Machine vision markets in Germany, Europe remain strong

A new report from the VDMA indicates that the European machine vision industry remains on track to achieve the forecasted 10% growth in 2015, and is predicted to continue its success into 2016.

In Germany, the machine vision industry anticipates a growth rate of 8%, which will increase its turnover to almost € 2.26 billion by the end of 2016. As has been the case in previous years, strong demand for German machine vision products is expected from Europe, the United States, and Asia.

Uncertainty remains, however, with regard to the automotive industry in China. From 2010 to 2014, after North America, China was the most important export market for machine vision from Germany, but in 2014, the growth rate dropped to 10%, its lowest since 2009. Exports to European countries, however, increased above average by 23%. On the whole, the European machine vision industry is predicted to increase sales by at least 7% in 2016, while Germany is expected to grow 8%.

These figures were discussed at the VISION / VDMA CEO Roundtable, which was held December 8 at 11:00 AM in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition to discussing the state of the machine vision industry in Europe, the CEOs discussed the challenges facing the industry, meeting customers’ growing needs, Industry 4.0, and more.

Lou Hermans, CEO of CMOSIS, commented on industry growth and the reasons behind it.

"Based on the increasing demand for our sensors, we can only conclude that the machine vision market still is on a growth path," he said. "On one end of the spectrum, customers want faster and higher resolution devices mainly driven by the need for inspecting all kinds of displays with an ever growing size and resolution. On the other end of the scale, 'vision everywhere' asks for smaller and cheaper cameras driving the need for low power and compact image sensors not compromising on image quality in terms of resolution, noise and dynamic range."

"Recently," he added, "we also see that our image sensors more and more find their way in smart cameras with embedded vision functions."

View additional comments and videos from top executives from the VISION CEO roundtable.
View a VDMA presentation on the European machine vision market.

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