Sales of machine vision components and systems in North America rose substantially in the third quarter of 2010, according to a recent sales tracking report from the Automated Imaging Association (AIA, www.machinevisiononline.org), an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based trade association. Year-over-year growth hit 68 percent, up from second quarter 2010 at 60 percent and first quarter 2010 at 34 percent, the AIA said in a Jan. 12 press release.
The new report, titled “Quarterly Machine Vision Sales Tracking Report,” showed that sales were robust in all major machine vision supplier markets, including cameras, lighting, optics, imaging boards, software, application-specific machine vision systems and smart cameras.
The report also said that 68 percent of companies submitting data for the report expect sales to improve in the next six reported months—that is, fourth quarter 2010 through first quarter 2011. Of the remaining companies, 28 percent anticipate sales at or near the level reached in the third quarter, and just 4 percent believe that sales will decrease.
“These results are very impressive, leaving little doubt that the recovery in the North American machine vision market is real and sustainable,” said Paul Kellett, AIA’s director of market analysis. “Based on industry expectations, we expect the recovery to continue at least another six months,” Kellett added.
