The European machine vision industry grew by 16 per cent in 2014, according to new market data from the VDMA. The report expects further growth of 11 per cent in 2015.
Sales outside of Europe grew by 20 per cent, with North America (14 per cent share of total sales, 21 per cent more than in 2013) and Asia (20 per cent share of total sales and 19 per cent more than in 2013) being the driving force behind growth. China was again the third biggest market for European machine vision companies. The overall export share of European machine vision suppliers was 37 per cent.
Total turnover within Europe grew by 14 per cent in 2014, with Germany the largest market for European machine vision companies – Germany had a share of almost 34 per cent of the total sales, increasing on 2013 by 12 per cent.
In 2014, the automotive industry was again the biggest customer for European machine vision with a share of 21 per cent of the total turnover and +17 per cent turnover growth. It was followed by the electronics and electrical industry including semiconductors (14.6 per cent), the food and beverage industry (6.5 per cent) and metal industry (5.7 per cent).
Sales to non-manufacturing sectors grew by 17 per cent and accounted for 24 per cent of all sales. Logistics and postal sorting gave the biggest impetus to growth.
The turnover of machine vision systems rose by 19 per cent in 2014, compared to components which increased by 14 per cent. The largest product category within the components, cameras, increased sales by 14.5 per cent reaching the record level of over €411 million (reported volume).
The German machine vision industry increased its turnover by 16 per cent in 2014 reaching €1.9 billion. The growth impetus came mostly from exports: While domestic turnover grew by 12 per cent, exports from Germany went up by 19 per cent in 2014. For 2015, the German machine vision suppliers expect to expand their sales volume by 10 per cent exceeding a sector turnover of €2 billion.
Further information:
