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These reports analyze the European and North American markets for machine automatic safeguarding
equipment. Each report provides market sizes, segmentations, and forecasts for these products. These
include segmentations and forecasts by consuming industries and applications.
Report Highlights
The European market for the machine automatic safeguarding products studied totaled $751.6
million in 2004 and is forecast to reach $931.8 million in 2007, increasing at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4%. The North American market totaled $250.2 million in 2004 and is forecast
to reach $356.0 million in 2007, increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5%. Factors
contributing to the expected high growth rate include:
- Cost savings due to efficiency gains - The implementation of machine automatic safeguarding
allows users to operate efficient high-speed machinery and equipment without fear of personal injury
or equipment damage.
- General economic trend - The North American economy has grown steadily since the downturn of
2001-2002. This improved business environment has encouraged firms to make capital expenditures,
especially if improvements in efficiency can impact manufacturing costs. In the case of upgrading,
newer replacement equipment will tend to have more safeguarding.
- Safety buses and networking - The creation of safety networks and buses based on existing open
buses and networks, such as AS-I and Profibus, allows users to control and monitor their safety
networks and devices over a distributed I/O network. This reduces cost and improves performance over
hard-wired devices. More complexity and diagnostics will be used to provide safer, more functional
machinery.
- Safety standards and requirements - New standards are being created in North America and the
European Union, as well as a convergence in the requirements between these two regions.
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