The automation market is growing at a remarkable rate. According to the Motion Control Association, the number of motion-control products that were shipped worldwide grew by 9 percent over the course of the first three quarters in 2014. While that statistic is impressive on its own, it’s even more significant when you put it into perspective. The motion-control industry generated $2.3 billion by that point, making the 9 percent increase nothing short of incredible.
While motion-control grew as a whole, the biggest growth was in AC motors and motion controllers. AC motors increased by nearly 60% percent and motion controllers grew by 36 percent. This boom in motion control shouldn’t come as a shock. Automation is becoming standard practice in new industries every day.
What’s the reason for this high demand? It’s not that people are just now hearing about automation and motion control. It’s that the technology is finally accessible and versatile enough to lend itself to industries other than packaging and manufacturing. That and people are seeing just how important automation can be for a business.
But what does all of this growth mean for the manufacturing and packaging industries? They’re industries that put automation to use way before anyone else. Are they doomed to be like those people who constantly remind everyone that they liked something before it was cool, like it should some how earn them some sort of reverence? Not quite.
The higher the demand for motion-control and automation, the better the technology becomes. If nobody wants something, why put time and funding into bettering it? The fact that automation is incredibly popular right now means that the technology will be pushed further and further. It doesn’t matter if you have been in an industry that’s been using automated machinery for decades, months, or yet to use it, everyone will benefit from increased technology in automation.