VDMA

Increasing geopolitical pressure, particularly Chinese sanctions on key raw materials, is highlighting Europe’s vulnerability when it comes to security of supply. Delays and even jeopardising production in industrial value chains are the result. “The VDMA is therefore calling for a consistent European raw materials strategy. Further raw materials partnerships must be concluded at EU level. In addition, we must utilise the existing technological capabilities in Europe to advance raw material extraction, processing and recycling in the sense of a circular economy,” demands VDMA Managing Director Thilo Brodtmann (Figure 1). He points to the technical expertise of the mechanical and plant engineering sector: Mining and recycling technology from European production makes a decisive contribution to broadening Europe’s raw material base and keeping valuable minerals in the production cycle.

“Access to raw materials is crucial to Europe’s competitiveness as a business location,” emphasises Marcus Wirtz, Chairman of the Executive Board of the VDMA Mining & Minerals Association. “Our companies provide the technology to sustainably develop domestic and European deposits – and at the same time industrially establish and expand the circular economy so that it can be used economically and efficiently.”

With machines and systems for the extraction, processing and recovery of mineral raw materials, the industry makes a decisive contribution to security of supply. The VDMA Mining Association accompanies delegations to countries rich in raw materials, including in Europe, such as last November to Serbia, where talks with various departments of Rio Tinto and a tour of the world’s largest known lithium deposit in the Jadar Valley were on the programme. At the same time, the member companies are working on solutions to efficiently recover secondary raw materials and return them to the material cycle.

“Keeping raw materials in the cycle is not only ecologically sensible – it is becoming an industrial policy necessity,” emphasises Christoph Danner, Deputy Managing Director of VDMA Mining & Minerals. Sarah Brückner, Managing Director of VDMA Waste and Recycling Technology, adds: “With the technology of our member companies, we are creating the conditions for resource-saving processes along the entire life cycle.” (VDMA/Si.)

Experience the Best of German Engineering

This symposium will unite Canadian and German industry experts to share and discuss the latest knowledge and trends in the mining and energy sectors.

Join us for this exceptional event to explore innovations and best practices from Germany and Canada in the fields of mining and energy.

The conference will feature panel discussions and keynote speeches from leading experts.
Download the preliminary agenda here.

We also invite you to participate in our networking reception after the conference, where you can meet the speakers and fellow attendees.

Links to further information and registration

The mining and processing technology sector is well positioned within the mechanical and plant engineering industry in Germany as a production location, not least due to its low dependence on the German economy and high export ratio. The issue of securing raw materials has been recognised by politicians, and the continuing demand for metallic raw materials due to the energy transition is keeping raw material prices high and with them the demand for mining and processing technology. Nevertheless, the industry is sceptical about the coming six months. According to an internal VDMA survey, 40 % of the member companies surveyed expect the situation to deteriorate. Trade barriers are expected from the USA, the most important market for mechanical and plant engineering.

In 2023, manufacturers of technology for the extraction of raw materials achieved a total turnover of 3.08 bn € in Germany as a production location. From January to July 2024, turnover fell by 11.7 % compared to the same period in the previous year. In the first three quarters of 2024, incoming orders also declined by 6 % compared to January to September 2023. VDMA Mining & Minerals, Frankfurt/M./Germany, estimates that the industry will end the current year with 2.72 bn € in turnover from German production.

According to feedback from the membership, poor location conditions are causing medium-sized and larger companies in particular to fulfil certain orders at foreign locations.

“We can only keep urging politicians to improve the location conditions in Germany,” emphasised Marcus Wirtz, the newly elected Chairman of the Executive Board of the trade association (Figure 1), at the VDMA Mining & Minerals industry get-together in Essen/Germany on 21st November 2024. “We are a highly innovative industry with attractive jobs and prospects that we want to preserve and not lose!”

In view of the energy transition, the demand for lithium is growing steadily. The VDMA is therefore establishing contacts with important raw material suppliers, e. g. in Chile or Argentina, with delegation and business initiation trips and is promoting the technology from Germany with presentations at renowned specialist conferences. On 25th November 2024, a 20-strong delegation from the trade association travelled to Serbia for three days, where talks with various departments of Rio Tinto and a tour of the world’s largest known lithium deposit in the Jadar Valley were on the agenda. (VDMA/Si.)

