by Brianna Crandall — May 23, 2016 — Technavio has released a market research report on the global plant automation solutions market. The rising need to enhance productivity, improve safety, and reduce production costs will foster the prospects for growth in this market. The market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 6% between 2016 and 2020.
The augmented adoption of plant automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, is enabling industries to control, monitor, and manage various plant operations on a real-time basis. This enhances sharing and access to real-time data and information for management level decision making, according to the report.
The rising demand for cyber-secure automation solutions is the primary growth driver for this market, according to the report. There have been considerable cyber threats to plant automation solutions over the past decade. For instance, Stuxnet cyber worms attacked Siemens’ PLC in 2010, affecting the security of a whole plant, reminds the report. The development of foolproof cyber-secure plant automation solutions is expected to impel the prospects for growth in this market until the end of 2020.
The report details the key drivers and trends responsible for the growth of this market and its subsegments, and includes a detailed segmentation of the market by solution type (hardware, software, and services) and by end-users (process industries and discrete industries).
Regions
The report also outlines the market shares for key global regions. At present, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region dominates the market with a value of almost $20 billion, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 9% during the forecast period. Growing demand from the power and cement industry is a major contributor to the growth of the market in this region.
Bharath Kanniappan, lead analyst, Industrial Automation, Technavio Research, pointed out:
With computational analysis of data being recognized as a valuable asset, there has been an increase in the adoption of analytics tools in plant automation. The increased focus on digitization to improve efficiency and flexibility is expected to boost the growth global plant automation solutions market during the forecast period.
Safety compliance
The report points out that regulatory bodies are imposing stringent regulations to minimize chemical contamination and ensure the safety of workers, with legislation such as OHSAS 18001 and OHSAS 29 CFR 1910.107 imposing heavy penalties on flouting the prescribed norms. Hence, more companies are implementing plant automation solutions to ensure regular monitoring of plant operations and processes, and thereby propelling the growth of the market.
Key vendors
The key vendors in the global plant automation solutions market include Siemens, Honeywell, Emerson, ABB, Schneider and Rockwell. The market is primarily dominated by large players that have diverse portfolios and presence in all key regions.
The competitive business environment in this market is anticipated to intensify with the increase in product extensions and technological innovations, coupled with an increase in collaborations and mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The vendors that have the capability to offer cost-effective, customized automation solutions to end-users will gain a competitive edge over their peers, concludes the report.
A more detailed analysis is available in the report, Global Plant Automation Solutions Market 2016-2020. Technavio says it can customize reports by other regions and specific segments upon request.
