Machine Vision for Industry and Automation 2021

THE MACHINE VISION MARKET IS GROWING RAPIDLY DRIVEN BY TECHNOLOGY, APPLICATIONS, AND INDUSTRIAL UPGRADES

Machine vision’s key components have changed to CMOS image sensors (CIS) from chargecoupled devices (CCDs). This greatly simplifies the complexity of the industrial cameras. Compact cameras, including smart cameras, can more easily be developed and are more suitable for use in various industrial environments. Yole Développement (Yole) estimate that CMOS image sensors now account for over 90% of the industrial camera market. As the development of 3D technology and multi-spectral imaging in industrial cameras also promotes the finer and more extensive application of machine vision in industry, their penetration will increase further. With the development of the underlying technology, the application scenarios for machine vision products is becoming more extensive. This behind-the-scenes technology further promotes the overall development of consumer electronics, automotive and other manufacturing industries, improving manufacturing accuracy, meaning that the demand for machine vision technology will continue to increase.
Each country and region’s upgrading of industry, including Industry 4.0, will greatly accelerate the development of automation and promote the development of machine vision.

Yole expects the global industrial camera market to expand from $3.6B in 2020 to $5.5B in 2026, at 7.4% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR).

MACHINE VISION CAMERA INDUSTRY CHAIN: FROM FRAGMENTED TO CENTRALIZED

As software further improves camera function, leading players like Cognex and Basler have acquired software companies to strengthen their competitiveness. Smaller players are merging and gradually becoming larger players, for example TKH Group has merged many smaller camera players.

There have also been strong alliances, including upstream and downstream mergers to become giants, such as the recent Teledyne acquisition of
FLIR. We have also seen some Chinese players come to the surface, such as Hikrobot, Huaray, and Imavision. They have grown by absorbing
the technology of external players. As global manufacturing shifts to China, the Chinese machine vision market will be huge. Chinese machine vision players will therefore become important to watch in this market.

The supply chain of key image sensor components has centralized. Yole estimates that the top five camera players have 53% market share in industrial cameras. The top three image sensor players have more than 78% market share.

ROBOTICS AND AUTONOMOUS CARS ARE PROBABLY THE NEXT DRIVER FOR MACHINE VISION

The covid-19 pandemic requires social distancing and less human contact to avoid virus proliferation. In that context, vision-guided robots (VGRs) were
set up in more working environments. As robots replace human workers, due to either an aging population or constantly rising labor costs, VGRs also have a part to play, being able to perform similar tasks. Be they for inspection, counting, positioning, or picking, for example, rising adoption leads the robotics industry and machine vision market to greater heights.

Autonomous cars are vehicles capable of sensing their environment and operating without human involvement. And that’s not just passenger cars,
but other autonomous vehicles, such as logistics trucks, and all kinds of autonomous moving tools that require multiple vision cameras to recognize
surrounding objects.

Both products are driven by machines instead of human beings, which will be revolutionary and will create a huge market for machine vision.

Yole estimates that the cameras in this area will generate $25M revenue in 2020 and reach $211M in 2026 with a CAGR of 43%.

3M, Adimec, Allied Vision Technologies (AVT), ams, ARH Inc., Axis AB, Banner Engineering, Basler AG, Baumer Electric AG, BaySpec, Bosch Security Systems , Brandywine Photonics, Buhler GmbH, CA Traffic Limited , Chromasens GmbH, Cognex Corp., Compac, Cubert GmbH, Daewon GSI Co,. Ltd., Datalogic, Daheng, Delta Optical Thin Film A/S, Delta Technology Corp., Digital Recognition, ELSAG, FLIR Integrated Imaging Solutions Inc. , Flo-Mech, Genetec Inc. , Gilden Photonics,  Gpixel, Hamamatsu Photonics KK, Huaray, Headwall Photonics, Hefei Angelon Electronics Co., Hefei Growking, Hikrobot, Optoelectronic Technology Co., Hefei Meyer Optoelectronic Technology Inc., Hefei Taihe Optoelectronic Technology, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., Honeywell, HySpex, IC Intracom, ifm electronic GmbH, Imaging Development Systems GmbH (IDS), JAI A/S, Jenoptik Traffic Solutions UK Ltd., Key Technology, Keyence, Leica Microsystems, LMI Technologies, Lumenera Corp., Matrox, MAV Systems, Microscan Systems, Inc. , Motorola, Newland, NDI Recognition Systems Ltd. (NDI-RS), Neology Inc. , NET GmbH , Nikon, Nippon Electro-Sensory Devices Corp. (NED), Nippon Electro-Sensory Devices Corporation, Northrop Grumman, Olympus Corporation, Omron, Omnivision, Omron Sentech Co., ON Semiconductor, Photometrics, Pixelteq, Q-Free ASA , Quercus Technologies , Resonon, Satake Group, Sesotec GmbH, Sick AG, Siemens AG, Smartek vision, SmartSens, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation,  Specim, Stemmer Imaging, SVS-Vistek GmbH, Symbol, Tattile SRL, Teledyne Dalsa, Teledyne e2v, Thorlabs, TKH Group, Tomra Sorting Solutions, Toshiba Teli Corp., Unitech Electronics Co., Viavi Solutions, Vieworks Co., Vision Components GmbH, Wasp Barcode Technologies, Xenics, Ximea GmbH, Zebex Industries Inc., Zebra Technologies, and more.

Glossary and definitions 2

Table of contents 3

Report objectives 5

Scope of the report 6

Report methodology 9

What we got right, what we got wrong 10

About the authors 11

Companies cited in this report 12

Executive summary 14

Context 34

• Global market trend
• Structure of machine vision
• History of industrial vision
• Evolution of industrial cameras
• Automation market trend
• Covid-19 impact

Market forecasts 49

• Market segmentation
• Breakdown by main applications
• Camera market overview
• Camera
  • Camera market revenue forecast ($M) – By market segment
  • Camera market volume forecast (kunits) – By market segment
  • Camera market revenue forecast ($M) – By application
  • Camera market volume forecast (kunits) – By application
• Image sensor
  • Image sensor market revenue forecast ($M) – By market segment
  • Image sensor market volume forecast (kunits) – By market segment
  • Image sensor market revenue forecast ($M) – By application
  • Image sensor market volume forecast (kunits) – By application
• Market growth analysis

Supply chain 81

• Industrial vision – merger and acquisition activity
• Industrial vision competitive landscape 2020
• Evolution of machine vision cameras
• Camera supplier breakdown
• Image sensor supplier breakdown
• Industrial vision ecosystem – analysis

Applications 94

• Market segmentation
• Factory automation applications
• Automatic data capture applications
• Automation applications in agriculture
• Automation applications in logistics
• Machine vision – food sorting
• Automatic number plate applications
• Market trend analysis

Technologies 130

• Camera technologies
  • Camera types
  • 3D camera
  • Hyperspectral images
  • Camera lenses
  • Camera interface
• Image sensor
  • Sensor pixel size roadmap
  • CCD to CMOS
  • Global shutter technologies
  • Emerging technologies
  • Camera and image sensor technologies – analysis

Conclusion 184

How to use our data? 188

Yole Group of Companies presentation 189