North American Machine Vision Market Grows 26% In 2000

ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 31, 2001 - North American machine vision market grew 26% in 2000, according to a new study released by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the industry's trade group.

Gains in the machine vision market were fueled by the semiconductor and electronics industries, though 2000 saw significant increase in sales to the pharmaceutical/medical and printing industries.  Total units sold worldwide in 2000 are estimated to be 145,821.

'Machine vision hardware and software costs are declining as performance is improving,' said Jeffrey A. Burnstein, AIA's Executive Director.  'This creates many new market opportunities for machine vision technology in a wider range of industries than ever before.'

While 2001 is off to a weak start for the industry, Burnstein said that this is the result of slowdowns in capital equipment expenditures, not a decline in demand for machine vision.  'We fully expect leading manufacturers to increase their purchases of machine vision once the global economy turns positive again.  Machine vision is an essential technology for many companies and is high on the list of desired technologies for a growing number of manufacturers,' Burnstein noted.

The 2000 worldwide market for machine vision totaled approximately $6.2 billion, with North America accounting for 34%, Japan 30% and Europe 24%. View table and chart .

The new study, titled The Machine Vision Market: 2000 Results and Forecasts to 2005, is available on CD-ROM from AIA, and is priced at $395 for AIA members and $795 for non-members. 

The North American market research and analysis was provided by Nello Zuech, President of Vision Systems International.  European research was conducted by Don Braggins, President of Machine Vision Systems Consultancy.  Results for Japan were provided by Fuji Keizai, Inc. of Japan.

AIA was founded in 1984 and serves as the world's leading resource for machine vision information.  In addition to the annual Machine Vision Market Study, AIA is best known for Machine Vision Online (www.machinevisiononline.org), The Vision Show, the industry's leading trade show and conference, and its annual Business Conference, which brings together top executives from machine vision companies throughout the world.

For complete details on the new market study and other AIA activities, contact AIA Headquarters at 734/994-6088.