Macro-level prospects for continued adoption of device-level factory automation networks remain overwhelmingly tempered by the weight of current and future economic pressures felt by OEM machine builders and end users. Within the factory automation marketplace itself, however, continued growth in device network adoption will be primarily determined by the rate at which networked solutions displace conventional hard wiring schemes, a primary value proposition at this level. The worldwide market for Factory Automation Networks at the device level will decline this year but is expected to strongly rebound in 2010 according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.
The emphasis on displacement of existing schemes is true not only for networked versus hardwired solutions, but also within the factory network realm itself. For example, much of the growth in Ethernet-based device networks results from successful competition against traditional serial device networks. “In some quarters, the growing movement toward a single network technology throughout the plant or enterprise increasingly overshadows the compelling wiring savings delivered by traditional serial device networks,” according to ARC Vice President Chantal Polsonetti, the principal author of ARC’s “Factory Automation Networks Worldwide Outlook”.
