North American sales of machine vision components and systems jumped 12 per cent to $1.65 billion US in the first nine months of 2014, according to recent statistics released by AIA, the industry’s trade group.
AIA says it is the best nine month start by the North American machine vision market since the association began to track quarterly statistics in 2009.
Total machine vision components are up 18 per cent to $230 million through October, while total machine vision systems are up 12 per cent to $1.42 billion.
The third quarter of 2014 was especially strong for machine vision systems, which posted growth of 19 per cent. Machine vision components also increased in the third quarter by two percent over last year. Every component and system category increased in the third quarter of 2014 except for lighting and imaging boards. Smart cameras (44 per cent), optics (16 per cent), software (14 per cent), and ASMV systems (14 per cent) were the standout individual categories in terms of year over year growth for the third quarter of 2014.
“The sustained growth of the machine vision market in North America this year is very promising,” said AIA president Jeff Burnstein. “We continue to see interest for machine vision products growing outside the factory in industries like life sciences and security, which is great for the long term health of this market.”
“Despite the tempered expectations of AIA membership after the strong first half of the year, the market continued to grow in the third quarter,” added Alex Shikany, AIA’s director of market analysis. “Our most recent survey shows that AIA members expect machine vision components to increase and systems to remain flat in the next six months.”
AIA is part of an umbrella organizaiton, A3 (Association for Advancing Automation), which includes the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) and Motion Control Association (MCA).