The processing of mineral raw materials is becoming increasingly important. The Mining Association within the VDMA e.V., Frankfurt M./Germany, has therefore been renamed Mining & Minerals.This change of name, decided by the Board of Directors, reflects the increasing importance of the processing of mineral raw materials. The focus is not only on extraction, but also on sustainable processing.

The potential is enormous. More efficient separation of rocks and minerals contributes to environmental protection and decarbonisation. Raw materials such as copper, gold, silver, lithium, rare earths, cobalt, tungsten and iron ore are processed worldwide using the processing technology of VDMA members. Processing technology also plays a key role in the circular economy by recovering valuable materials from discarded products and returning them to the industrial value chain.

Michael Schulte Strathaus (Figure 1), Chairman of the Association, points out: “The rebranding to “Mining & Minerals” underlines our vision of sustainable raw material extraction and processing. We are committed to innovative technologies that promote both economic efficiency and environmental protection.” (VDMA/Si.)

On the occasion of bauma 2025, the leading associations of the German construction and construction equipment industry will present the bauma Innovation Award for the fourteenth time together with Messe München.

Innovations that have been presented to the public since 2022 or have not yet been published are eligible. The deadline for entries starts on 2 May 2024 and ends on 23 August 2024. Participation is only possible online. All necessary information on the conditions of participation and the entry form are available on the website www.bauma-innovationspreis.de.

Entries can submit their innovations in five categories:

• Category 1 Climate protection
• Category 2 Digitalisation
• Category 3 Mechanical engineering
• Category 4 Construction
• Category 5 Research

VDMA Construction Equipment and VDMA Mining, together with Messe München and the partner associations HDB, ZDB and bbs, are carrying out the multi-stage application process and will host the award ceremony on 6 April at the ICM in Munich. Martina Scherbel, Project Manager of the bauma Innovation Award, will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the application process.

Further information:
www.vdma.org/bauma
www.vdma.org/baumaschinen-baustoffanlagen
www.bauma.de

From the number of visitors from Germany and abroad to the weather, bauma 2022 was a complete success. With this result, the industry is setting an example against the general negative economic trend. This is not to hide existing difficulties such as supply chain problems, skills shortages, rising prices and inflation, but solutions are available. Many manufacturers used the show to present their innovations for digitalization and automation for construction sites and mining. This is a development that can no longer be stopped.

The trade show concept was also adapted accordingly. For the first time, 50 start-ups were represented in the LAB0 innovation hall. Together with MiC 4.0, the Science Hub, a VR area and the bauma Forum, a wide range of new projects and research work could be seen here over five days. Together with the THINK BIG! student program at the ICM, everything revolved around the topic of the future.

“We are already in the middle of a profound phase of transformation,” said Joachim Schmid, Managing Director of VDMA Construction Machinery and Building Material Plants, “the successful course of the trade fair confirms to us that this realization has arrived in the construction industry and is being accepted by customers. Only smaller, regionally operating companies are not quite so optimistic about the situation. For them, the downturn in residential construction poses major challenges.”

With around 3,200 exhibitors from 60 countries and more than 495,000 trade show visitors from over 200 countries, the industry’s expectations were far exceeded. The share of international exhibitors was just under 65 %.

The award ceremony for the bauma Innovation Award 2022 was also eagerly awaited. For the thirteenth time, numerous companies and institutes from Germany and abroad had applied for the award in five categories during the world’s leading trade fair bauma. After a multi-stage selection process, five lucky winners were able to receive their prizes on Sunday before the start of the trade fair in the Max-Joseph-Saal of the Munich Residenz (Figure 1).

They are in the categories:

• Climate protection: Liebherr France SAS with its crawler excavator with hydrogen engine.
• Digitalization: MiC 4.0 Machines in Construction with a standardized digital language for construction sites.
• Mechanical engineering: Herrenknecht AG with its continuous tunneling.
• Construction: Holcim (Germany) GmbH with prestressed CPC concrete elements.
• Research: TU Freiberg Institute of Mechanical Engineering with Deep Sea Sampling.

