PLC market expected to hit $10 billion by 2010

Demand for the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), a key automation component in the discrete, hybrid, and process industries, will grow robustly, says ARC Advisory Group. The worldwide PLC market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% over the next five years. The PLC market was nearly $7.

By Staff November 1, 2006

Demand for the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), a key automation component in the discrete, hybrid, and process industries, will grow robustly, says ARC Advisory Group. The worldwide PLC market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% over the next five years. The PLC market was nearly $7.5 billion in 2005 and is expected to grow to more than $10 billion in 2010, according to the study announced in October.

“It is a time to make investments in capital equipment for automation or otherwise lose out on potential opportunities from a reviving global economy,” according to Himanshu Shah, senior analyst and principal author of ARC’s “Programmable Logic Controller Worldwide Outlook.”

Manufacturers will continually be challenged to raise productivity, lower product costs, reduce plant operating costs, and increase return on investment (ROI) to compete in the global market, driving PLC market growth, the study says. Applications for new PLCs also are driven by the need for energy savings, condition monitoring, safety, collaborative manufacturing, and real-time optimization strategies. PLC improvements include functionality, communication capability, size, scalability, software, implementation tools, and diagnostics.

The open-PLC concept, defined by ARC as programmable automation controllers, or PACs, will not replace or supersede the traditional PLC, but it will expand the PLC’s role and play a major part in plant and factory automation today and in the future. For more on PLCs see Product Research this issue.

www.arcweb.com/res/plc