Industrial electronic temperature controller market shift to Asia-Pacific continues

Market study by Venture Development Corporation finds that the Asia-Pacific industrial electronic temperature controller market is not only the largest of the major regions, but is also the fastest growing.

Growth in the worldwide market for industrial electronic controllers has been slowing in recent years as the implementation of temperature control loops are being instead incorporated into distributed control systems (DCSs), personal computers (PCs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). VDC found the worldwide market of industrial electronic temperature controllers grew 3.6 percent in 2003, 3.5 percent in 2004, and 2.5 percent in 2005. We project the worldwide market will grow only 1.2 percent in 2006, and forecast the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2010 will be only 0.7 percent.

The emergence of China as a major manufacturing center and market will be a driving factor behind this growth. OEMs as well as many end-user industries are beginning to relocate to mainland China to take advantage of low-cost labor and materials. The recovery of Japan’s economy also is pushing the region out of a stagnant period of growth.

In addition, many industrial electronic temperature controller suppliers based in Europe and North America have indicated that if they haven’t already they will soon be opening their own manufacturing operations in China. By manufacturing in China, suppliers are not only able to gain the competitive advantage of cheaper labor and materials, but they are also moving closer to the major growth markets.

www.vdc-corp.com