Machine Vision Approaching New Sales Record

According to the results of the recent VDMA Machine Vision Market Survey the industry turnover of the machine vision sector in Germany in 2012 almost reached its previous peak value of 2011. It went down from 1.51 to 1.49 billion euro - a one percent drop. Whereas the domestic market contracted by six percent and supplies to European countries shrank by twelve percent, exports in total continued to grow. Business with Asia grew by 13 percent in 2012 (year-on-year) and for the first time exceeded the export volume to the European countries. Deliveries to America increased by twelve percent. The total export ratio of the German machine vision industry increased to 55 percent (2011: 52 percent). After substantial investments of the automotive industry in 2010 and 2011, turnover of machine vision with this sector decreased by almost 25 percent. With a share of 21 percent, however, the automotive sector remains the most important customer within manufacturing. The pharmaceutical, cosmetics and health care sector strongly increased its investments in machine vision (+ 36 percent) as did the rubber and plastics industry (+ 70 percent). Turnover with non-manufacturing applications went up by almost nine percent and for the first time exceeded the share of the automotive industry.