The world market for machine vision was worth nearly $2.9 billion in 2011, according to a report published by IMS Research, recently acquired by IHS Inc. The report found that revenues grew more than 10 per cent in 2011, but suggests that this level of growth is unlikely to be sustained during the forecast period to 2016.
‘The main reason for the restricted growth of this industry is considered to be instability in many economies around the world, particularly those countries that have adopted the Euro,’ commented John Morse, author of the report.
Morse said: ‘The machine vision industry recovered well after the last recession as shown by the results of IMS Research’s free quarterly market tracker. However, revenue growth showed signs of slowing in the second half of 2011. Many manufacturers expressed caution about growth in 2012 and beyond.’
The views of manufacturers echoed the findings of other recent IMS Research reports that present lower revenue forecasts than in previous editions. Generally, growth over the next five years will be less than previously forecast, according to the report.
‘It is not all bad news,’ added Morse. ‘Despite manufacturing estimated to account for more than 80 per cent of machine vision revenues, there is a trend towards machine vision products being used outside the manufacturing environment. For example, high quality security and surveillance, traffic monitoring, and control and medical.’
