Sales of machine vision components and systems in North America jumped 60 percent in the second quarter of 2010 over the same period in 2009, according to new statistics from the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the industry's trade group.
 
Second quarter sales were also up 20 percent over the first quarter of 2010, indicating an acceleration in this year's market recovery.
 
The Quarterly Machine Vision Sales Tracking Report showed that sales were robust in all major machine vision supplier markets, including cameras, lighting, optics, imaging boards, software, application-specific machine vision systems and smart cameras. 
 
AIA noted that 65 percent of companies participating in the report expect sales to improve in the second half of 2010 over second quarter 2010 results. Thirty percent anticipate sales at or near the level reached in the second quarter, and just five percent believe that sales will decrease in the second half of the year.
 
"These results clearly show that machine vision companies have succeeded in extending the recovery through the second quarter of 2010," noted Paul Kellett, AIA's director of market analysis. "If industry expectations are correct, the recovery should extend even further with solid growth in the second half of the year."
 
The quarterly tracking report is available to all participating AIA members. For more information, visit www.MachineVisionOnline.org.