Industrial motion control’s current economic situation is being described as a “stumble.” Manufacturing overall is picking up, automation in general is looking good, but motion control in particular seems still to be suffering from Asia’s financial woes, including the lingering effects of natural disasters.
At the same time, economists fear that the mature markets of Europe and the U.S. may be saturated with motion control. Companies continue to watch for new solutions, but to a large extent, the machinery that has been moving our machinery since the 20th century is still working.
We’re not saying this is good, but we’re not convinced that it’s bad, either. We’ve been providing support for Indramat new and legacy controls, drives, and servo motors for decades, and we’re happy to know that our services will still be needed for a while. If you don’t really need to upgrade, it makes sense to wait for something significantly better to come along before you make changes.