Vision market holding steady
VDMA has reported that the European and German machine-vision industries grew during 2008, but the organization predicts that revenue will be flat in 2009.
By Ann R. Thryft, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 1/26/2009 2:00:00 PM
Despite the current global financial crisis, the European and German machine-vision industries continued to grow during 2008, although revenue will be flat this year, according to research presented by the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) at Vision 2008 (November 4–6, Stuttgart, Germany). The number of attendees and exhibitors and the percentage of exhibitors coming from foreign countries to the event continues to grow, said Thomas Walter, industry and technology area manager for Messe Stuttgart, the producer of the show.
Dr. Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, managing director of ASENTICS and member of the VDMA machine-vision executive board, said at a November 4 press conference that the German machine-vision industry remained on target with expectations for its performance in 2008. The companies that VDMA surveyed expected increases in 2008 revenue totaling 6%, bringing overall machine-vision revenue to 1.2 billion euros. But in 2009, upheavals in international financial markets will likely contribute to a flattening of revenue growth. This will halt the trend established over the past 10 years, which saw the industry more than triple its revenue.
Heinol-Heikkinen also noted that during 2007 more than 40% of machine-vision revenue in Germany came from OEM customers, and the same proportion came from end users. In Europe, the figures for those sectors were 38% and 43%, respectively. Although orders from OEMs had decreased significantly since May, VDMA expected final revenues from that sector to show an increase of 5% in 2008.
Along with the VDMA data specific to Germany, Heinol-Heikkinen presented some Europe-wide market research data from the EMVA (European Machine Vision Association). He said that automotive and electrical/electronics applications have continued to provide the bulk of manufacturing-related machine-vision revenue in both Germany and Europe. In 2007, automotive applications accounted for 29% of total revenue in Germany and 26% in Europe, while electrical/electronics applications represented around 13% in Germany and 12% in Europe.
Heinol-Heikkinen reported that a forecast from the Institute for Economic Research predicts production declines in Germany during 2009 of 1.5% in the automotive sector and 3% in the electronics and communication technology sector. In 2008, automotive production declined by about 1.5%. At the same time, however, production in the electronics and communication segment expanded by 10%.
Despite the overall market stagnation expected in 2009, Heinol-Heikkinen said that a number of new machine-vision application sectors have high market potential. These include agriculture, transportation, recycling, sports, medicine, criminology, and security technology, and he said their emergence is a response to larger “social mega-themes” such as environmental protection, resource conservation, the need for security, and demographic change.
In addition, he cited the ongoing need to reduce costs and optimize processes, which often arises in economically difficult times and has historically been achieved with automation, including machine-vision technologies. Customers’ desires to increase quality and safety, as well as develop innovative and miniaturized products, can act as an additional driver for introducing machine-vision technologies into production processes, he said.
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