A3 announces 2017 Business Forum and record-breaking industry results

The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) has announced its annual A3 Business Forum, a leading networking event for robotics, vision, imaging, motion control and motors professionals.

Scheduled for January 18-20, 2017 at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., the event will host more than 525 global automation executives. Keynotes for the conference feature experts such as ITR Economics analyst Alan Beaulieu sharing the global 2017 economic outlook, and sales intelligence thought leader Sam Richter. A3 also hosts technical breakout sessions at the event, featuring industry experts from Amazon, Microsoft, and other leading vendors and analysts.

Topics include:
● The future of electric vehicles and their impact on automation industry
● Industrial operability from sensor to cloud
● Why intuitive, friendly robots are critical for team adoption

Executives will discuss innovations, analyze how to apply automation breakthroughs, share common challenges and develop strategies to overcome them through discussions on automation, robotics, economics, business transformation, and sales.

“The Forum highlights key trends and issues defining our market,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of A3. “We provide an invaluable resource that helps our members remain competitive in global markets. The Forum is filled with lively discussions among suppliers and customers in a relaxed networking setting where business deals are made.”

Based on results from the recent quarterly survey by A3’s daughter organization Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the first nine months of 2016 was a record-breaking period for the automation industry. A total of 23,985 robots valued at $1.3 billion were ordered from North American companies in the first nine months of 2016, an increase of 7% in units and 3% in dollars over the same period in 2015. The record sales were driven primarily by a 14% increase in orders by automotive OEMs and component suppliers. The food and consumer goods industry ordered 40% more robots compared to last year. RIA estimates North American factories now use 269,000 robots, which is third only to China and Japan.

Similarly, MCMA’s quarterly survey showed that motion control shipments increased 5% in the same period. Sales to date have been driven by strong demand for actuators/mechanical systems (14% to 423 million), electronic drives (12% to $451 million), and motion controllers (6% to $119 million).

AIA quarterly results showed that, while the vision market contracted in the first nine months, Q3 represented a notable increase in performance with cameras gaining 3%, lighting 5%, software 5%, and smart cameras 24%. In total, sales for machine vision components and systems in North America increased by 7% to $574 million in Q3.