Global market for machine vision (MV) system components value is expected to reach nearly $23.5 billion in 2018

May 19, 2013

WELLESLEY, Mass. – The global market for machine vision (MV) system components was valued at nearly $13.5 billion in 2012.  Total market value is expected to reach nearly $23.5 billion in 2018 after increasing at a five-year compound annual growth rate of 9%.

The segment made up of optics, lighting, and frame grabber is anticipated to be the fastest-growing of the market’s sectors, increasing at a five-year CAGR of 9.5% and reaching a value of nearly $6.9 billion in 2018.  Processor software and hardware also shows promising growth with a value of $3.1 billion in 2012 and increasing to nearly $5.6 billion in 2018 at a CAGR of 9.4%.

MV markets have been changing rapidly over the last few years.  The market is driven by both long-term and short-term changes.  Long-term changes include technological factors, which can increase the value provided by MV products, stimulating and increasing the demand for these products. The increasing requirements for quality control, productivity, and cost-effectiveness in manufacturing in all sectors of the economy have increased long-term demand for MV products.  As customer preferences for various product features shift, markets tend to change. Finally, emerging MV applications can expand the size of the MV components and systems markets.

The economic turmoil of 2009-2009 badly hit application areas such as automotive, semiconductors, and many other industries, all of which witnessed lesser demands. These industries have bounced back in the last three years. MV systems recently have increased their use in all manufacturing applications, including semiconductor, electronics, pharmaceuticals, packaging, medical devices, automotive, and consumer goods. They also have become major tools for traffic management, toll collection, and many other nonmanufacturing uses. 

The MV component industry faces considerable competition and the nature of this will be examined in this report, along with a breakdown of the regional market.  Applications, such as automatic number-plate recognition, traffic-flow monitoring, traffic surveillance, and other related applications are witnessing increased integration and utilization of MV systems.

The components of MV systems and the technologies involved have become more intricate and sophisticated.  Higher vision-processing hardware speed has been a key factor to both faster parts-per-minute throughput and greater robustness in manufacturing MV tools.  Today, vision processing is performed at substantially faster rates, using hardware that requires far less electrical power.  Faster hardware, more intelligent tools, and better application software development will enable a broader and deeper proliferation of MV in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing applications.

Customers’ more sophisticated demands are additional factors that are having positive effects on the MV industry.  More comfortable with MV technology than a few years ago, these customers are better equipped to communicate their demands to the industry to enable manufacturers to deliver more effective solutions.

Changes in the technologies involved in MV will continue and even intensify in the future. Faster hardware, more intelligent tools, and better application software development and deployment environments will enable a broader and deeper proliferation of MV for manufacturing as well as for nonmanufacturing applications. Faster CPUs will enable more powerful vision algorithms. In addition, emerging digital standards and faster interfaces will permit higher resolution and higher speed imaging, resulting in a need for smarter software to process the increasing numbers of pixels.

Neural network techniques also are about to become a key paradigm in MV. They will be used to correctly segment an image under a wide variety of operational conditions or to classify the detected object. Stereo and 3-D-vision applications are continuing to grow.

Another trend involves the use of MV in the nonvisible spectrum (i.e., measuring the light one cannot see). X-rays, UV, and infrared (IR) already are widely used. In particular, development of near-infrared (NIR) and thermal imaging technology has led to totally new MV applications such as the following.

• Remote monitoring
• Surface inspection
• Night vision
• Medical imaging
• Laser beam analysis
• Thermal condition monitoring.

Currently, video surveillance systems are undergoing a transition in which more analog solutions are being replaced by digital. Digital technology enables audio and video data compression that minimizes transmission bandwidth and storage requirements. It also permits security cameras to operate on standard data networks without the expense of bulky coaxial cables. In addition, a new MV algorithm area is needed for video stream analysis, while compression and multimodality image fusion utilize multisensor information analysis.

Global Markets for Machine Vision Technologies (IAS010D) covers the technologies involved in MV systems, such as components that constitute a workable MV system, recent advances in the technologies involved, various traditional and new applications, and global markets for these technologies and applications.  The report will be useful for:

• Manufacturers of MV systems and components
• Systems integrators
• Design and application engineers
• Various industries and agencies needing MV systems
• Traffic and transport planners
• Security system planners.

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Global Markets for Machine Vision Technologies( IAS010D )
Publish Date: May 2013    

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