A machine vision market study, published by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA) and entitled Machine Vision Markets – 2007 Results and Forecasts to 2012, reports that machine vision and automated imaging continues to be a growth industry in North America.
The 2008 study is based on 2007 actual results and is organised primarily around the major machine vision product markets: optics, lighting, cameras, imaging boards, smart cameras and application-specific machine vision systems (ASMV). While the study predominantly focuses on the North American market, two chapters are dedicated to the emerging Chinese and Indian machine vision markets. The study also provides worldwide estimates of sales.
The study found that the North American economy has indeed had an impact on both US and Canadian manufacturing sectors, with most economists predicting a continued slowdown in the economy for the US throughout 2008, which could result in a decrease in purchases of machine vision products.
'The study specifically analyses sales by product feature, identifying the best-selling feature configurations by product market and key trends that suggest the direction of evolving customer preferences. It also investigates sales opportunities in new geographic markets,' said Paul Kellett, AIA's director of market analysis.
A separate machine vision financial study is also available. 'Based on the realisation that financial health is not driven by sales activity alone, the new financial study is in two parts, consisting of a financial ratio analysis and an analysis of stock market performance of 28 of the world's largest, publicly-traded machine vision companies over a three-year period. Machine vision companies that wish to determine their relative financial health will find this study highly valuable,' said Kellett.
