This outlook provides information on the trends in the automation and control market in the Asia Pacific region. It is seen that demand in this region, especially Southeast Asia is only likely to increase. This is also a relatively safer region for investment when compared to the more developed but maturing regions of North America and Europe.

The automation market has evolved with the changing demands of customers, from providing individual control equipment to integrated control systems with multi-functionality capabilities. Not using new technologies will result in inadequate use of resources and decreased performance. Over time, the market may lose its attractiveness if it does not sustain its value-addition capabilities. Manufacturers in future factories will face issues when creating products that cultivate sustainability across the realms of social, environmental, and economic parameters. Sustainability in future factories will transform into a fundamental discipline applied throughout the product lifecycle.

While companies are aware that there could be operational impacts when a new technology is deployed, the impacts must be short lived and not negatively impact the way resources are used. For instance, when machines are connected as end-to-end applications, the platforms can handle a given volume of transactions/events. In this scenario, although there will be teething problems, solutions providers of smart manufacturing technologies also allow for additional capabilities thereby significantly benefiting the user.

In a manufacturing set up, the only way to remain competitive is to understand how the latest networking technologies can increase efficiency when fully utilized. This in turn will bring down costs.

Smart manufacturing gains prominence as emerging markets’ consumption of manufactured goods is increasing. This is because industries that see growing demand also have to identify opportunities to remain competitive. This can be achieved by adopting smart manufacturing techniques in their production processes; most automation companies find this area to be lucrative over time.

Any manufacturing technology should be sustainable and usable in the long run to make it viable for businesses to implement. Going one step further, this also means predicting undesirable process conditions and equipment failures before they occur. These can then be systematically addressed as part of a continuous improvement process.

There are several stakeholders involved in integrated operations and hence it becomes important to clearly outline the roles and responsibilities with well-defined metrics for each.

This research service provides an understanding of the automation and control systems market across Asia Pacific while also identifying the key trends that will impact the market during the next one year (2019).

Author: Krishnan Ramanathan