Editorial

SMEs remain the engine of progress

With this latest issue of liftreport magazine, we pass the baton of our 50th anniversary tour on to next year. 2025 will be an exciting and promising year for our magazine thanks to our publishing house. Despite global upheaval and enormous challenges in the elevator industry, our editorial team can look back on a busy and successful year. We would like to express our sincere thanks to our subscribers, our business partners and the numerous companies and organizations with whom we cooperate in the media to effectively promote the industry.

Several stages of our innovation rocket will be ignited as early as 2025. In this context, a brief reference to our liftdialog forum in May 2025. We will continue to report in detail on developments in the editorial team and in the publishing house.

Supply chain problems, rising raw material prices, a shortage of skilled workers and increasing digitalization are just some of the issues that companies will continue to struggle with in the new year. Nevertheless, SMEs in this sector are proving to be remarkably adaptable, although considerable resources have to be raised to keep pace with these developments. In 2025, the German elevator industry’s SME sector is impressively demonstrating that it is an indispensable part of the economy despite difficult conditions. With innovative strength, sustainability and strong ties to employees and customers, companies are succeeding in maintaining their position.

In many discussions, whether in editorial work or at trade events in Germany and abroad, liftreport was able to get a close-up picture of the mood in the industry. But for an optimistic mood to last, targeted support is needed from politicians, particularly on issues such as digitization and the recruitment of skilled workers. If the right conditions are put in place, medium-sized companies in the elevator industry have the potential to continue to play a key role in the German economy.

Carsten Gritzan