The German machine vision sector in 2013 will grow by five per cent to almost €1.6 billion, according to predictions from the VDMA Machine Vision group in its latest market survey. Turnover fell in 2012 by one per cent to €1.49 billion.
Whereas the domestic market contracted by six per cent and supplies to European countries shrank by 12 per cent, exports in total continued to grow. Business within Asia grew by 13 per cent in 2012 (year-on-year) and for the first time exceeded the export volume to the European countries.
Deliveries to America increased by 12 per cent, while the total export ratio of the German machine vision industry increased to 55 per cent from 52 per cent in 2011.
After substantial investments of the automotive industry in 2010 and 2011, the turnover of machine vision in this sector decreased by almost 25 per cent. With a share of 21 per cent, however, the automotive sector remains the most important customer within manufacturing. The pharmaceutical, cosmetics and healthcare sector strongly increased its investments in machine vision (+36 per cent) as did the rubber and plastics industry (+70 per cent).
The report predicts that a growing range of applications for machine vision, the global trend toward higher quality and productivity, and increasing demand from Asia and North America, will act as growth drivers for the machine vision industry.
