Politics Meets SMEs: Werner Schmid Supports the IBU Initiative

The often-neglected dialogue between politics and industry is more important than ever in challenging times. The German Sheet Metal Forming Industry Association (IBU), of which Werner Schmid is a member, has therefore been organizing exchanges between member companies and regional federal and state legislators for years to raise awareness among politicians at the regional level about the pressing issues facing the supplier industry. Werner Schmid GmbH has supported this initiative from the very beginning and, since 2019, has hosted a total of six members of the federal and state legislatures from three political parties during five meetings.

In 2022 and 2023 — years marked by the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis — two meetings were held with members of the federal and state legislatures from various political parties. During these discussions, Werner Schmid’s management — sometimes accompanied by IBU Managing Director Bernhard Jacobs — briefed the legislators on the current situation in German industry, which is facing sluggish growth, high energy and raw material prices, and ever-increasing bureaucracy. The ongoing transformation toward digitalization and e-mobility is putting automotive suppliers under enormous additional pressure. Mixed signals regarding the transformation and a high degree of uncertainty are exacerbating this situation. The IBU and other industry associations are therefore calling for a sense of proportion: “Only a strong SME sector can support this transformation,” explained Bernhard Jacobs. The outcomes of the discussions were consistently deemed productive by all participants. For the participating politicians, it is important to understand the acute challenges facing small and medium-sized enterprises in detail so that they can be taken into account in their political work. For this reason, the discussions also addressed topics that receive less attention in day-to-day political and media discourse, such as safeguards in the steel market.

Werner Schmid GmbH will continue to support the IBU’s initiative and will consistently seek dialogue with regional lawmakers to ensure that the current challenges facing small and medium-sized industrial enterprises remain on the agenda in both the federal and state parliaments.