A dedicated European Advanced Manufacturing Strategy would strengthen industrial competitiveness

Thursday 22 October: CECIMO and Orgalim are calling on the European Parliament to launch a dedicated own-initiative report on Advanced Manufacturing, ultimately calling for a comprehensive European Advanced Manufacturing Strategy (EAMS).

Despite its strong industrial heritage and technological expertise, Europe today is losing ground to global competitors that are investing heavily in advanced production capabilities. Currently, one in five EU advanced manufacturing firms is foreign-controlled, and the EU accounts for around 10% of global Advanced Manufacturing compared with China’s 45%.

Two leading trade associations for the manufacturing sector, CECIMO and Orgalim, argue that the EU’s fragmented, sector-specific approach to industrial policy is creating structural barriers to innovation and scale-up.

Initiatives such as the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Automotive Action Plan address important industrial priorities, but Europe still lacks a coherent, horizontal strategy for the manufacturing technologies that enable progress across all industrial sectors.

Advanced Manufacturing is the technological backbone of Europe’s industrial base. It encompasses enabling technologies such as machine tools, robotics, automation and industrial artificial intelligence, helping companies improve productivity, flexibility, quality and resource efficiency. These capabilities are essential to strategic value chains spanning aerospace and defence, clean and nuclear energy, semiconductors, medical technologies and critical infrastructure.

Europe has significant strengths to build on. The number of European companies active in Advanced Manufacturing has more than doubled since 2009, reaching over 4,500, while the sector generated approximately 18,000 patent applications over the same period. However, its global position is under increasing pressure. 

Meanwhile, competitors are pursuing coordinated industrial strategies backed by substantial investment, targeted incentives and measures to strengthen domestic production. China has established a strong position in areas such as robotics and mobility manufacturing, while the United States treats Advanced Manufacturing as a strategic and national security priority. Europe risks losing industrial capacity, ownership and the ability to scale critical technologies if it does not respond with a similarly coherent approach.

Recent market developments underline the urgency. European machine-tool production fell by 8.6% in 2024, with a further contraction of 6.6% estimated for 2025. Industrial robot installations are also slowing in key manufacturing sectors. In 2024, EU automotive manufacturers installed 30,650 industrial robots, a 5% decrease compared with the previous year.

To address these challenges, CECIMO and Orgalim propose a four-point plan for a future European Advanced Manufacturing Strategy.

First, Advanced Manufacturing should be explicitly recognised as a strategic horizontal priority for EU industrial policy, reflecting its role as an enabler across all industrial ecosystems.

Second, the European Commission should develop a comprehensive strategy integrating industrial policy, research and innovation, investment, skills and trade, while safeguarding the Single Market, maintaining technology neutrality and avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens.

Third, Advanced Manufacturing should become a research and investment priority under the next Multiannual Financial Framework and the EU’s research and innovation framework. This should include targeted public and private investment, improved access to scale-up finance and a dedicated public-private partnership under Horizon Europe to accelerate industrial deployment.

Fourth, Europe must ensure fair global competition through effective trade defence, stronger market surveillance and consistent enforcement of EU rules, without imposing additional burdens on companies that already comply.

The strategy must also reflect the reality of Europe’s integrated industrial value chains, including specialised manufacturing technology suppliers in Switzerland, other EFTA partner countries and the United Kingdom. Secure access to essential upstream technologies and inputs, including electronics, semiconductors, critical raw materials and AI, will be equally important.

CECIMO and Orgalim stand ready to support Members of the European Parliament with technical expertise and industry input, and believe a dedicated parliamentary own-initiative report would provide the political impetus needed to develop a European Advanced Manufacturing Strategy, helping translate Europe’s technological strengths into competitive production capacity, high-quality jobs and sustainable industrial growth.
 
Read the joint statement in full here.
 
Explore Orgalim's ongoing i.AM campaign, calling for the integration of Advanced Manufacturing here.
 
See Orgalim's specific recommendations for Advanced Manufacturing in our i.AM Manifesto, available here.