North American machine vision sales soar in third quarter

Total machine vision sales in North America climbed 23 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2012, according to new statistics from AIA, the industry’s trade group.

Total machine vision sales include sales of machine vision systems and components. The machine vision systems category, which includes application-specific machine vision systems (ASMV) and smart cameras, continued driving overall growth with a 25 per cent increase over third quarter 2012. Sales of machine vision components were also up in third quarter 2013, growing 10 per cent over the third quarter of last year. Cameras, lighting and imaging boards all increased from third quarter 2012, while optics and software decreased mildly.

“We are happy to see the machine vision market in North America continue its growth this year,” said AIA president Jeff Burnstein. “We have now seen three consecutive quarters of growth, and with manufacturing indicators in North America remaining strong into the fourth quarter, we are optimistic about what the year-end results will show.”

Alex Shikany, AIA’s director of market analysis, added: “Sentiment from industry experts is mixed regarding machine vision sales heading into next year. For machine vision components, 71 per cent of industry experts believe we will see an increase in sales over the next six months. However, nearly three quarters of the experts expect total system sales to be flat.”

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