In 2025 the Institut für Mittelstandsforschung in Bonn calculated the cost of bureaucracy for a model machine builder with 150 employees. The study was done for the foundation of the machine builders’ association VDMA. The researchers identified 3,900 rules that machine builders must observe in their usual business. Complying with them costs 2.18 million euros a year, or 6.3 percent of revenue.
The institute translated the cost into people. It equals the average salaries of 34 full-time employees.