The worldwide market for general motion control systems increased by a double-digit percentage since 2009, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

Suppliers who endured as much as 50% declines in business during the downturn reported a tremendous rebound in shipments, the study says. This renewed growth, first felt in Asia, progressively extended to Europe and North America as well.

The market for general motion control systems was driven by the retooling occurring across a broad swath of industries.

“The value proposition for motion control is now well recognized in the machine building market,” said research director Sal Spada, the principal author of ARC’s study. “It has now become an imperative to offer highly automated machinery to offset labor costs and deliver quality products.”
Resurgence in semiconductor and automotive

Several dominant industries drove the market intensely in 2010. The semiconductor and automotive industries combined to drive this recovery.

Specifically, the semiconductor industry had a tremendous uptick in capital spending in both the front end and back end operations.

Motion control companies that have specialized in this industry experienced nearly triple digit growth in their business. The retooling of the automotive industry enabled many in the general machinery market to increase their machinery output.

The market was driven by the sheer demand for new capital equipment.
Value proposition of networking increases
 
The value proposition for motion control networking is now well recognized in the machine building market. It has now become an imperative to offer networked drive technology in a GMC portfolio.

It is even apparent in the low value, sub-kilowatt drive market where the cost of adding networking was a hurdle.

Today, GMC providers must offer a networking solution to remain competitive.
Asia leads the general motion control market out of the depths

The major Asian motion control suppliers all experienced tremendous growth in their business as a result of the boom in the semiconductor market. Other niche players vertically focused on the semiconductor market also benefited from the large scale capital spending in this industry.

While the semiconductor industry has often been characterized with volatility, the steadily increasing demand for portable smart devices and flat panel displays may add some stability to the market and the Asian region in the long run.
For more on the ARC study, click here.