Industria meccanicaAutomazioneAzionamenti > Trends in drive technology 2012

Results of the change survey 2012

Stable focus on integrated drive technologies

Continuously decreasing change readiness, stable focus on changes to integrated drive technologies and increased change willingness in regard to drive suppliers – these are one of the most important features of this year’s technological change in the drive technology.

Change readiness is decreasing continuously

April 19th, 2012 - With 22% just each fifth investigated machine-builder is considering to change the drive technology at the machines. So the change willingness in the drive technology is decreasing in the third year in a row. Last year they were still 31% and in 2010 41%.

Stable focus on integrated drive technologies

The changes of the drive technology are focused on three emphases as they are:

  • Integrated safety engineering at drives substitutes conventional safety engineering
  • Integrated drives (converter in the motor or installed near the motor) substitute non-integrated drives
  • Servo drives substitute frequency converters.

 

61% of the denominations of the machine-builders, intending to change the drive technology, cover these three changes.

 

These changes in the drive technology are in the centre point of the decisions of the change-willing machine-builders since 2009, i.e. four years in a row.

 

In the control technology as well the machine-builders prefer integrated control technologies with the change.

 

So the change to integrated technologies is the common feature of the changes in the automation technology this year, as it already occurred last year.

Changes in drive technologies in German machinery industry 2012.
Source: Market survey by Quest TechnoMarketing in the German mechanical engineering industry.

Intensified change readiness in regard to the drive suppliers

With 47% scarcely half the change-willing machine-builders want to change the current drive supplier. So the change readiness has become intensified since it was just 32% last year.

Representative results

37% of the approximately 650 machine-builders with 100 and more employees in the 10 automation-relevant sectors called their planning to Quest TechnoMarketing at the beginning of this year.

 

The results concentrated to trends by Quest TechnoMarketing are published in the study „What the machine-builders want to change in the automation technology 2012“. This study is to support also the automation manufacturers to match the technological changes in the machinery industry in time and purposefully.