Adding new dimension to Germany’s rust belt
Chemical firm’s 3-D printing plant offers lifeline to struggling local economy
Steam billows from chimneys, BERLIN and hissing sounds mix with hammering and drilling from a sprawling construction site that represents a US$450 million wager on Germany’s industrial future.
In the country’s rust belt — dotted with shuttered coal mines and struggling steel mills — Evonik Industries AG is building a plant to make a material the chemicals company believes will become the gold standard for industrial-scale 3D printing. The project in a Ruhr Valley industrial hub three times the size of Monaco offers a lifeline for the local economy and could serve as a case study on how to apply Germany’s old-school engineering to a new era.
But it also reflects the risks looming over the country’s economy. The printing technology, capable of churning out everything from shoe soles to auto parts in micro-factories, could upend the traditional manufacturing that underpins German affluence.
And despite the hefty investment, the highly automated plant will sustain only 150 jobs — a stark contrast to the massive manpower required for the region’s aging industrial base. Still, that’s better than nothing for the city of Marl, which beat out locations in Thailand and Singapore to land the site.
“Getting this new plant, and such a high level of investment, secures our future,” said Werner Arndt, Marl’s mayor.
The factory draws a line to German tradition. The site is 209 kilometres north of Mainz, where more than 500 years ago Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, ushering in an era of mass communication.
Germany was an early adopter of 3D printing, even as traditional press makers such as Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and Manroland AG struggled with the decline of the newspaper industry. Eos Gmbh, based near Munich, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of 3D printers. Every third industrial company in Germany uses the technology, according to a study by digital lobby Bitkom.
The hope is that 3D printing, which gives companies unrivalled design freedom, can unleash a similar technology overhaul to make manufacturing more flexible. That in turn could pose a challenge to the country’s machine makers if they fail to adapt.
The factory will make a pulverized plastic that will serve as the toner equivalent for 3D printers from the likes of Eos, HP Inc. and 3D Systems Corp. It’s a bold bet at a time when Europe’s largest economy is struggling to overcome a slump that has forced companies such as Siemens AG and Daimler AG to announce more than 100,000 job cuts this year.
Germany is under pressure to reinvent itself. Trade wars, a rapid shift to digital technologies and China’s ambition to become the world’s leader in high-end manufacturing threaten its economic model, and the country’s automakers are particularly exposed to the gradual phase out of the combustion engine.
Germany’s worst manufacturing downturn in a decade is set to drag on economic growth at least through next year as domestic demand feels the pinch of the cooling labour market, according to the country’s central bank. The Bundesbank last week cut its 2020 growth forecast for Germany in half to 0.6 per cent.
The new Evonik plant — an expansion of existing facilities — is critical for the Ruhr, where unemployment is nearly twice the national average. The new plant will start operating in 2021.