ARC report focuses on acceleration of consumer needs balanced with efficiency, environmental issues

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Three new studies authored by the ARC Advisory Group focus on the continued manufacturing growth in Asia, and the region’s need for technology in three key areas: low-power AC drives, PLCs and industrial growth.

With energy efficiency and the environment as key issues, ARC projects an annual growth of 9% a year through 2016. “Most of the Asian countries are growing at a GDP rate of above 6%. The domestic demand-driven economies of China, India, Indonesia, and others have become the destination of choice for major global companies,” the report states. “Automotive, electric power generation, food & beverage, machinery, and other infrastructure related sectors have been the key drivers for low power AC drives growth in the region.”

“New construction activities during 2013 and beyond in Asian countries such as China and India, and the trend towards intelligent buildings, are further demand drivers for additional automation solutions and low power AC drives in mature markets,” said G. Ganapathiraman, country manager for ARC Advisory Group India, and author of the report.

Asia also is the leading market for global PLC and PLC-based PACs, with 38.5% of the world sales. “ARC expects the top five growth industries in Asia to be machinery, automotive, food & beverage, metals & mining, and electronics & electrical in that order, with associated increases in PLC revenues,” the report states. “The power generation industry is also expected to grow at a high rate throughout the forecast period and this augurs well for the growth of the PLC market.”

Ganapathiraman also authored the study, which shows Asia’s sales in the PLC/PAC market will top $4.6 billion by 2016. “Emerging economies, such as India and China will continue to be a growth engine for PLC and PLC-based PAC suppliers as they pursue expansion and improvement of internal infrastructure and manufacturing operations to meet increasing domestic demands, as well as to increase energy efficiency and the quality of their processes,” he said.

China’s economic growth rate continues to be higher than in developed regions, which is fueling optimism that its industrial PC market will continue to expand.

Citing the World Bank projections that China’s economy will grow by 8.4% in 2013, ARC estimates the industrial PC market will grow by 9.4% annually through 2016.

“One of the biggest end user trends impacting the IPC market could be called ’intelligent manufacturing,’ ” the report states. “This trend is driven by the rapidly growing amounts of data generated by industrial applications, both in engineering and in operations. While some of these data are generated to document processes to meet regulatory requirements, many users are using data to optimize running processes in real-time or for process simulation and operator training.

“End user challenges include reducing operating cost, reducing time-to-market while remaining agile, and responding quickly to changes in the marketplace. To overcome these challenges industrial companies are turning to IPC suppliers who have a pulse on the market, understand local needs, and provide customization.” 

“IPC suppliers in China can exploit this growth opportunity by providing one-stop, comprehensive solutions, which are customized to local needs,” said David Cao, country manager for ARC China.

Details on all three reports can be found at www.arcweb.com/market-studies.