Market Overview

The global market of FA cameras and machine visions (to be expressed as “MV” hereafter) for FY2020 reached 329,300 million yen (97.2% YOY), based on the sales at businesses, which includes the Japanese market attaining 99,500 million yen (96.5% YOY). Slowdown of the market owes to influence of COVID-19, which led to postponement of capital investments and temporary deferral or cancellations of business deals as vendors could not meet their customers in person. Nonetheless, because the timing of orders and shipments differ by vendor, the market did not drop to the extremes at once. 
Viewing at the trends by demand field, the FA cameras market expanded stably in the field of electronic/electrical parts even during COVID-19 crisis. However, due to growing adoption of cashless payments and paperless trends in recent years, inspection demand for banknotes or printed matters are diminishing. In the MV market, demand rose for semiconductors and electronic/electrical parts, as well as for FPD (Flat Panel Display), foods, cosmetics, and medical drugs. Moreover, because of a sharp rise in demand for face masks and upsurge of online shopping during COVID-19 crisis, use of MV for non-woven fabrics and corrugated cardboards increased. 

Noteworthy Topics

FA Camera/Machine Vision Market Ballooning in China

In recent years, China has grown rapidly to become a huge presence in the global market of FA camera/MV. Against the background of inflating cost for labor, demand is rising in China for streamlining production at plants using FA cameras and automation by adoption and utilization of MV. 
Even during COVID-19 calamity, the Chinese market recovered quickly; orders are on the rise from the latter half of FY2020, growing at a much faster pace than the previous fiscal year. In particular, in the line sensor camera market, China makes up for the shrinkage in other areas of the world, maintaining slight growth of the global market. 

Future Outlook

The global market of FA camera/MV is projected to attain 342,000 million yen for FY2021. By growing at a CAGR of 4.1% from FY2021 to FY2026, the market is expected to expand to 418,900 million yen by FY2026. In the outlook, the market will be making an upward turn from FY2021 as business deals and capital investments postponed because of COVID-19 crisis will resume hereafter. While the Chinese market balloons, demands in the Western market and the Japanese market are forecasted to show gradual recovery from the end of 2020. 
In the Western market and the Japanese market, utilization of AI-loaded products for quality improvements and further use of FA camera/MV for production process automation are anticipated. Still, although FA camera and MV are included in capital investment plans, the investment has neither urgency nor high-priority. For this reason, it is forecasted that the markets other than China will take 2 to 3 years to recover to the level of FY2019, the level before the outbreak of COVID-19. In particular, the Japanese market is expected to recover at slower pace compared to other areas. 

Research Outline