Leaders from the Automated Imaging Association (AIA, www.machinevisiononline.org), the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA, www.emva.org) and the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA, www.jiia.org) recently signed an agreement to cooperatively develop and promote global machine vision standards. The signing took place at the Vision 2009, the 22nd International Trade Fair for Machine Vision and Identification Technologies, Nov. 3-5, in Stuttgart Germany.

Until now, each association has developed industry standards on its own. These legacy standards will remain in place, according to an AIA press release. In the future, if the associations agree on an issue needing standardization, a lead association will develop the standard and the group will then mutually promote the result as a global industry standard, the AIA said. If there is no consensus on the global need for a standard, each association retains the right to develop standards outside the cooperative group.

More awareness

“This accord will benefit machine vision users and suppliers alike by accelerating the pace of standards development, avoiding overlapping efforts, and creating more awareness of new standards,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of AIA.

“This new cooperation in the field of machine vision standards development will play a decisive role in promoting machine vision technology in all markets. It will increase the global information flow during the standards development process and help the standards to become established internationally,” said Patrick Schwarzkopf, EMVA general secretary.

“We’ve worked diligently since JIIA first proposed this idea to prepare a global standardization process that will benefit the industry. It is especially rewarding that this agreement is now signed. We congratulate all of the machine vision players and look forward to further cooperation,” said Shigeo Oka, chairman of JIIA.

Expanding market

Machine vision, which accounts for more than $5 billion in annual sales worldwide, is a critical technology for users in industries such as automotive, electronics, food and beverage, laboratory automation, pharmaceuticals, and security. New markets are rapidly developing in areas such as medical imaging, energy, entertainment, and other non-manufacturing sectors. AIA, EMVA and JIIA believe that new standards can help stimulate the growth of machine vision sales.

Representatives from the three trade groups said they hope to add leaders from other associations in the future as new groups emerge to represent the growing machine vision industry in countries such as China and India.

Automated Imaging Association
www.machinevisiononline.org

European Machine Vision Association
www.emva.org

Japan Industrial Imaging Association
www.jiia.org

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