2014 poised for significant machine vision industry growth

All signs are pointing toward a record year for sales in the global machine vision industry.

A report recently released from Allied Vision Technologies indicates that the camera manufacturer closed the first half of 2014 with historic sales and volume figures that far exceeded plan. Only once in the 25 year history of the company has AVT shipped 10,000 cameras in one month, but this past May, the company broke that mark. In addition, a historical record of more than €6.5 Million in one month was also broken in June, which has the company’s leadership looking toward meeting or perhaps even exceeding its ambitious 2014 goals.

The German machine vision market isn’t doing so badly, either. In fact, a report released by the VDMA indicates that not only did the German machine vision market achieve the previously-forecast 5% growth, but it also is expected to grow another 5% in 2014 at a total turnover of 1.64 billion Euros with major growth coming from exports to North America and Asia.

Meanwhile, in North America, sales of machine vision components and systems grew 10% in the first quarter of the year. This growth was driven by the sales of machine vision components, having grown at 29%.Total sales of vision systems grew 6% in the quarter. Each component and system category saw in increase in sales in the first quarter, with cameras (36% growth), lighting (32% growth), and software (25% growth), leading the way.

So in taking look at these major machine vision markets and their current and projected growth, it isn’t hard to see that 2014 is looking like it could be a banner year for machine vision. You have to wonder though; will the trend continue to tick up moving forward in 2015, 2016, and beyond? And if so (chances are good), what will be the main driver of such growth? One possible choice would be robotics. As the technologies continue to advance and these systems become more available, sales of automation and collaborative robots should see a nice spike soon. What else could help keep machine vision sales rising?