German Machine Vision Market Shows Record Growth of 28.4% / German manufacturers in particular are in great demand as system developers

FRANKFURT, Germany (ots/PROTEXT) - Some 250 companies in theGerman Machine Vision industry can present record-breakingresults for 2000: a growth rate of 28.4% made it possible toexceed the barrier of 1 billion DM for the first time and toachieve sales of 1.105 billion DM (895 million in 1999). In thefuture, automation technology will be even more dominated byMachine Vision systems. According to the market poll 2001, theMachine Vision Group within VDMA is predicting another record-breaking result for the current year: growth rates of 30% or evenmore! Currently only between 15 and 20% of the market potential hasbeen opened up and every day new ranges of application appear. Asan example, Machine Vision - among many other uses - facilitatesthe miniaturization of products, the optimisation of productionprocesses and the technical implementation of the "zero-errors-strategy". 61% of all sales are achieved in quality control andanother 19% in the field of automation of production. Whether forsurface inspection of continuous material like thin foils orsteel bands of several kilometres of length, measurement of gearparts, the reading of optical characters and codes, or control ofthe completeness of circuit boards, Machine Vision systems alwaysensure the reliable identification and 100 per cent control ofall products - rejects can be eliminated in time. In 2000 approximately 67% of sales were achieved through thedistribution of Machine Vision systems, which were specificallymade to meet the customer's needs or to fit into specificapplications. 33% were achieved through production anddistribution of Machine Vision components like cameras, framegrabbers, optics and illumination, processors and software tools.As to the export of German products, system suppliers andintegrators were the main moving spirit and achieved a rise inthe export rate from 35% (1999) to 44% (2000). A guide to thisindustry is available free of charge under rua@vdma.org. In many cases the use of Machine Vision systems that enablemachines and production units to "see", turns out to be thedecisive competitive difference. Often the initial investment isrepaid after a couple of months - then you'll start to earn purecash! ots Original Text Service: VDMA Internet:http://recherche.newsaktuell.de Contact: VDMA FachabteilungIndustrielle Bildverarbeitung Lyoner Strasse 18 D-60528 FrankfurtGermany Phone: +49-69-6603-1501 Fax: +49-69-6603-1689 E-mail:rua@vdma.org Internet: www.vdma.org IBV-2001/1 Manfred Hock +4969 66 03-1466 +49 69 66 03-2466 manfred.hock@vdma.org

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