ARC Advisory Group report: PLC market feels COVID-19 impact

New research from the ARC Advisory Group on the programmable logic controllers (PLC) and programmable automation controllers (PAC) market reveals that PLCs and PACs continue to be the preferred choice among machine builders and end users. This applies not just for traditional machine control, but also increasingly in process and infrastructure applications. The market contracted slightly in 2019 after two strong years of growth, and is taking a strong hit in 2020 due to the coronavirus.

“The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is changing how industrial processes are controlled and monitored, but PLCs are growing with and adapting to the new challenges rather than being replaced by alternate technologies. Based on established industrial technology, PLCs are valued for their speed, repeatability, reliability, and ease of deployment and maintenance.”
 
“PLCs have gained a lot of speed and new functionality in the past decade, allowing some users to switch to smaller PLCs. This tactic is especially popular with cost-conscious machine builders, and is changing the market dynamics,” according to David Humphrey, Research Director at ARC Advisory Group and key author of ARC’s PLC and PLC-based PAC Global Market Research report. “The coronavirus will set the market back in 2020, and the study includes an updated forecast that reflects how and when we expect the PLC market to recover in the coming years,” added Humphrey.

In addition to providing specific market data and industry trends, this ARC market research also identifies and positions the leading suppliers to this market and provides and summarizes their relevant offering. In alphabetical order, these include: Mitsubishi, Rockwell Automation, and Siemens.

This ARC research explores current and historical market performance and related technology and business trends, identifies leading technology suppliers, and provides five-year global forecasts for the PLC and PLC-based PAC market. This new research is based on ARC’s industry-leading market research database, extensive primary and secondary research, and proprietary economic modelling techniques.