Ausblick 2025

The machine vision industry is entering 2025 amid a complex mix of challenges and opportunities. After a difficult 2024, which saw declining financial transactions and component sales, signs of market stabilization are emerging. The latest data points from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) suggest a shift in sentiment, with anticipated increases in new orders, production, and hiring. This momentum, if sustained, could lead to a stronger market in 2025.

While the automotive sector, traditionally a key driver of machine vision adoption, remains in flux due to delays in electric vehicle projects and potential tariff disruptions, other industries are showing signs of growth. Non-automotive markets, including food&beverage, life sciences, and logistics, are seeing increased demand for vision-enabled automation. Food processing and consumer goods manufacturers are ramping up investments in automation to improve efficiency, ensure quality control, and address persistent labor shortages. The life sciences, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries are also experiencing a surge in automation demand, particularly for precision inspection and quality assurance. Logistics and e-commerce fulfillment continue to expand, further driving adoption of machine vision for package sorting, quality verification, and robotics guidance in distribution centers. The semiconductor industry is another promising market for machine vision systems. Government-backed initiatives and reshoring efforts in semiconductor manufacturing have led to significant new investments in fabs, and this could lead to strong demand for vision technologies used in wafer inspection, metrology, and defect detection. As domestic semiconductor production scales up, machine vision companies are likely to see increased opportunities in this sector.

Despite these positive trends, challenges remain. The destocking trends seen through the end of 2024 have had a dampening effect on machine vision component suppliers. While this trend is expected to ease as demand stabilizes, it could lead to a slow start in 2025 for some segments of the industry. Additionally, broader economic uncertainty persists. High interest rates have made capital expenditures more costly, prompting some companies to delay automation investments. Meanwhile, the rapidly changing tariff environment holds domestic and near-shore production in key industries like automotive in a state of uncertainty. However, with interest rate cuts on the horizon and the potential for a trade-environment detente (or at least a „cold peace“), this dynamic could improve, unlocking new investment in vision-enabled automation and breathing some life back into a major driver of automation in the US.

Technology trends are also shaping the industry’s outlook. AI-powered image analysis continues to drive innovation, enabling machine vision systems to handle more complex inspections, defect detection, and real-time decision-making. Increasingly, AI is being deployed alongside 2D and 3D vision technologies to enhance system accuracy and adaptability. The growing use of 3D vision in collaborative robots and humanoid robotics is another factor fueling market demand, particularly in logistics, warehousing, and flexible automation applications. Meanwhile, hyperspectral imaging is gaining traction in specialized sectors such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, agriculture, and food processing, where precise analysis is required.

Industry sentiment reflects a cautious outlook. A3’s Automation Index suggests that manufacturers anticipated rising new orders and production activity in late 2024, setting the stage for improved market conditions in 2025. However, other predictions remain mixed. While some industry experts expect flat or modest growth in machine vision component sales, others see an eventual return to expansion as the economy stabilizes and demand rebounds. A3’s most recent survey found that 43% of respondents expect the North American machine vision market to remain flat over the next six months, 31% anticipate a decline, and 26% foresee growth. This machine-vision specific outlook is balanced by a slightly better outlook held by the general automation industry; with orders, production, backlogs, lead times, and pricing all moving in a more positive direction in our Q4 edition of the Sentiment Survey.

As the industry navigates these shifting dynamics, the outlook for 2025 is one of cautious optimism. While economic uncertainties and sector-specific challenges persist, the long-term trajectory for machine vision remains strong. Growing adoption in non-automotive industries, advancements in AI-driven vision technology, and continued growth in robotics applications like collaborative robots, AMRs, and humanoids are bright spots for market demand. As economic conditions improve and automation adoption accelerates, the machine vision industry is well-positioned for renewed growth in the coming years.

www.automate.org

Author: Alex Shikany, Executive Vice President, Association for Advancing Automation (A3)

Most companies in the machine vision sector experienced a weak 2024, with some reporting significant year-on-year declines in revenue. Although inflation receded from the highs of 2023, many end-users continued to unwind large inventories assembled during the pandemic, softening demand for machine vision. At the same time, lower consumer spending power weakened demand in many manufacturing verticals that are traditional users of machine vision.

Looking ahead to 2025, the EMVA sees a cautious outlook for the vision tech market. The recent election in the US removed uncertainty regarding the direction of travel of the world’s largest economy, but early actions suggest that America will act on a more transactional basis and the threat of tariffs remains, ultimately raising the chances of regional trade wars that can only suppress market growth.

Chinese markets have struggled to regain their pre-Covid momentum, and additional pressure from the US may accelerate the trend of large companies diversifying their supply chains outside of the Chinese mainland, creating opportunities for European manufacturers in regions such as South East Asia and India.

Europe is in a complex position, with its largest economies struggling to find sustained growth, while political sentiment is moving away from European unity at a time when other major economic blocs are retrenching to protect their own market positions.

