The increasing enforcement of health, safety and environmental regulations, coupled with energy efficiency requirements, is expected to fuel demand for human machine interface (HMI) products across end-user application areas. HMIs have become much more intuitive, reliable, and easier to use by both skilled and unskilled operators. Operator interfaces have a critical role in industrial automation aiding in the efficient operation and monitoring of essential production equipment.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan of the South African HMI market, finds that the market earned revenues of $14,0 million in 2010 and estimates this to reach $22,0 million in 2017. The research covers the following application areas: metals, minerals and mining, automotive, pulp and paper, food and beverages, water and waste water, power generation, chemical and petrochemicals and other industries which include packaging and pharmaceuticals, textile, woodworking, cement and glass manufacturing.
“The software HMI sector is likely to experience strong growth,” notes Frost and Sullivan industrial automation and process control research analyst, Charles Shonayi. “This is largely due to the expanding industrial PC base and requirement for higher data processing and scalability.”
End-users are increasingly adopting HMI software because of the increased acceptance of PC technology and the wide range of hardware and software options provided by PC-based open platforms. HMI vendors are anticipated to continue deriving a large portion of revenues from software, as upgrades and retrofits are set to accelerate demand during the forecast period.
HMI users opt for turnkey projects, which would afford them both hardware and software solutions at an optimum price. This has resulted in some of the large companies combining their hardware and software suppliers’ base so that a single solution provider would be the answer to their complete automation requirements. This is a challenge for niche HMI providers as they do not have the capability to compete with the big players.
“Fierce competition among HMI vendors to gain or maintain market share is placing downward pressure on prices for HMI solutions,” cautions Shonayi. “The price sensitive nature of the end-user sector is resulting in margin compression due to waning price trends.”
To remain competitive in the South African HMI market, niche suppliers can merge with hardware suppliers through mergers and acquisitions or supplier partnerships as an effective strategy. Niche suppliers should improve the quality of their solutions by taking advantage of ‘open systems’.
“HMI suppliers should establish long-term relationships with leading EPCMs and system integrators,” advises Shonayi. “EPCMs and system integrators play a key role in capital project fulfilment. Partnering with a Tier I EPCMs or system integrator is a strategy that suppliers could implement to benefit from future projects.”
For more information contact Christie Cronje, Frost & Sullivan, +27 (0)21 680 3566, Christie.cronje@frost.com, www.frost.com
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