The Process Spectroscopy Market

Report Highlights

• The total worldwide market for process spectroscopy instrumentation is expected to rise from $178 million in 2004 to $232 million in 2009, at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 5.4%.
• Near-infrared monitors likely will be the largest market segment in 2009, with sales of $71 million, due to the FDA Process Analytical Technology initiative that seeks to streamline drug manufacturing processes.
• The highest growth rate is expected in Raman spectrometers, with an AAGR of 8% through 2009. The once-academic technology has made significant inroads into process monitoring in recent years.
• The largest application market will continue to be in chemical and polymer manufacturing, with $50 million in sales forecast for 2009.
• A technology to watch is micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). It could make “spectrometry on a chip” a reality.

INTRODUCTION

Process spectroscopy is an area of process monitoring using spectroscopic equipment similar to that manufactured for the analytical laboratory, combined with hardware, software and monitoring strategies adapted to a manufacturing environment. As such, the process spectroscopy industry combines aspects of the analytical laboratory instrument and process control instrument industries.

While technologies contributing to process spectroscopy have continued to improve productivity, technological development alone is not adequate to explain the market or predict its growth. In addition, the process spectroscopy equipment industry has witnessed both greater consolidation and greater fragmentation over the past five years, with mergers and acquisitions of long-established companies occurring on the one hand, and increased participation in the market, particularly in technology development areas, from relative newcomers, on the other.

This BCC study addresses the need to identify, delineate and quantify these and other market and technology drivers to enable a realistic prediction of worldwide equipment sales in the near-term future. The report updates one published in January 1999. This iteration addresses the global market for process spectroscopy equipment for the period through 2009.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The report contains:

• A detailed comparative analysis of existing and emerging technologies
• A discussion of changes in the global process industry and their impact on the projected demand for process spectroscopy hardware
• Quantitative assessment of the presence of each technology in the several manufacturing process markets with forecasts to 2009
• Analysis of key industries in which process spectroscopic instruments play important roles
• Analysis of primary and supporting technologies; patent data by instrument, application and company
• Profiles of large, mid-size, and small instrument manufacturing firms and a directory of companies and their products.

INFORMATION SOURCES

Extensive interviews with representatives of companies manufacturing process spectroscopy equipment and supporting technologies were conducted. Technical consultants familiar with emerging equipment developments and strategies were interviewed as well. Thus, first-person interviews formed the primary database for the study. Extensive literature searches were conducted to provide up-to-date information on markets and trends. The U. S. patent database was thoroughly searched to provide information on the latest instrument and technology developments. Technical and periodicals were culled for information relevant to process spectroscopic instrumentation within key industries considered in the study.

ANALYST'S CREDENTIALS

Barbara Grant is a consultant in electro-optics whose technical background includes spectrometry and spectroradiometry, light measurement, and imaging. She specializes in technical studies and analysis, and is the author of the earlier BCC Report, G-228 The Process Spectroscopy Market. She has been a contributing editor to "Photonics Spectra" and "Biophotonics International" magazines, writing on diverse applications of electro-optical technologies. She received the M.S. degree in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona in 1989 and a B.A. in mathematics from San Jose State University in 1983.