Machine vision is a global market and also supports many industrial and non-industrial verticals and addresses a strong strategic need. These factors create resilience in the vision market and will continue to drive the medium-term growth of the industry. However, 2025 will likely see another weak trading year, but with companies seeing results that partly reflect their own particular exposure to different regional and vertical markets.

www.emva.org

Author: Dr. Chris Yates, President, EMVA

As we step into 2025, the Machine Vision market in India and South East Asia is poised for remarkable growth and transformation. Despite the global economic challenges faced in 2024, with major economies experiencing recession, India has demonstrated resilience and robust performance.

India reported an impressive average year-over-year production growth of +4.2% over the first eleven months of 2024. This growth aligns with India’s top rank in the sentiment score of its manufacturing industry, which recorded an average reading of 57.6 during the same period. A score above 50 indicates positive sentiment.

The beginning of 2025 has started on a positive note, with revenues from machine vision equipment expected to grow at strong double-digit percentage levels. This optimistic outlook is supported by several key factors driving the growth of the Indian manufacturing industry. The trend of decoupling from China and the availability of cutting-edge vision and automation solutions for world-class manufacturing operations are just a few. Following massive influx of foreign direct investments, the Indian manufacturing sector is projected to reach $1 trillion in FY 2025-26.

The domestic members of the IMVA need skilled machine vision engineers and a range of machine vision hardware and software, from low-cost solutions to cutting-edge technology. The IMVA is committed to facilitating collaboration between its members of international and Indian machine vision players and academic institutes to meet these needs and capitalize on the many opportunities 2025 presents.

www.imva.in

Author: Ronald Müller, Public Relations, Indian Machine Vision Association (IMVA)

Die herausfordernde Lage für die europäische Bildverarbeitungsindustrie hält an: Der VDMA prognostizierte bereits zur Vision einen Umsatzrückgang von -10% für 2024 für die europäische Bildverarbeitungsindustrie und für 2025 noch keine Erholung. Diese Prognose gilt nach wie vor.

Weltweit, und besonders in Europa, hält die Phase der Unsicherheit und Investitionsschwäche an. Besonders das verarbeitende Gewerbe, das mit rund 70% Marktanteil der wichtigste Abnehmer für Bildverarbeitung ist, zeigt eine schwache Nachfrage. Ein Lichtblick im schwierigen Jahr 2024 war die Weltleitmesse Vision. Sie zeigte: das Interesse an der Bildverarbeitung und Automatisierungslösungen ist ungebrochen stark. Die langfristigen Wachstumsperspektiven sind intakt. Während der klassische Maschinenbau schwächelt, entstehen neue Absatzmärkte: Rund 30% des Branchenumsatzes entfallen inzwischen auf nicht-produzierende Bereiche. Besonders intelligente Verkehrssysteme, Logistik sowie medizinische Geräte sind Wachstumstreiber.

Die Weltwirtschaft wuchs im Jahr 2024 laut Internationalem Währungsfonds (IWF) mit 3,2% erneut nur moderat und lag unter dem historischen Durchschnitt (2000-19) von 3,7%. Die Maschinenbauproduktion war in den Industrieländern rückläufig. In den USA betrug der Rückgang -2%, in Japan -4%. Noch schlechter lief es in der EU: über alle elf Monate 2024 hinweg wurden im europäischen Binnenmarkt (EU-27) fast -7% weniger Maschinenbauerzeugnisse hergestellt. Etwas besser lief es in Spanien (-2%) und Italien (-4%). Allein in China stieg die Maschinenbauproduktion 2024 um +3,6%.

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Lage bleibt angespannt

Die Lage im europäischen Maschinenbau und insbesondere in der Robotik und Automation bleibt angespannt. Das Warten auf die Trendwende geht weiter. Es fehlt an Dynamik auf wichtigen Absatzmärkten, aber auch in Europa. Einige Indikatoren lassen auf eine Entspannung ab Herbst 2025 hoffen. Offen ist, welchen Einfluss mögliche neue Zölle auf den europäischen Maschinen- und Anlagenbau im Jahr 2025 haben. Basierend auf neusten Umfragen, erwartet der VDMA für die deutsche Robotik- und Automationsbranche für 2025 einen Umsatzrückgang von -9%. Besonders die Abhängigkeit von der Automobilindustrie und Standortnachteile belasten. Um international wettbewerbsfähig zu bleiben, sind politische Reformen erforderlich. Ziel muss sein, die Rahmenbedingungen für den Maschinen- und Anlagenbau so zu gestalten, dass Unternehmen auch in Zukunft erfolgreich und wettbewerbsfähig bleiben. Doch auch die Unternehmen müssen die eigene Wettbewerbsfähigkeit in den Fokus nehmen, sagte zuletzt Dietmar Ley, der Vorsitzende des VDMA Fachverband Robotik+Automation: mehr Tempo bei Innovationen, mehr Agilität, um schneller auf die Kundennachfrage zu reagieren und sich von Wettbewerbern aus dem Ausland abzusetzen. Das Thema ´Wettbewerbsfähigkeit steigern´ ist daher eines der Schwerpunktthemen für den VDMA Fachverband Robotik + Automation.

www.vdma.org

Autorin: Anne Wendel, Director, VDMA Machine Vision