A total of 133 applications were received, of which 41 finalists made it through to the next round. In two rounds of voting, the expert jury and task force chose their favorites. The trade journalists attending the bauma Media Dialog in Munich also had the opportunity to cast their vote in the final round.

The competition is a joint project under the auspices of the VDMA Construction Machinery and Building Material Plants, Messe München, the Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie e. V. (HDB), the Zentralverband des deutschen Bauge-werbes e. V. (ZDB) and the Bundesverband Baustoffe – Steine und Erden e. V. (bbs). (VDMA/Si.)

After seven days of successful trade fair, manufacturers look to the future with great confidence.

Munich, 30 October 2022 – Everything was perfect. From the number of visitors from Germany and abroad to the weather, bauma 2022 was a complete success. With this result, the industry set a sign against the general negative economic trend. This is not to hide existing difficulties such as supply chain problems, skills shortages, inflation and inflation, but solutions are available. Many manufacturers used the fair to present their innovations for digitalisation and automation for construction sites and mining. This is a development that can no longer be stopped.

The trade fair concept was also adapted accordingly. For the first time, 50 start-ups were represented in the innovation hall LAB0. Together with MiC 4.0, the Science Hub, a VR area and the bauma Forum, a broad spectrum of new projects and research work could be seen here over five days. Together with the THINK BIG! programme for schoolchildren at the ICM, everything revolved around the topic of the future.

“We are already in the midst of a profound phase of transformation,” says Joachim Schmid, Managing Director of the VDMA Construction Machinery and Building Material Plants, “the successful course of the trade fair confirms to us that this realisation has arrived in the construction industry and is being accepted by customers. Only smaller, regionally operating companies are not quite so optimistic about the situation. For them, the downturn in residential construction holds great challenges.”

With around 3,200 exhibitors from 60 countries and more than 495,000 visitors from over 200 countries, the expectations of the sector were far exceeded. The share of international exhibitors was just under 65 %.

Further information:
VDMA e. V.
www.vdma.org/bauma

New MiC 4.0 BUS enables simpler work processes through barrier-free and direct data exchange between attachments and construction machinery.

Together with the agreed data protocol, the new MiC 4.0 Bus enables every attachment to communicate unambiguously and without additional tools with every construction machine, regardless of brand and manufacturer. It was jointly developed by the participating companies in the attachment cluster of the MiC 4.0 Machines in Construction working group and will now be presented live for the first time at bauma from October 24-30 in the LAB0 innovation hall.

Users of attachments and construction machinery can simplify their individual work processes by using the MiC 4.0 bus to enable direct and uniform communication between equipment without having to use isolated solutions, detours or third-party aids. They do not need additional displays or external technology, as they can exchange all agreed data with the MiC 4.0 protocol.

In this context, responsibility for the form in which the MiC 4.0 bus is used and the general conditions under which it is used remains with the respective players and does not lie with the working group. Possible combinations must be approved by the respective OEMs – after a functional safety check using a checklist from the future MiC 4.0 database. This MiC 4.0 BUS is thus the technical basis for a well-functioning plug-and-work solution and enables any direct communication between attachments and construction machinery.

MiC 4.0 is an international working group in cooperation with the VDMA and HDB. Companies, universities and research institutions can become members.

Further information:
VDMA e.V.
mic40.org
www.vdma.org

The nominees have been determined. A jury of experts selected the fifteen innovations nominated for the award from 41 finalists out of an original 133 entries.

Messe München and VDMA, together with the construction trade associations HDB, ZDB and bbs, are awarding the prize for the thirteenth time. The competition was launched last year with the new categories of climate protection and digitalisation, and the categories of mechanical engineering, construction and research are back in the running.

Trade press visitors to the Media Dialogue on 21st and 22nd June in Munich will have the opportunity to cast their votes online from 8th to 13th September, which will be included in the overall evaluation. All nominees will be presented on the eve of bauma, on October 23rd, 2022, in the Max Joseph Hall in the Munich Residence, and the five innovations with the highest number of points will be awarded the prize.

