The industry's turnover has doubled within ten years. According to the VDMA, the reason for the boom is that machines and robots are learning to 'see' with image processing systems. "Giving machines and robots eyesight is revolutionizing automation around the world," says Dr Horst Heinol-Heikkinen, Managing Director of Asentics and member of the VDMA Machine Vision Board. However, this key technology is not only being used in the automation of traditional branches of industry, but also in new sectors. Accordingly, the VDMA's forecast for 2016 is an increase in turnover of 8% and therefore 2.2 billion euros.

Europe leads the way in exports

In the German domestic market alone, the industry recorded an increase in turnover of 13% in 2015 compared to the previous year. Other European countries led the way in terms of exports, accounting for 23% of total sales in 2015. Asia followed with 21%, with China alone accounting for 9% of total sales. Growth here was 19% compared to the previous year. North America also recorded strong growth with an increase of 8%. The USA, Canada and Mexico together accounted for 12% of total sales. For the current year, the industry is expecting sales growth of 15% in Asia, 14% in America and 5% in Europe.

The individual sectors

Broken down by sector, the automotive industry remains the strongest customer worldwide, accounting for 22% of total sales. Here, sales of industrial image processing increased by 9% in 2015. The electrical and electronics industry - including semiconductors - follows with a share of just under 13%.

With an average growth rate of 16% per year (2011 to 2015), non-industrial applications make a significant contribution to the growth in sales of machine vision from Germany. According to the VDMA, demand in transport and medical technology as well as logistics is growing even faster than in industrial manufacturing. High potential is also seen in agriculture.