Worldwide batch control market to reach $4.9 billion in five years

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Manufacturing News, Source : The Manufacturer US
Published : 25 Jun 2007 21:36

The worldwide market for batch process control is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.6% over the next five years. The market was $3.2 billion in 2006 and is forecasted to be over $4.9 billion in 2011, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.

“Although the average selling price of hardware will fall over the next five years, it will be more than compensated for by the increase in revenues due to software and services. This indicates that the rate of decline of the hardware price will have lesser significance on the sales price of batch control systems in the future,” according to Asish Ghosh, ARC vice president and principal author of ARC’s “Batch Control System Worldwide Outlook” (www.arcweb.com/res/batch).

The batch control market is experiencing strong accretion primarily due to the growth in food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries, economic growth in Asia and Latin America, and improved economies in North America and Europe. Other reasons for the growth include growing awareness of automation because of batch control standards, demand for flexible production with frequent product changes, an increased need for comprehensive electronic batch reporting and tracking, and demand for replacing legacy systems with more reliable systems.

ARC believes that batch control problems and their solutions are not unique to batch processes, as they can also be applied to continuous and discrete processes, packaging lines, and material storage facilities.

The ANSI/ISA-88 (IEC 61512) batch control standard is providing significant benefits to users and suppliers of batch control systems worldwide. Although the standard is primarily designed for batch processes, it is also being applied successfully in various manufacturing industries. This is because the structure required for flexible manufacturing mirrors the structure required for many batch processes, even though the underlying process is often continuous or discrete. The standard allows collapsibility of the levels of hierarchy, where one or more levels of functions may be eliminated, as needed, making it very adaptable for many different applications. The batch control standards committee always believed that the batch standard models could also be applied to areas that are not strictly batch. Lately, the Make2Pack joint working group effort between the WBF (formerly World Batch Forum) and OMAC (Open Modular Architecture Controls) User Group is developing standards for machine control based on ISA-88 standards.

For more information on this study, go to: www.arcweb.com/res/batch

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