IIW White Paper

3 Significance of welding and joining

as four times as large as the European market. Therefore, the world market for products relating to the application of joining technologies may be estimated to have been approximately 80 billion EURO in 2007.

The economic significance of the application of welding and joining technology by the manufacturers of joined products is substantially greater. It is difficult to estimate this for a national economy because corresponding statistical data is only rarely available. Similarly, with the cost due to weld failures, poor in- service performance, repair and maintenance. One feasible path is to use the value added during the manufacture of the products and the proportion of welding and joining technology in the production. The data required for this purpose is acquired (amongst other means) from the number of employees collaborating in the manufacture, broken down according to the utilised or applied technologies. As an example of this, reference may be made to a calculation for the German national economy, which was based on a scientifically validated macroeconomic model ( see Figure 3.2) . The corresponding values for welding only are: 56 Billion EURO for the gross value added for both the manufacture of goods and services for welding and the application of welding technology, and 1,320,000 employees in both sectors. Since very different structures exist all over the world and statistical data is not available or has not yet been coordinated, it is not possible to make any conclusions for the world based on these values from the European economy.

Filler Materials Auxiliary Materials Health and Safety Qualification

Equipment

TOTAL

Figure 3.1 Value added in 2007 in Europe by goods for joining for companies manufacturing joined products (Reproduced courtesy: DVS, D. von Hofe)

Production Value ( BIL. EURO) Total Added Value ( BIL. EURO) Employees ( Man Years)

7.50

12.480

19.980

2.55

4.040

6.590

55,000

68,000

123,000

The production of joined goods and services for joining (equipment, filler materials, auxiliary materials, health and safety as well as training and education) influence the whole line of added value and the European political economy.

Total added value: 6.6 BIL. EURO Employees: 123,000 persons

Figure 3.2 Value added by joining in 2007 in Europe ( Reproduced courtesy: DVS, D. von Hofe)

86 BIL. EURO

The use of joining technologies is instrumental in generating added value in a lot of branches.

Total added value: 79.12 BIL. EURO

2,027,000 employees

Employees:

1,904,000 persons

The overall total added value of 86 BIL. € of joining (manufacturing of goods for joining and application) corresponds to about 6% of total added value of all producing trades (including civil building) in Europe.

13

Through Optimum Use and Innovation of Welding and Joining Technologies

Improving Global Quality of Life