Mindelheim, in the Allgäu region of Bavaria, is one of the small towns that hide the secret of “made in Germany”. This town of 14,000 inhabitants has been home, since 1926, to the Grob group, which is expanding its eight production halls. With 1.8 billion euros in turnover for 8,700 employees worldwide, Grob is a “hidden champion”: one of those mid-sized industrial companies unknown to the general public, unlisted and yet at the forefront -world guard in their field and above all very exporting, which form the backbone of German capitalism.
The Grob family group is one of the German references in machine tools: it produces fully automated closed cubic units, inside which very high precision parts are machined or 3D printed for industrial sectors, in particular automotive, but also aeronautics and medicine.
With 85% of its production sold abroad, Grob has been deeply affected by the upheavals of free trade and the trend towards deglobalization. “Geopolitical themes began to occupy us long before the war in Ukraine, explains German Wankmiller, his boss, installed in the huge meeting room at the headquarters. The problems actually date back to the Trump administration [2017-2021], where we first felt the impact of a “decoupling” effort between the United States and China. All this was then amplified by the Covid-19 crisis and, of course, the war in Ukraine. »
“Strong impact on activity”
For Grob, these shocks first resulted in a deterioration of relations with its partners, then in a profound change in order books. “Four years ago, we generated 40% to 45% of our turnover with China. Today, this share has fallen to 15%. Germany belongs to the Western world and the sanctions imposed by the United States have had a strong impact on activity”, he specifies. Of course, the group still has a production site in China, but it has gradually limited its investments there. They will be reduced to zero over the next two years.
Little visible behind the strong dependence of certain large German groups like Volkswagen on the Chinese market, this development concerns more and more mid-sized companies. According to figures published Monday March 4 by the Mercator Institute, the share of German exports to China has decreased significantly since the pandemic, to the benefit of the United States. “This share fell from 7.9% of the total to 6.2%, its lowest level since 2014”underlines Max Zenglein, chief economist of the institute.
You have 48.34% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.