Industry under pressure

“For many, the worry lines run deep”

"Power4Steel" is the name of the decarbonization project in Dillingen, which has brought Primetals Technologies the largest order in the company's history.(Bild: Primetals Technologies)

Primetals Technologies is delighted with the largest order in the company's history, Voestalpine is lowering its profit forecast for the 2024/25 financial year - as varied as the current situation is for companies, feelings are just as mixed when domestic industrial companies look to the future.

What's next? Hardly a day goes by without a picture of the mood for the coming months being painted. The outlook is often bleak. The Future Monitor, in which Paul Eiselsberg and IMAS International took a close look at Upper Austrian industrial companies, revealed similar results.

"For many, the worry lines run deep," reports Eiselsberg. "Overall, there is a certain skepticism." Excessive bureaucracy, high costs and the personnel situation, which is often summed up in the much-cited shortage of skilled workers, are putting pressure on companies.

International competitiveness is a key success factor for Upper Austria's industry. We live from exports.

Valborg Burgholzer-Kaiser, Obmann-Stellvertreterin der Sparte Industrie der Wirtschaftskammer OÖ

Bild: WKOÖ/Edwin Enzlmüller

However, the IMAS study also delivered results that seem unusual at first glance. For example, Eiselsberg reports that the managers surveyed are clearly confident about the next two to nine years: "Optimism is returning."

"We don't need to moan ourselves sick"
Valborg Burgholzer-Kaiser, Deputy Chairman of the Industry Division of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, wants to roll up her sleeves anyway: "We don't need to complain ourselves sick."