Machine Vision Market Grows in 2006

According to the most recent Quarterly Machine Vision Report/Newsletter from machine vision consultancy Vision Systems International (VSI), the North American machine vision market appears to have grown substantially in 2006 – about 14.4% reaching $1,517M, with most of the growth driven by application-specific machine vision systems targeted at applications in the semiconductor and electronic industries. The North American market for configurable machine vision products (frame grabbers, smart cameras, embedded vision computers, etc.) only increased 4.6% to $331.7M. At the same time, the North American machine vision industry saw revenues increase 15.8% to $3,155M from worldwide sales, while the North American suppliers of configurable machine vision systems saw their worldwide sales increase 8.1% to $573.8M.

According to Nello Zuech, President of VSI, the first half of 2006 was better than the second half. Since the momentum going into 2007 appears to be consistent with economic forecasts for the US economy in 2007, suggesting the U.S. market for machine vision will most likely be flat in 2007. The real challenge facing the U.S. machine vision market in 2007 is the slowing down of three major drivers for machine vision: the semiconductor capital equipment, auto and housing industries.  It seems that for 2007 the North American machine vision market will at best be flat. On the other hand, the North American machine vision industry could see modest gains as the economies of European countries and Asian Pacific countries appear to be healthy and growing.

Vision Systems International is an independent business consultancy concentrating on the machine vision market. For more information, e-mail Nello Zuech at vsii@aol.com.

AIA Presents Achievement Award

ANN ARBOR, MI -- David Dechow, president of Aptúra Machine Vision Solutions, is the recipient of the 2007 Automated Imaging Achievement Award.  The award, which was presented to Dechow by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA) at the annual AIA Business Conference in Orlando, Florida, honors industry leaders for outstanding contributions in industrial and/or scientific imaging.

Dechow founded Aptúra Machine Vision Solutions in 2003 and it serves customers in the US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto- Rico and the Pacific Rim.  Aptúra specializes in general purpose machine vision integration, and keeps up technologically with the expansion of the machine vision component market, including smart cameras and sensors, embedded smart cameras, 3D technologies, and PC based machine vision including Camera Link^® and GigE Vision™ cameras.

Dechow  served on the AIA Board of Directors for fourteen years, including a two-year term as president and a term as a member of the Automation Technologies Council (ATC) governing board.  He began his career as a software programmer and engineer at Martin Systems in Lansing, Michigan (an integration company).  Following a brief stint at vision component manufacturer Intelledex Corp., Dechow co-founded the successful Insight Integration Inc., which was acquired by ISRA Vision Systems. He has written over twenty articles on machine vision technology, integration and business that have been published in various industry journals and magazines.

For more information on AIA, visit www.machinevisiononline.org.

WIXOM, MI -- CogniTens, a provider of comprehensive dimensional measurement solutions headquartered in Israel, announced that it ranked 358 on the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). CogniTens President and CEO Ofer Sandelson made the announcement.

 
 Look for these articles in the next issue of VISION & SENSORS

- Smart Cameras

- Lighting

- Machine Vision Integration