Modular instrumentation market to reach €265.6million in 2017
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The global economic slowdown in 2009 has resulted in a 19.1% decline of revenue for modular instrument vendors in Europe, according to analysis from Frost & Sullivan. The analyst states that although sales of modular instrument vendors were affected this year, the downturn also brought back end user focus on lowering test costs.
The report adds that the decelerating manufacturing growth rates in key countries such as the UK, Germany and France are expected to continue driving the industry shift from traditional instrumentation to modular instrumentation in Europe.
Analysis from European Modular Instrumentation Markets finds that the VXI and PXI based test and measurement equipment markets earned revenues of €111.5million in 2010. Frost & Sullivan estimates this to reach €265.5m in 2017, mainly due to increasing demand from the automotive industry and growth of contract manufacturing in Eastern Europe as well as to demand from the telecom design industry in Scandinavia.
Jessy Cavazos, industry director at Frost & Sullivan, said: "There is a large automotive footprint in Europe - particularly in Germany - that is driving demand for modular instrumentation. With many DUTs becoming multichannel, the adoption of modular instrumentation in the automotive industry is bound to increase."
While modular instrumentation is predominantly used in manufacturing applications, it has also made inroads in R&D, especially in design verification and validation in the recent past. Germany is the European leader for R&D spending due to the presence of key players in the automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals and energy industries.
However, Cavazos warns that the economic downturn must not be underestimated. "During times of economic hardship, capital expenditures in test and measurement equipment can be severely affected," said Cavazos. "On the other hand, this situation has caused customers to reevalute their test strategy so as to identify the best way to lower their cost of test, favouring modular instrumentation over traditional instrumentation."
Frost & Sullivan believes instruments vendors need to keep educating the market about the benefits of modular instrumentation. This, it says, includes educating buyers on how it may lower the cost of test and accelerate time to market through case studies and other means.
