The global site of the UK's leading magazine for automation, motion engineering and power transmission
28 March, 2024

LinkedIn
Twitter
Twitter link

IO-Link revenues hit $3.5bn in 2018 and are booming

07 February, 2019

Global sales of IO-Link compatible equipment were worth more than $3.5bn in 2018 and will grow by a further 12.2% in 2019, according to a new study by the analyst, Future Market Insights (FMI). It adds that IO-Link devices accounted for more than 56% of global turnover (almost $2bn) last year, with IO-Link masters accounting for the remainder.

FMI attributes the rapid growth to a combination of factors, including: rapidly expanding communications needed for industrial IoT; the increasing adoption of industrial Ethernet-based systems over fieldbus technologies; Government initiatives to promote industrial automation and the implementation of Industry 4.0; and reductions in the time and cost of developing IO-Link technologies.

“As data communication becomes pivotal for the industrial outcome, adoption of IO-Link systems has gained significant momentum across multiple industry verticals,” says FMI. “The standardised protocol of the IO-Link system allows manufacturers to easily implement affordable communication modules to complement the requirements of the ongoing industrial automation.”

Applications in handling and automated assembly accounted for more than 28% of global IO-Link revenues in 2018. These processes depend on accurate interaction of systems to increase productivity and achieve economical production.

According to FMI, the second-largest revenue source for IO-Link products is intralogistics, which was close behind handling and automated assembly in 2018. This situation is likely to continue in 2019.

The fastest-growing IO-Link application area is packaging. FMI predicts that revenues from this sector will experience a CAGR of 13.4% in 2019.

IO-Link applications in machine tools will account for more than 20% of global revenues in 2019.

The global market for IO-Link equipment will expand with a CAGR of 14.9% in the period to 2027, FMI predicts
Image: Murrelektronik

In terms of end-user markets, the semiconductor and electronics industry is witnessing significant penetration of IO-Link systems and accounted for more than one-third of global IO-Link revenues in 2018.

Adoption of IO-Link is also increasing in the automotive industry which generated the second-largest revenues for the IO-Link market in 2018. FMI predicts that automotive applications will be worth more than $2bn by 2027.

IO-Link is also making inroads into the medical equipment industry which is rapidly adopting automation technologies. The FMI study finds that this market generated $930m in revenues during 2018, accounting for a quarter of the market. It predicts that the market will grow by 13.2% in 2019.

The FMI study finds that Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) is the biggest regional market for IO-Link systems, accounting for almost a third of global revenues. Europe and North America together account for more than 40% of the global market.

FMI predicts that over the period from 2018 to 2027, the global IO-Link market will expand with a CAGR of 14.9%. By 2027, revenues from IO-Link devices (excluding masters) will be worth $5.78bn.




Magazine
  • To view a digital copy of the latest issue of Drives & Controls, click here.

    To visit the digital library of past issues, click here

    To subscribe to the magazine, click here

     

Poll

"Do you think that robots create or destroy jobs?"

Newsletter
Newsletter

Events

Most Read Articles