Manufacturing industry plays an important role in Luxembourg’s economy and includes household names such as ArcelorMittal, Goodyear, Ceratizit, Rotarex, Ferrero, DuPont and Avery Dennison, to mention just a few examples. According to the manufacturing ecosystem mapping produced by Luxinnovation, the ecosystem includes more than 750 companies. 455 have production as their primary activity (according to data from December 2020) and 298 play a role as “enablers” (based on data from June 2021), as they provide products, solutions or services that enable the transition to smarter and digitalised production processes.
Almost half (46%) of the companies with production as their core business have less than 10 employees, and 72% less than 50, but there is a real focus on high value-added activities. Around one-third of them focus on metal products. Other key subsectors include pharmaceutical and medical devices, machinery and equipment, wood and furniture, and agrifood and tobacco.
85% of companies with more than 50 employees have their production sites in Luxembourg. 22% of companies carry out design activities here, for engineering as well as research and development. In terms of intellectual property, 1,485 patents or utility models have been filed over the past 10 years by 61 entities.
Almost half (46%) of the companies with production as their primary activity are owned by Luxembourg entities or individual shareholders. 35% are directly or indirectly controlled by foreign owners (legal entities and individuals). The remaining 19% are either independent companies or entities for which the shareholding data are not known.
Concerning the “enablers”, suppliers of products, solutions or services for industry 4.0, the range of solutions is mainly focused on cloud computing (34% of companies), digital transformation (27%), ERP systems (26%), cybersecurity (22%) and web development (21%), bearing in mind that a company can obviously offer several services.
If you are a manufacturing company looking for industry 4.0 enablers, or an enabler looking for partnerships, you can also find out more about how we help you find digital providers and test existing solutions.