North American machine vision market sales up 15% through September

Ann Arbor, MI--Machine vision sales in North America rose 15% through the third quarter of 2011, according to new statistics from the Automated Imaging Association (AIA).

After a strong first half, sales fell two percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2010. "After six consecutive quarters of growth, the third quarter results indicate that we may be in for slower growth in the near-term," says Jeff Burnstein, AIA president. Industry executives appear to agree, as the AIA report shows a majority of reporting companies (54%) expect sales to stay at current levels for the next six months. Thirty-four percent expect a decrease while only 14% expect an increase, says Burnstein.

"The modest slowdown in machine vision sales in the third quarter would appear to follow the performance of the manufacturing sector, which has lost some steam as of late," adds Paul Kellett, AIA’s director of market analysis. "A near-term uptick in the expansion of manufacturing sector, however, would most likely resound to the benefit of machine vision companies."

AIA will provide further updates on the machine vision market at the upcoming AIA Business Conference in Orlando, to be held January 18–20, 2012. A panel of industry leaders from North and South America will participate in a session focused on the outlook for the coming year.

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