Modern Materials Handling teamed up with VDC Research for the 5th year in a row to publish their 12th-annual “Top 20 Automatic data collection suppliers” article, examining the state of the Auto-ID market and the leading manufacturers in the industry. MMH used VDC’s extensive research in the field to compile a list of the top 20 suppliers and to provide analysis of the industry at large.
The global AIDC market reached $11.264 billion in 2012, a 3.9% increase from 2011. VDC projects the industry to grow at compound annual growth rate of 7.5% through 2017, fueled by new customer interests, increased competition and opportunities in emerging markets.
The top 20 list featured a host of familiar faces, with Motorola solutions once again coming out on top, with 2012 AIDC and mobility revenues of $1.348 billion (est.), and Zebra Technologies taking second with $592 million in revenues. Honeywell, Datalogic, and Intermec round out the top five. In order to be included in the list, vendors must sell in North America and must focus on supply chain solutions. Though the list did not change much from last year’s (only Datalogic and Intermec swapped positions within the top five), consolidation among vendors could give next year’s list a shake-up. Notable changes include Honeywell’s acquisition of Intermec and Motorola’s acquisition of Psion.
Despite the snapshot of industry vendors being largely unchanged, VDC analysts point out a few key trends in the scanning, barcode printing and RFID markets that are changing the landscape. The migration of customers from laser scanners to camera-based imagers stands out as a major trend, with the market for camera-based 2D imaging solutions expanding by more than 30% from 2011 to 2012. The commoditization of barcode printing technologies also stands out as a significant market trend; driven by stagnant technologies, price pressures, and a fragmented competitive landscape. The market for mobile printing, though, jumped double-digits year over year, while the rest of the printing market remained relatively flat. In the RFID market, which grew nearly 13%, the big story is in apparel tagging, with retail customers using RFID for shipping and receiving operations in addition to the more traditional inventory control applications.
New opportunities in emerging markets and innovative applications stand to drive growth the AutoID and Data Capture industry in the near future. As competition continues grows and prices continue to drop, differentiation looks to be key for business continuity and profitability.
(A special thank you to Scott O’Leary for his significant contributions to this blog post. Scott is currently a Research Assistant in VDC’s AutoID & Data Capture practice.)
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