The industry for machine-building and various appliance has strong roots in Moldova’s Soviet past, a time when the pre-independence country concentrated major plants that used to manufacture installations and equipment for both civilian and military purposes. After the dissolution of the USSR, some industrial enterprises converted for alternative manufacturing while others shut down. 

Currently we are talking about three distinct fields of the machine-building industry:

• the manufacturing of rubber, plastic, and metal products;
• the manufacturing of machines, electronic devices, and appliances; 
• the services in this sector. 

In recent years, exports of automotive components and car cables have dominated exports of goods from the sector, but not to be neglected are companies that produce trolleybuses, tractors, hydraulic equipment, hydro-acoustic navigation and sonar devices, electro-thermal furnaces, a wide variety of agricultural units including combines, microcircuits, electric lamps, vacuum cleaners, electronic and industrial measuring and control devices, pumps and filters, anti-hail installations, elevators, platforms and trailers, containers and metal constructions, which have been fully recovered from the past financial crises and managed to find buyers in foreign markets.

The Moldovan machine building industry owns well-known brands and names in dozens of countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa: Introscope, Incomas, Lumintehnica, Uniplast, Alex S&E, Arttehmed, Baslift, Batstractor, Berhord, Electromachine, Eliri, Hydrotechnics, Inteh , Mecagro, Moldagrotehnica, Moldovahidromas, Raut, etc.

The personnel for industrial enterprises are trained at the local technical colleges and especially at the Technical University of Moldova, where there are, among others, specialized faculties in engineering and mechanics; machine building; electronics and telecommunications; computers, computer science and microelectronics; food industry technology; and energy.