North American machine vision market sets new record in first half of 2015

North American sales of machine vision systems and components grew 16% to $1.2 billion in the first half of 2015, the market’s highest first half total in history, according to new statistics issued by AIA, the industry’s trade group.

Total machine vision sales include sales of machine vision systems and components. The machine vision systems category saw a year over year increase of 18% to $1.0 billion in the first half of 2015. Machine vision systems include smart cameras and application specific machine vision (ASMV) systems. Smart cameras expanded by 13% to $151.3 million, while ASMV systems increased 19% to $892.3 million in the first half of the year.

Similarly, machine vision components had a strong half with 6% growth to $164.7 million. The leading product categories within machine vision components in terms of growth were lighting (20%), software (8%), and imaging boards (8%).

“We’re happy to see the machine vision market continue its expansion in 2015,” said AIA president Jeff Burnstein. “We’re seeing a wide variety of companies in all industries realize the benefits of implementing machine vision in their operations.”

“Industry experts are optimistic for growth in machine vision cameras, software, and imaging boards in the next six months,” said Alex Shikany, AIA’s director of market analysis. “However, experts expect machine vision systems to remain flat in the next two quarters.”

Despite the record first half performance, the market experienced a slight slowdown during the second quarter of 2015. Over the last four consecutive quarters, the average growth for the machine vision market in North America has been 18%, which is notably higher than the market’s second quarter growth of 10%.

“Machine vision, like many other manufacturing markets, is cyclical in nature,” Shikany added. “The market grew 25% in the fourth quarter of 2014, and followed with a 22% increase in the first quarter of 2015. This is in contrast to its average quarterly growth rate of 16% since the first quarter of 2010. A cyclical normalization like this is something we’ve seen in the past, and typically follows a period of high, sustained performance.”

The technology that is driving the market’s record performance will be on display at AIA’s two new fall events: The first Canadian Machine Vision Conference in Ottawa, October 5-7, and the Vision in Life Sciences Conference in San Diego, November 17-19.

“Both of these events are going to be great for learning about the technology, networking with key players, and determining how to successfully apply vision and imaging,” Burnstein said.

AIA also will offer its full Certified Vision Professional-Basic (CVP) training programs at these events. The training will include the following courses: The Fundamentals of Machine Vision, Image Processing Fundamentals, Beginning Lighting for Machine Vision, The Fundamentals of Camera and Image Sensor Technology, and Beginning Optics for Machine Vision. The CVP-Basic and Advanced certification exams will also be offered at both events, and the training will be structured so attendees can register for the conferences.

In addition to its sales tracking report and industry events, AIA will be releasing its 2015 Global Machine Vision Camera Study later this year.