Industrial-system sales return to billion-dollar level
A survey conducted by David Belforte, editor of Industrial Laser Review, of suppliers to the world`s industrial-laser and systems markets produced a consensus view of better-than-expected 1995 results and forecasts of a repeat for 1996. Total industrial-laser sales for 1995 (unadjusted) grew 21% in units and 13% in dollars over the adjusted 1994 numbers. Higher-than-expected unit sales of low-power sealed-off CO2 lasers and more substantial growth in low-power Nd:YAG laser sales were the main contributors to the above-forecast growth rate. These lasers, when integrated into material-processing systems, returned system revenues to the billion-dollar level last experienced in 1992, before the capital-equipment market in Europe and Japan suffered serious declines.
