Despite Q3 contraction, North American machine vision market sets new record

North American sales of machine vision systems and components grew 6% to $1.8 billion through September, the market’s highest total for the first nine months of a year 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 6% to $1.5 billion in the first half of 2015. Machine vision systems include application specific machine vision (ASMV) systems and smart cameras. ASMV systems increased 8% to $1.3 billion in the first nine months of 2015, while smart cameras declined by 1% to $220.6 million.

Similarly, machine vision component markets have grown this year by 5% to $164.7 million in total. The leading product categories within machine vision components in terms of growth were lighting (22%), imaging boards (10%), and software (9%).

“Experts in the industry continue to be 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. “They are not as optimistic about machine vision system markets, however, as the majority expect them to remain flat in the next two quarters.”

Despite the market’s new record, there was a notable decrease in third quarter performance, due mainly to a contraction in sales of machine vision systems. The systems category saw a 13% decrease in sales from the third quarter of 2014, its first year over year decrease since the fourth quarter of 2012. When combined with the modest 2% growth in machine vision components, total North American sales for machine vision decreased by 11% in the third quarter of 2015.

“We saw indications in the second quarter of 2015 that a cyclical downturn was coming,” Shikany added. “After reaching record high levels at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015, two of the largest categories we measure, ASMV systems and smart cameras have declined substantially. AIA has seen cyclical downturns similar to this in the third quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2013.”

“We are encouraged to see the record year to date performance in 2015 for machine vision sales in North America, but recognize the market’s cyclicality,” said AIA president Jeff Burnstein. “Despite the market cooling in the third quarter, we continue to see more companies than ever before interested in applying machine vision to their operations.”

AIA expects its flagship trade show, The Vision Show, to draw record attendance on May 3-5, 2016 in Boston, Mass. The show will also feature an additional hall, devoted to vision technologies being used in growing applications such as collaborative robotics, life sciences, UAV’s, and more. Registration is now open on AIA’s website to attend and exhibit at The Vision Show in 2016.

AIA also notes continued strong interest in its Certified Vision Professional (CVP) training program. The CVP – Basic level training program will be taught in full at the ITE Show in Yokohama, Japan, from December 3-5, 2015. The training will be taught in Japanese and 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 the show. AIA will also be offering its CVP training, both basic and advanced, at The Vision Show in 2016.