North American machine vision sales soar 23% in third quarter 2013

Total machine vision sales in North America climbed 23% compared to the third quarter of 2012, according to new statistics from AIA, the industry’s trade group.

Total machine vision sales include sales of machine vision systems and components. The machine vision systems category, which includes application specific machine vision systems (ASMV) and smart cameras, continued driving overall growth with a 25% increase over third quarter 2012. Sales of machine vision components were also up in third quarter 2013, growing 10% over the third quarter of last year. Cameras, lighting, and imaging boards all increased from third quarter 2012, while optics and software
decreased mildly.

“We are happy to see the machine vision market in North America continue its growth this year,” said AIA president Jeff Burnstein. “We have now seen three consecutive quarters of growth, and with manufacturing indicators in North America remaining strong into the fourth quarter, we are optimistic about what the year-end results will show.”

Alex Shikany, AIA’s director of market analysis, added, “Sentiment from industry experts is mixed regarding machine vision sales heading into next year. For machine vision components, 71% of industry experts believe we will see an increase in sales over the next six months. However, nearly three quarters of the experts expect total system sales to be flat.”

AIA and the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) have agreed to harmonize reporting formats in order to provide more comprehensive statistics on machine vision. The exact rollout date for this harmonization effort will be announced soon via Vision Online and social media.

In addition to its sales tracking report, AIA has recently released its updated 2013 Machine Vision Camera Market Study, which is available at a discounted rate to AIA members.