Whilst the manufacturing industry is clearly affected by the current global economic slowdown, manufacturing has enjoyed a stronger recovery than most other sectors of the economy and looks set for plenty of investment in 2013.

Europe has a thriving manufacturing sector, with a large part of the world's industrial production taking place in Europe. Traditionally, Western Europe has the largest concentration of major manufactures, mainly in Western Germany, Benelux, the UK, Northeastern France, Switzerland, and northern Italy.

According to Fortune Global 500, 195 of the top 500 companies are headquartered in Europe. The main products in the European manufacturing industry are automobiles, chemical and pharmaceutical goods, oil products, food, clothing and electronics.