Machine vision companies continue global expansion

In another promising sign for the machine vision industry, a number of major vision companies have announced expansion and increased presence worldwide.

One of the major themes that I discussed with the dozens of people I met with during VISION 2014 was the overall state of the global machine vision industry. Specifically, I explained that recent reports from individual companies and organizations like the VDMA and AIA indicated that sales were on the rise, that 2014 could be a record year for the industry, and that 2015 could continue that same trend.

Overall, everyone seemed to be optimistic concerning the current and future state of global sales in machine vision. One factor that was mentioned most often was increased exports. Anne Wendel, VDMA Machine Vision said during her VISION 2014 presentation that growth in the German machine vision market in 2014 can largely be attributed to foreign orders. From January to September of 2014, there was a 13% increase in foreign order incomes, largely to the United States and China.

In addition, earlier this year, I wrote an article about a number of German machine vision companies that had reported an increase in sales in 2013. The VDMA reported that these figures were achieved as a result of increasing demands, and once again, global exports. Initially, the VDMA had predicted that the market would grow again by 5%, but at the VISION show, Wendel predicted growth of "at least" 10%.

Also at the VISION show, Alex Shikany, AIA Director, Market Analysis said that the North American market is on the rise, and will grow approximately 8% due to a number of reasons, one of which most certainly has to be the increased global presence and rise in exports for North American companies.

Perhaps the notion of expanding into new markets to increase sales is rather obvious, but one way or another, a number of companies have done it, and continue to do so. Recently, five companies have made announcements relating to their increased reach across the globe.

Basler

In an effort to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, Basler has set up new representative offices in Japan and Malaysia. Basler—which already has offices in China and Korea—expects the offices to increase the brand's presence in the region.

Chong Yoon Foo, Managing Director of Basler Asia, said, “We are thrilled to open these new representative offices. This strategic expansion not only reinforces our sales support to these high-potential markets, it is also a logical advance towards our corporate vision and growth strategy.”

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