Automation continues to drive motion control

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 31, 2006

The worldwide market for general motion control is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.1% over the next five years.

A primary factor contributing to general motion control (GMC) market growth during the next five years is the continued infusion of capital for automation in many industries and regions driven by globalisation.

The worldwide market for GMC is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% over the next five years.

The market was over $5 billion in 2005 and is forecasted to be nearly $7 billion in 2010, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study: "General motion control worldwide outlook, market analysis and forecast through 2010".

GMC market trends are primarily driven from a manufacturer's goal to achieve lower lifecycle costs of plant equipment while fulfilling overall business objectives to quickly produce product variants in small lots on the same manufacturing lines.

"While faster-cheaper-better remains a continuing background trend in the GMC market, these goals translate into high productivity, flexibility, and agility which GMC equipment provides", according to Senior Analyst Himanshu Shah, the GMC study's principal author.

At the heart of these dynamics is increasing demand for flexibility and agility in manufacturing operations at the lowest possible lifecycle cost of plant equipment.

GMC equipment plays a key role in achieving this.

To this end, users are asking for solutions that provide seamless integration, reduce packaging size, and offer ease of installation.

Higher visibility of networking technology activities in the GMC market is in the Ethernet-based network arena.

Ethernet-based networks tuned for motion control are opening the door to high-end application performance by enabling levels of speed, capacity and determinism unthinkable just a few years ago.

For optimal solutions, GMC suppliers collaborate with machine builders' electrical and mechanical engineers to create the mechatronic solution, an integrated view of mechanics, electronics, and motion control software.

These solutions bring greater economic benefits for users because they offer an integrated system approach to achieving enhanced performance rather than the independent optimisation of components.

Integrated safety in new motion control solutions supports a wide variety of safe drive functions without the use of external safety hardware.

These functions greatly increase machine productivity by allowing operators to perform tasks without removing power from the drives.

The global flat panel display (FPD) market has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years, and few Japanese suppliers have benefited by targeting related semiconductor and LCD manufacturing equipment.

In addition to the quantitative assessment of the GMC market, this report provides an insightful analysis of the products and strategies of leading GMC suppliers and explores issues that will impact this business in the future.