The market for wireless devices and equipment in process manufacturing will grow to over $1.1bn in 2012, a growth rate of 32 percent per year, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study "Wireless in Process Manufacturing Worldwide Outlook." The data in this study is from 2007 and includes a forecast of market growth through the year 2012.
The market will also change its character during the period, as new standardized wireless sensing products and hardened wireless local area networks (LAN) penetrate the process market. Deployment of wireless in continuous process manufacturing industries (e.g., chemicals, oil and gas, oil refining, electric power, mining and metals) has lagged other manufacturing industries, such as automotive and aerospace, because process plants are often larger and located mainly outdoors, and because the presence of dangerous and potentially explosive materials mandates use of equipment carrying special certifications.
Wireless process sensing accounts for only a small portion of the total market, but according to ARC, it will become the largest segment during the next five years, as the market absorbs a deluge of new wireless sensing products that comply with wireless versions of industrial standards.
Source: ARC Advisory Group, http://www.arcweb.com