The jury evaluates the entries based on criteria that are significant for the industry and its future. These include how practice-oriented a solution is or what economic potential it offers. Increasing digitalisation plays just as much a role as environmental protection aspects, sustainability, resource efficiency or the humanisation of the workplace.

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The following entries have been nominated for the bauma Innovation Award 2022:

Category 1 Climate protection

• The Benninghoven REVOC System – Catalyst for asphalt mixing plants, BENNINGHOVEN – Branch of Wirtgen Mineral Technologies GmbH
• Minus CO₂ -building materials – renewable, better, economical, carbonauten GmbH
• Hydrogen-powered excavator, Liebherr France SAS

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Category 2 Digitalisation

• Haptic collision avoidance, Bosch Rexroth AG
• One common digital language for construction sites, MiC 4.0 Machines in Construction
• MESH Technology, Mesh AG

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Category 3 Mechanical engineering

• Ammann 3D Compactor eAPX 68/95, Ammann Verdichtung GmbH
• Built Robotics Exosystem™, Built Robotics Inc.
• Continuous advance, Herrenknecht AG

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Category 4 Building

• Process tracking system b.navigate, BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH
• TSB – Transport System Bögl – rethinking local transport, Max Bögl
• CPC – Carbon Pre-stressed Concrete, Holcim (Deutschland) GmbH

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Category 5 Research

• ROBETON, Individualized Production, RWTH Aachen University
• Site Execution System, TU Dresden – Institute for Mechatronic Engineering
• Deep Sea Sampling, Freiberg University of Mining and Technology Mechanical Engineering Institute

Press information of the nominees as well as their videos are available via the link www.bauma-innovationspreis.de.

The competition is a joint project under the auspices of the VDMA Construction – Equipment and Plant Engineering, Messe München, the Federation of the German Construction Industry (HDB), the German Construction Confederation (ZDB) and the German Building Materials Association (bbs).

With the Media Dialogue in June, the international trade press had the opportunity to conduct interviews with exhibitors and find out about new products and processes at “table talks” a good four months before the start of the fair.

At the end of last year, mining companies were still anticipating development to be cautious and slow. This assumption has proven to be only partially correct. Between January and September 2021, the number of contracts coming in increased by 75 % compared to the previous year. In contrast, turnover in German mining companies is lagging behind. In 2020, the industry achieved a total turnover of 3.38 bn €. Between January and September 2021, turnover was 18 % below the previous year’s values at 2.8 bn €. Between January and August 2021, exports were down by 10.4 % compared to the previous year at just under 960 M €. The industry expects turnover to recover a little by the end of 2021 and estimates a moderate decline of between 5 and 10 % overall. The number of employees is stable at 12,200.

Besides the EU-27 and Great Britain, some of the biggest export markets include the USA, China and Russia (Figure 1). The most frequently exported goods across all markets include, not always in the same order, crushing and grinding technology, deep drilling technology, extraction and tunnelling machines and tunnel boring machines.

Between January and August 2021, the export value of the USA, with 1,260 M € was almost twice as high as that of China at 660 M €. However, the US market does not represent an extraordinary challenge – unlike China. The Asian country exclusively imports technology which is not yet available of the required quality within China, therefore resulting in declining export numbers for mining companies with production sites based in Germany. Despite sanctions, business with Russia is profiting from many years of good relations with mining companies and their desire for high quality.

“Now and in the future, nothing will work in the industry without mining technology. If we want to maintain our current living standards, we need the relevant raw materials,” explains Michael Schulte Strathaus, Chairman of the Board of VDMA Mining, Frankfurt am Main/Germany, at the industry meeting press conference on 18th November 2021 at the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen. This meeting was all about how to reach the European climate targets. This will only be achieved with increasingly digitised products and work processes because mechanical development options are limited. “Only smart mining can lead to green mining,” emphasises Schulte Strathaus. “We see our chances in providing the best technology in the world, which will contribute to the resource-saving, efficient, “green” extraction and processing of raw materials.” (VDMA/Si.)