Motion control moves to recovery

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 1, 2002

Signs of optimism increase in the European market for advanced motion control products.

A new study by Frost and Sullivan underlines the durability of the recovery in advanced motion control product sales.

Amassing sales worth $1.43 billion in 2001, the market is forecast to reach revenues worth $1.82 billion in 2008.

This advance should be supported by declining prices and the potential for enhanced productivity, driving penetration of advanced motion control products into a broadening spectrum of industrial sectors.

"Falling prices have helped increase the viability of advanced motion control products in comparison to cheaper electromechanical alternatives based on pneumatic and hydraulic technologies.

The decrease in prices has positively influenced demand with the resultant volume growth expected to outstrip price reductions, thereby supporting revenue growth", reports Mik Sabiers, Research Manager at Frost and Sullivan.

A major factor in the expansion of advanced motion control systems has been its potential for enhanced productivity.

A growing emphasis on improved productivity and cost reduction in manufacturing processes is building a trend towards the automation of production.

And, with end-users increasingly prepared to pay for electrically automated motion control systems so as to eliminate labour costs and maintain competitiveness, the demand for advanced motion control systems is expected to grow.

Market expansion is also likely to be driven by end-users in industries such as packaging, pharmaceuticals and food processing that have traditionally utilised electromechanical motion control systems.

These sectors are becoming increasingly receptive to the use of advanced motion control products.

Another area gaining importance is the military market, where increased defence expenditure is likely to spur growth.

Rising demand from other high growth potential industries is also anticipated to further the market for advanced motion control products.

The widening use of advanced motion control in these new markets is expected to offset the increasing saturation of demand in the key industrial automation sector, in particular the machine tools segment.

As Sabiers notes, all companies can benefit from an awareness of growth patterns in other application areas, particularly faster growing niche markets that are less likely to attract the attention of major suppliers in the near future.

"More peripheral markets, and particularly the printing sector and processing industries, remain unsaturated and offer strong potential for future growth", he adds.

Technological developments are further expected to aid revenue growth.

The increasing use of PC-based controllers, and more particularly, intelligent drives, is expected to contribute to growth in the advanced motion control market.

Technological changes are likely, however, to have a negative impact on some product segments.

For example, the shift to intelligent drives and the more widespread use of PC-based controls are expected to gradually reduce the need for controllers.

This, in turn, is likely to lead to a substantial moderation in the future growth potential of the controllers market.

While servo motors, servo drives and feedback devices are expected to account for a rising proportion of these revenues, stepper motors, stepper drives and controllers are expected to diminish in relative significance.

With competition intensifying, the competitive landscape is displaying less fragmentation.

The market is currently going through a spate of consolidations, mergers, and acquisitions.

This trend is a reflection of end-users demanding complete motion control systems and favouring multinational suppliers with wide product ranges and international support networks.

Changing end-user requirements, combined with price reductions and the need to achieve scale in manufacturing, are increasingly tipping the balance in favour of larger suppliers as can be seen from the dominant presence of leading multinational competitors, such as Siemens, GE Fanuc, Bosch-Rexroth (Indramat), Rockwell Automation and Danaher, that together account for over one third of revenues in the market.

In total terms, the European market for advanced motion control, which suffered a reversal due to the uncertain economic climate, is starting to show the signs of robust recovery.

Its increasingly visible presence in newly emerging applications is certain to presage a return to the boom days of the past, the study concludes.