Valley of Tears: Machine Tools

The global economic crisis is affecting companies that manufacture machine tools,a key sector of the German economy. Orders plunged by a massive 42 percent in January.Our reporter Marion Hütter visited a company that makes machine tools in eastern Germany to see how its handling the downturn. Union Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik is still doing well as their products require long delivery times. So although orders have dropped off,and the company is preparing for less business by improving efficiency,Union will still invest 3 million euros this year in research and development.