Machine vision industry in Germany reached record numbers in 2015

Last year, the Germanmachine vision industry achieved record sales of 2 billion euros, which represents a 9% gain compared to 2014, according to new figures released by the VDMA.

Machine visiontechnologiesand the industry on the whole risen significantly in the past decade, as the VDMA notes that sales in the industry have more than doubled in 10 years. The reason behind this, according to the VDMA, is the spread of vision technologies beyond just the factory floor, and into new applications. Additionally, the VDMA expects that the industry will continue to rise at a rate of 8% to 2.2 billion euros in 2016.

"Enabling machines and robots to practically 'see' is revolutionizing automation around the globe", said Dr. Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, CEO of ASENTICS and Member of the Board of VDMA Machine Vision in a press release. "Demand is being driven by technology developed in Germany, for example, which is making a crucial contribution to quality assurance improvements in manufacturing or diagnostic tools in medicine. This development is reflected with outstanding figures for net sales and growth in the German machine vision industry - and the future prospects are excellent."

Looking toward other regions in 2016, the VDMA anticipates that growth will increase in 2016 by 15% in Asia, by 14% in America, and by 5% in Europe.

"While Asia and America are clearly identified as the engines of growth, there is greater caution about developments in Europe," stated the VDMA article. "Relevant risks and opportunities include future developments in the price of raw materials, exchange rates, and last but not least, the effects of political crises."

Looking into individual sectors as drivers of growth, the VDMA identified the automotive industry as the strongest customer worldwide, accounting for 22% of total revenue with 9% growth in 2015. Electronics and semiconductors came in as the second largest customer, accounting for 13%, as a result of increased demand for machine vision used in the quality assurance.

Areas that represent possible growth, according to the VDMA, include transport technology, medical technology and logistics, in which demand is actually growing faster than in industrial manufacturing. Additionally, large potential is identified in agriculture. Overall, non-industrial applications accounted for an average growth rate of 16% per year from 2011-2015.

View theVDMA website.

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