In its quarterly projection of sales, the Automated Imaging Association (AIA; Ann Arbor, MI, USA) says that sales of machine vision equipment in the first quarter of 2011 grew 34% in North America. This marks the fifth straight quarter of double-digit growth according to the association's Quarterly Machine Vision Sales Tracking Report.
Strong sales were reported across almost all major machine vision supplier markets, including cameras, lighting, optics, software, application-specific machine vision systems, and smart cameras. Optimism remainded high, as well, with one-half of all companies submitting data for the report expecting sales to improve over first quarter 2011 levels during the next six months. Of the remaining companies, most anticipate sales comparable to first quarter results. Only 8% of the companies expect sales to decrease.
Overall, this corresponds with a recent presentation by the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) at its annual meeting in Amsterdam. The EMVA said that the market health of European machine vision companies and companies doing business in Europe was excellent, with many focused on application areas that exhibit particular strength, especially automotive manufacturing, transportation imaging, and surveillance.
Germany expects to see overall growth of at least 11% in 2011, putting it back on a trend line consistent with pre-2009 sales, and about 20% growth was expected globally, according to the EMVA. The EMVA expects Europe to see about 22% and the Americas about 19% growth in 2011. Asia, after a 62% year-over-year growth in 2010, should see a growth of 18% in 2011.
As for North America, Paul Kellett, AIA’s Director of Market Analysis, says, “Large businesses continue to invest in equipment that boosts productivity, including machine vision systems. Expansion in the manufacturing sector is expected to continue despite some momentary softening and spur additional investment in machine vision software and equipment.”
--Conard Holton
Posted by Vision Systems Design
