Reduced or postponed investments in mechanical engineering, the automotive industry or the health care sector continue to affect the photonics industry. This is shown by a survey conducted in June 2020 by the industry association Spectaris in cooperation with Optecnet Deutschland on the effects of the corona crisis.

Despite the loosening that has come into effect, 56 percent of the companies complain about a significantly lower demand for their products than before the crisis. The number of companies that rate their business situation as poor is also still high at 68 percent (76 percent in the April survey). 82 percent of the companies expect their total sales to fall in 2020 compared to the previous year. 51 percent of companies fear a double-digit decline.

With home office and short-time working through the Corona crisis

"A number of our members have sent their employees to the home office and are working to respond to the crisis by changing working methods in the direction of greater digitalization of business processes. Around half of them have taken advantage of short-time work benefits," explains Jörg Mayer, Spectaris Managing Director.

A third of those surveyed reported personnel bottlenecks during the crisis, and the same percentage have reduced their own investments in response to the new framework conditions. "The industry is also suffering from the uncertainty surrounding foreign business, which is particularly noticeable among small and medium-sized manufacturers," explains Mayer. In view of the current challenges, almost a quarter of the companies (23%) would like to adapt their business model in order to open up new markets or customer groups.