Industrial Control & Factory Automation Market Size, Share and Trends

OPPORTUNITY: Increased demand for safety compliance automation solutions

Industrial manufacturing involves several processes that can be hazardous to humans. Fatal accidents can occur during the manufacturing process owing to human errors or mechanical failures. Thus, the manufacturing industry must adopt safety measures to avoid such incidents in the workplace. Safety compliance automation products help reduce the risk of accidents. For instance, safety automation instruments alert operators during emergencies and take certain programmed actions to reduce their impact on human lives. They detect malfunctions in different machines and processes and run diagnostics to come up with solutions at the earliest. Thus, quick and reliable responses are expected from these safety instrument systems (SIS). According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the number of serious workplace injuries and illnesses in the US has dropped significantly from 3.3 to 2.8 per 100 workers from 2018 to 2019, owing to the adoption of safety components and industrial automation.

Several economies in North America and Europe are concerned about the safety of workers operating in hazardous environments. Organizations such as OSHA and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) have formulated industrial safety standards and regulatory measures to monitor and increase the efficiency of industrial processes. International safety standards for machinery are governed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Standard Organization (ISO). Countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) follow the European Norms (EN) industrial safety standards, which are aligned with IEC and ISO standards. These industrial safety standards help achieve a mandated level of industrial safety and performance. Thus, the increasing demand for safety compliance automation products and services acts as an opportunity for the players in the industrial control & factory automation market.

CHALLENGES: Complexity in deployment of industrial control & factory automation solutions

The deployment of industrial control and factory automation solutions is complicated by the need for smooth integration of old and new systems, customization for unique industrial processes, and scalability. Due to varying industrial needs, the deployment of technologies such as MES and SCADA is challenging. Manufacturing and production processes differ from one industry to the other. Various phases involved in the manufacturing process, such as staging and shifting, pose different challenges for the implementation of automation solutions due to the complexity of the hardware infrastructure of the plant floor. Therefore, it is difficult for factory automation solutions to adapt to changing situations and perform optimally. It takes a long time to effectively integrate factory automation solutions with all the processes involved in production; this can hinder the sustainability of manufacturers. High costs, time constraints, and technical challenges further complicate implementation, making the process resource-intensive and technically demanding. Additionally, challenges related to custom configuration, cybersecurity concerns, requirements of skilled workforce, and compliance with various industry standards further complicate the deployment process, often leading to extended implementation timelines and higher costs.