Servo Motors and Drives Market Growth – Effectuating a Paradigm Shift Through Automation
With motion control being fundamental to automation, among a myriad of aspects that are subsumed under it, servo motors and drives are essential to translate low power command signals from the controller to high power voltage and current to the motor. Based on the nature of applications like quick reversing, high accuracy positioning, among others, these electric devices can regulate and properly coordinate the motor’s desired position, speed, and torque. Further, they are easy to install and doesn’t involve any cost of maintenance.
Motor Vehicles for the Transport of >= 10 Persons, Incl. Driver – Imports
Source: International Trade Centre
In thousands of US$
Insights – Applications, Technology, Motor Configuration
From the perspective of the application, the segment of robotics is expected to occupy a substantial share of the servo motors and drives market, chiefly due to the integration of robotics in a variety of end-use applications and the concomitant stratospheric growth of the robotics industry. Owing to, among others, a huge volume of trade that the world is currently witnessing, the segment pertaining to printing and packaging is also expected to register a decent growth rate. Furthermore, albeit the downward draft due to COVID19 and the recent African swine fever (ASF) which restricted trade and livestock farming to a certain extent, among others, the all-encompassing food & beverages industry is expected to drive the demand for servo motors and drives to a new zenith because of the growing need for automation which provides enhanced accuracy in a host of processes that the industry entails. Applications pertaining to textiles, pulp & paper among others are also increasingly adopting these electronic devices. Automotive is another segment that is expected to occupy a huge space in the servo motors and drives the market.
Besides, from the technological aspect, the segment of the single-axis servo system is expected to contribute to a meteoric rise of the servo motors and drives market as compared to multi-axis servo systems. This is mainly due to the relatively reasonable cost and an efficacious performance that ist widely known to offer. Further repetitive operations like those of CNC machines, XY tables, assembly arrangements, among others, necessitate the use of linear servo motors and drives. Moreover, with a greater number of manufacturers making linear servo motors commercially available, consumers have a greater degree of liberty to settle for the product that best fits their needs, even though rotary servo motors also hold an equivalent space in this market. With respect to motor configurations, AC servo motors and drives are poised to hold a substantial space in the market due to its adaptability to both light and heavy power load without compromising on performance, with synchronous types being the most preferred types.
Flat-Rolled Products of Stainless Steel, of a Width of >= 600 MM, Hot-Rolled or Cold-Rolled "Cold-Reduced"- Exports
Source: International Trade Centre
In thousands of US$
Strategic Landscape & Consequent Influences
The global market for servo motors is fragmented due to the presence of small-scale manufacturers of servo motors and drives around the world. The major companies are expected to hold a great share of the global market which has been augmented by full-fledged companies in emerging markets as well. Further, to gain competitive advantage the players in the market have increasingly adopted strategies like business expansions, acquisitions, collaborations, and product launch, which is anticipated to lead to a substantial growth of the market. Some of the strategies adopted by the players in the semiconductor industry during 2018 are detailed below.
February – Collaboration
SEW-EURODRIVE a world leader in drive technology and a pioneer in drive-based automation and subsidiary of GENERAL ELECTRIC (NYSE: GE), GE Power, which is the world’s energy leader that operates in 180 countries, and reportedly equips 90% of power transmission utilities worldwide with their technology had announced a collaboration with each other. The primary rationale for this collaboration is enabling a new generation of connected machines with rich motion and drive technology. Based on this rationale, Sew-Eurodrive’s robust portfolio that comprises servo gear-motors among others is based on modular components that can be assembled in a variety of different configurations that best suit the customer needs at a reduced cost. Sew-Eurodrive’s drives and servo motors with variable frequency will be integrated into the GE PACMotion product line. In this manner GE Power’s Automation & Controls business, which had recently launched industrial Internet Control System (IICS) that combines both control and connectivity into a single device facilitating the transitioning of controls into the digital era, will be enhanced., while enabling Sew-Eurodrive to integrate a rich set of analytics resulting enhanced operational efficiency and reduced cost. For consumers, this collaboration translates to greater accessibility of a wide range of intelligent products.
June – Acquisition
The acquisition of Lafert Group, a European leader in the design and production of electric motors and drivers, which are tailor-made for industrial use was reportedly acquired by Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd and its Power Transmission and controls division. The value of the transaction was reportedly equal to an equity value of EUR 172.65 million. After the transaction, Lafert will be a part of the Japanese market brand Sumitomo Drive Technologies and will execute the function of being a global Competence Center for research and development. Further, the total value of the production of electric motors of Sumitomo Drive Technologies after the acquisition of Lafert was reported to be to the tune of 250 million Euro, of which 24% comprise brushless servomotors and torque motors.
July – Busines Expansion
It was reportedly announced that Yaskawa Electric Corporation (TYO: 6506, FSE: 6506) completed the construction of its third plant at Economic and Technological Development Area, Shenyang, China, and subsequently started its operations. This plant was established for augmenting the production capacity of robot controllers, servo amplifiers, servo motor which are fundamental components of automation equipment.
November – Product Launch
It was reportedly announced that Kollmorgen leading global motion solutions provider and a subsidiary of Danaher (NYSE: DHR) had announced the launch of Dual-Axis AKD®2G Servo Drive which was reportedly a power-dense industrial servo with drive-resident graphic display (an industry first) made commercially available in the market. The primary features and advantages that substantiates the launch are:
Features:
- Dual-channel STO
- Expandable I/O (without increasing the size)
- Market-leading velocity and position loop updates at 62.5µs and 125µs respectively
- Optimized hybrid connector
- Removable memory
- Workbench interface
Advantages:
- Enables significant panel space and cost-saving
- Enables the reduction of mains wiring, fuses, and filtering
- Instantaneous accommodation of changing load due to its loop update rate of 1.28µs
- Plug-and-play compatibility to the recently launched AKM2G
- Multicore Compute Engine, Servo on a Chip provides relatively higher speed
Extra notes: AKM2G is a synchronous servo motor that is configurable and has high-performance featuring more power density and enhanced torque/speed ratio, enabling OEMs to reportedly achieve up to 30% more performance out of a motor that is equivalent in size or achieve the same degree of performance with a motor that is smaller in size.
Thus, from the aforesaid strategic landscape, it is discernible that advancements in automation have increased various strategic adoptions enabling the market to satisfactorily bring about motion control solutions, which in turn is expected to empower a variety of industries to address the challenges of rising labor cost, unavailability of adequate labor as well as the need for substituting inefficient electric motors, and the need for adhering to global standards of energy efficiency, thus consequently leading to an anticipated servo motor market growth.
