The growing presence in BiH of major consuming industries such as the automotive, fabricated metal products and plastics injection molding sectors, combined with the shortage and/or relative cost of skilled labor, are driving domestic demand for machine tools that offer increased performance, flexibility and productivity. Moreover, increased market access opportunities in trade with the European and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners have been positive. BiH’s supply response, however, has been slow to implement European directives on standardization of product offerings and this slow response is insufficient to generate significant growth in employment or exports. Concurrently, trade barriers are rapidly being removed, opening the doors for competitive tooling imports. The “pull” of demand and the “push” of increased competition are driving the TDM industry in BiH to modernize as there will soon be no room for inefficient manufacturers to hide.

In BiH companies, equipment is typically more than twenty years old and only 226 students recently graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo, with only 810 students currently enrolled in the combined faculties in Tuzla, Banja Luka, and Zenica. Even with the prospective graduates who will enter the labor force in the future, there is a limited number of highly qualified professionals who have expertise in CAD-related technologies. There is an important – one might even say urgent – need to upgrade the skills all along the value chain, from designers and artisans to engineers and project managers, as well as to modernize the tools and processes used in the sector, from the planning to execution phases.