Increasing Labor Wages Driving Demand for Surface Vision and Inspection Systems

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

The global surface vision and inspection market is extremely fragmented with over 200 component and end use solution providers in competition. However, the top seven players accounted for around 40% of the market in 2012, finds Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new report. Key players in the market include: Cognex, ISRA VISION, Omron, Perceptron, Adept Technology, and Electro Scientific Industries. The probability of product differentiation in the market is low and number of players is high, thus resulting in a price war among players, suggests TMR. The increased competition is expected to cause consolidation in the market over the coming years.

Manufacturers are concentrating on the inclusion of newer functionalities that fulfills the inspection requirements of customers worldwide. Thus, many of the manufacturers are investing on R&D to enable product innovation.

Need to Reduce Manufacturing Costs Boosts Demand for Surface Vision and Inspection Systems

Manufacturers from across all industries aim for high production, lower manufacturing cost, and process optimization. The necessity of maintaining quality standards is yet another factor that manufacturers have to adhere to. The use of surface vision and inspection systems helps manufacturers find defects in their products prior to dispatch. These systems thus minimize distribution of unacceptable products to customers.  Surface vision and inspection systems also increase production without additional resources and help reduce inventory cost. Thus, these systems are highly in demand.

“Increasing labor wages have led manufacturers from Europe and the U.S. to shift their production units to Asia in order to benefit from lower labor costs,” states a TMR analyst. However, manufacturing powerhouses such as China and India have also started facing the heat of high labor wages. Thus, manufacturers across the globe are expected to increase their investments in surface vision and inspection systems.

End Users Face Integration and Installation Problems

The high technology industries are facing shortage of skilled labors. This acts as a problem because the handling of surface vision and inspection systems requires care and expert management by skilled labor. The cost of training labors for the handling of complex equipment is very high. Moreover, workers lack technical skills and knowhow, thus requiring specialized training, which is very time consuming. Small companies do not have the time or the money to invest on the training of workers. Thus, lack of skilled labors is affecting the growth of the market.

Since the surface vision and inspection market has a large number of component and end user solution providers, the range of products and solutions from different manufacturers differs across industries. This is resulting into integrity and installation problems for end users, owing to a lack of product standardization and co-operation between manufacturers and end users. This is yet another challenge faced by the global surface vision and inspection market.

Technological Advancements to Augment Scope of Machine Vision Market

Technological advancements in machine vision technology such as vision guided robots, smart cameras, and embedded machine vision systems have amplified the scope of the market. Presently, owing to the rising competition and changing economic conditions, there is a need to reduce manufacturing costs and enhance production capacity. However, smart camera systems are not effective in multiple and complex inspections of large manufacturers. As such, advancements in smart camera vision and inspection systems to meet inspection requirements of large size manufacturers represents a huge opportunity for these systems.

According to the report, the global surface vision and inspection market is expected to be worth US$2.30 bn by 2019. By component, the camera segment led in the market in the past and is expected to retain its leading position in the coming years. The camera segment is expected to account for 47.5% of the global surface vision and inspection market. On the basis of system, the computer systems segment is expected to lead in the coming years and account for 72.8% of the market by 2019. By geography, Asia Pacific, followed by Europe, will lead in the market by 2019, predicts TMR.