authorities, client industries and the public. German machine tools are in demand the whole world over.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Event organizer
- Industry Type:
- Publishing / Media / Marketing
- Market Focus:
- Globally (various continents)
About us
In addition, we facilitate long indispensable knowledge transfer. Permanent committees and working groups ensure the exchange of industry-specific opinions and experiences. We regularly inform our members about current technological, economic and legal matters.
Last but not least, we strongly support joint research. In close cooperation with the institutes of the WGP (Scientific Society for Production Engineering) we initiate practice-based projects from which our members and the whole industry benefit.
History
The past 120 years have continuously brought the VDW and its members new tasks. Together we take on the challenges of the time. From the founding in the year 1891 until today the VDW has been the public voice of its members, representing their interests.
On 7 December 1891, at the invitation of Ernst Schiess, a machine toolmaker from Düsseldorf, 11 industrialists met in Hanover. They sought an organisation that went far further than the hitherto occasional collegial gatherings. They wanted an association that should be useful to its members, combining joint interests and their representation to the authorities and politicians. The German Machine Tool Manufacturers Union (Vereinigung Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinen-Fabrikanten) was born.
On 28 March 1898, the organisation, which had some 30 members, was renamed the Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken (VDW).
During World War I, the VDW grew rapidly. By spring 1917, it already had 245 members and increasingly gained prominence as an important representative of the industry. In 1920, the VDW began its involvement in exhibitions with the Technical Fair in Leipzig. Its close ties with universities and colleges of technology also dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.
Following the crisis years of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, German reconstruction after 1945 once again brought an expansion of VDW’s range of activities. As a founder member of the European Committee for the Cooperation of the Machine Tool Industries (CECIMO) we mounted trade fairs and exhibitions, successfully advocated opening them to international participation, established ties with foreign markets and secured a global presence for the German machine tool industry. Since 1977, we have been commissioned by CECIMO to put on the EMO Hannover, the international lead fair for the industry, and have ourselves been organizing the international trade fair METAV in Düsseldorf since 1980. Further, the AMB in Stuttgart is supported by us since 2008 and the Blechexpo since 2011. Both events take place in Stuttgart.
Compared to our founding year 1891, when delivery conditions and protective tariffs were the dominant themes, we today live in a world of rapid change, global markets, networking and digital communications. With a distinct sense for future developments, the VDW will continue to be an indispensable service provider for its members and its partners in the economy.